How to Control Your Matter Smart Home From Your Samsung SmartThings TV

One of the most popular television brands, Samsung, has stealithy been adding Matter into households for the past few years. Via the SmartThings smart home panel on Samsung TVs, you can add and remove Matter-compatible and other smart home gear.

This means that it is possible to control everything from smart plugs to sensors and curtains from the comfort of your sofa, using a simple microphone-equipped remote control.

Better still, Samsung SmartThings is easy to set up on your TV, too.

You Will Need the SmartThings App

While you can manage your smart home via a SmartThings TV, you will need the app installed on your phone or tablet to confirm the TV is SmartThings-capable and to onboard new devices.

Be aware that while Matter works with smart TVs, it doesn't work with all of them. For this guide, I've used the Samsung QE43Q60B, which has the Matter-compatible SmartThings hub built in. To check if your TV is a SmartThings hub, you will need to ensure the device is set up for Wi-Fi (or connected to your router over Ethernet), and you are signed into a Samsung account on the TV and your mobile. You'll also need the SmartThings app installed on your phone or tablet.

Open the mobile app, go to Devices, then tap + and Add device. Look for the By brand tab, then Samsung and select TV. Find your TV model, then add it.

It’s as simple as that.

Accessing SmartThings on Your Samsung TV

Once the Samsung TV is setup with your Samsung account and the SmartThings mobile app, you can add new devices, manage them, and even create automations using your TV. Most Samsung remotes have a built in microphone, and this can also be used to control your Matter smart home devices through SmartThings.

To view the SmartThings interface, grab your TV remote and hit Home. Then, push left to open the menu and select Connected Devices.

In the SmarThings screen, you’ll see any connected or auto-detected devices. You can add new devices using the + button, to commence the search for a new device.

When a device is found, select it and click Add. It will be displayed on your TV for easy access within the SmartThings interface, either in List mode, or in Map mode. The Map mode can be automatically generated based on the proximity of your devices to the TV. The map can also be manually created. While useful, it is more of a visual representation of how your smart home is organized, but has the same functionality as the list.

Pre-configured Scene Automations

SmartThings also presents you with the option to use pre-configured scenes. These are elaborate automations that depend on a specific trigger. For example, there is the Game Scene, which is designed for use gaming with a connected console or the Samsung TV’s own Game Mode (which supports streaming).

With this enabled, lighting is dropped to 50%, ambient lighting enabled, and the TV’s own display and audio adjusted to suit. It’s a handy automation that can be activated using the remote or via the mobile app.

That isn't the only smart thing you can do with a SmartThings TV. As mentioned, Amazon Alexa can be used as a voice assistant. Or you can stick with the Samsung ecosystem and use Bixby, the popular voice assistant from the Samsung Galaxy range of mobiles and ultrabooks.

Using Non-Matter Devices on SmartThings

SmartThings is also compatible with older smart home tech, such as those that use Z-Wave and Zigbee protocols. In many cases such devices might be supported by Matter, but if not, they can be accessed through your SmartThings TV or app.

It is important to keep things updated. I’ve been using the SmartThings TV with an IKEA DIRIGERA Matter bridge, and while this has largely worked well, I found some issues with it while working on this guide.

Explicitly Matter-labeled hardware works with little or no issue. However, where a bridge is required – such as IKEA’s Zigbee-based devices – some troubleshooting steps are recommended.

• Confirm that the hardware is connected to the bridge

• Ensure the hardware can be controlled through the bridge app

• Use the SmartThings app’s troubleshooting mode to confirm connectivity

Various issues, from out-of-sync updates to an inadvertent router restart can affect connectivity and compatibility.

Why You Should Be Using Your Samsung SmartThings TV with Matter

In a household with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Apple HomeKit options for controlling Matter, we’ve opted for SmartThings. After all, it’s built into the TV. It makes sense to have the one device that is always plugged in and often switched on as the hub of the smart home. Other Matter hubs, often smaller and resembling a puck or Mac Mini, are an option

Since 2022, Samsung has shipped SmartThings on the following TVs: QN900B, QN800B, QN700B, QN95B, S95B, QN90B, QN85B, Q80B, Q70B, Q60B, BU8, The Serif, The Frame, The Sero, and Smart Monitor M50B (plus higher models). In addition, it has 350 million subscribers (Mobile Magazine), making it a pretty popular choice.

There is a very good chance that many owners of Samsung TVs don’t realise they own a SmartThings smart home hub. So, if you know anyone with a compatible Samsung TV, it might be a good idea to let them in on the smart home secret that Matters…