The Aeotec Smart Home Hub is a device designed to connect your smart home products so that they can be controlled together. You connect your smart home devices via Z-wave, Zigbee or Wifi.
Previously, the hub was called SmartThings Hub, but today it is called Aeotec Smart Home Hub. It's the same hub but they renamed the hub as Samsung and Aeotec don't have that collaboration anymore. However, the Smarthings app is still used, along with the hub.
Works with different manufacturers
It is possible to intrigue devices from different manufactured with the Aeotec Smart Home Hub. Some examples of manufacturers that Aeotec Smart Home hub works with are e.g. Samsung, Aeotec, Fibaro, Google Nest, Sonos, Aqara, Philips Hue, Ikea (without Ikea gateway requirement), Shelly etc.
Security
Aeotec Smart Home hub is safe to use in your home. The hub uses communication via Z-Wave, Zigbee and WiFi, all of which have built-in security protocols, so your data and privacy are protected.
Status Offline
If the hub goes offline, you can easily do a diagnostic to find out where the problem is. You then choose in the app to open the diagnostics and follow the instructions. It only took us a few minutes to get our smart Hub up and running after unplugging it and going through the diagnostics.
SmartThings app
In the SmartThings app, you can add and configure your smart home devices. You can see the status of all connected devices such as lights, locks, thermostats, sensors, and more, all from the app's overview interface.
Measuring Energy Consumption
You can use Aeotec Hub to monitor and manage the energy consumption of your home. In the app you can see which devices draw the most energy that are connected to the hub and where you have the opportunity to optimise usage to save on your electricity bill.
Scenes and Automations
In the app, you can customize scenes and create automations. This means that you can define what should happen when certain conditions are met, such as lights turning on automatically at sunset or adjusting the thermostat based on the time of day. Among other things, you can decide that your lights should be turned off and the security camera turned on when you leave home. Likewise, when you get home, you can decide to turn the lights on, the security camera off, etc., which is time efficient and saves energy.
Voice control
SmartThings is compatible with major voice assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, allowing you to execute voice commands to control your devices.
Security Features
The app allows you to monitor security devices such as door locks and security cameras, and allow you to receive notifications of unusual activities or security events in real time. It is ideal when you are away from home so that you can relax and know that you will receive information about something happening in the home.
Mobile & Platform Compatibility
The SmartThings app is available for both iOS and Android devices, making it accessible to a wide user base. However, if you are an android user and have a lot of Samsung devices then you can maximize the experience more than if you have Iphone. Unfortunately, since the hub is not integrated with Homekit, you can't use Homey or Siri, which many iPhone users prefer. However, we want to be clear that the hub is compatible with hundreds of products and manufacturers. So one is absolutely not limited.
Installation
It was easy to get the Smart Home Hub up and running and get it connected to the app. We downloaded the SmartThings app and selected the right product in the app. Then it was only necessary to follow the instructions. Briefly, the hub was connected with the power cord into the wall socket. We chose to connect the hub via Wifi. However, it is possible to connect using the Ethernet cable that came with the package if you wish. It is important to keep the phone and the hub close to each other so that they can find each other. I ran into problems the first time I tried to connect the devices, so I restarted the process and the second time the app found the hub quickly and was then able to complete the installation. The installation took a few minutes and then everything was ready.
