One of the main criteria for a good smart home is handiness. For communication, you can use either a standard application from the manufacturer, for instance, a smart plug app, or a universal smart home app that supports equipment from different manufacturers.

Why you need a mobile app for an intelligent home?

Mobile phones have long penetrated into all areas of our life, and their integration with various devices is an everyday occurrence.

You can perform many of the usual actions via a smartphone. A smart home is just the area where integration with mobile devices is especially needful

So why are mobile apps for the smart home in the top charts new and highly requested things for users?

1. Remote access to all connected devices

The user can turn off the lamp or open the garage door through an app with just a single touch. The user can control and monitor all home systems remotely from anywhere in the world.

2. Flexible customization of the user interface

Many people refuse to install smart home for fear of getting confused in a complex system of consoles and panels. With a mobile application, this risk is minimal as the user can easily and quickly customize the interface on his own by choosing the favorable number of sensors and necessary devices and setting up the basic scenarios of events.

3. Alert service

Alerts display the status of all connected devices and diagnostic information and notify the user if the system has turned off a forgotten iron or closed an open window when it rains.

4. Personal profile and sharing

The mobile application allows you to configure concurrent access to the system for certain users.

5. Increased security

Home automation systems are a complex network of sensors and motion sensors, surveillance cameras, electronic door locks, and other physical security devices located in various parts of your home. The user can activate or deactivate this entire network or its single element at any time through the mobile application.

6. Personal analytics

A mobile app for a smart home allows tracking and analyzing the activity of users in the house: how often and what exactly they watch, what food they cook, what food they stored in the refrigerator, and what their household practices and habits require energy consumption in general. Based on the obtained data, users will be able to analyze the usual rhythm of life and, possibly, even adjust their lifestyle.

Popular applications review

Imagine buying a TP-Link smart plug, Sonoff switch, iRobot Roomba, Philips Hue smart bulbs, Smarter coffee maker, Kenmore air conditioner, smart locks, smart garage doors, etc. Do you need to install a separate application to control each device? If you have 20 smart devices from different manufacturers, then you need to install 20 different applications! Learn more here about a simple solution — use a universal among the popular smart home app that can work with the most demanded gadgets.

SmartThings App

With the SmartThings App, everything that happens in your home remains under your control. Samsung assures that all account details are encrypted to protect against intrusion. Versions for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone are available (for the application to work, you will need at least one device with one of these OS).

Among the compatible Samsung smart devices, there are:

• home theaters,
• smart TVs,
• refrigeration/freezing equipment,
• air conditioners,
• lighting,
• washing machines,
• security cameras,
• security systems,
• sensors (humidity level, temperature, water leaks, smoke).

Devices that are not marked with the compatibility label “Works with SmartThings” may be able to work within the ecosystem but here you need to try since their correct functioning is not guaranteed.

SmartThings is able to simultaneously control all connected devices, in accordance with the time settings that the user has set. The user of the application has the right to manage the settings of the application at his discretion, while the capabilities of the application are limited by the availability of compatible devices and their functionality.

Amazon Alexa App

The Alexa App is an interface for customizing Amazon Echo smart speakers. In general, to activate the basic settings, you only need to turn on the device and the Alexa app on your mobile gadget. You need it for further actions by connecting new devices to your smart home system. Through the app, you can add new options, change settings, check, set alarms and reminders, as well as view the history of requests and responses for a certain period of time. You can control the Alexa voice assistant settings through this app, as well.

Its main function is to show the feed of requests processed by the column. In addition to the settings and the feed, it’s more convenient to perform some actions in the app than by voice, for example, edit the shopping list. There is a web version for computers, as well.

There are devices with that Alexa can work directly in the smart home section of the app menu. Partner systems include Philips Hue lamps, Lutron Caséta lighting system, Belkin Wemo switches, Nest thermostats (second and third-generation models), Ecobee thermostats, Sensi thermostat, TP-Link Kasa output switch and smart light LIFX, as well as Insteon, Wink, and SmartThings.

Google Home App

The Google Home mobile app is available for both Android and iOS. You can, for instance, set up your smart home on Android and allow your household to control the house on iOS if they have an iPhone or iPad.

First, the Google Home application controls its own devices from Google. There are developments last time that allow the Google Home app to add and manage thousands of different smart home devices from hundreds of third-party manufacturers: Xiaomi Mi Home, Yeelight, Sonoff eWeLink, Broadlink, TP-Link Kasa, and many others. You will find the full list of devices supported by Google Home in the application itself.

The following types of smart devices are currently supported:

• bulbs and lamps,
• sockets,
• locks,
• thermostats,
• surveillance cameras.

In addition, you can now not only create a shopping list but also place an order from it using the Home app from Google — payments are now built into the Assistant.

Apple HomeKit App

HomeKit is a platform for the automation of intelligent appliances and space in your dwelling. If all smart devices in the house are originally designed for HomeKit and have a corresponding logo on the box, it is more convenient to manage them in Apple’s Home app.