Samsung Electronics today announced that it has updated its global smart home platform SmartThings to provide improved experiences that help users better care for their families and themselves in everyday life. With the latest update, SmartThings has strengthened its Family Care service so users can better support parents they live apart from. It also integrates additional key SmartThings features into Now Brief, the personalized briefing service available on Galaxy mobile devices, to further enhance the convenience and comfort of the customer’s daily life. Samsung plans to roll out these new Now Brief capabilities to TVs and Family Hub refrigerators in phases.

“Samsung’s AI technology goes beyond everyday convenience to help users care for themselves and their families with greater peace of mind,” said Jaeyeon Jung, Executive Vice President and Head of the SmartThings Team, AI Platform Center, Samsung Electronics. “SmartThings will continue to strengthen its role as a platform that seamlessly connects customers’ daily lives with AI, and it will keep expanding differentiated services on an ongoing basis.”

Enhanced Family Care Makes It Easier To Check In on Loved Ones

Family Care connects SmartThings with a range of home appliances and mobile devices to provide notifications regarding the activities of users’ aging parents and reminders for medication and hospital visits — as well as location-based alerts. With this update, the service enables even more thoughtful care.

Additionally, Samsung’s new Care on Call¹ feature allows users to more closely check on the status of the care recipient through a simple phone call. When a caregiver using the service calls the care recipient, a floating pop-up that displays key information like the time of the first activity of the day, the most recent activity time and the local weather — all at a glance — appears before the call begins. This helps caregivers ask more meaningful check-in questions and respond accordingly.

SmartThings can also continuously monitor devices like air conditioners, air purifiers, dehumidifiers and humidifiers for indoor temperature, humidity and air quality. If unusual usage patterns are detected, the caregiver is immediately notified and can remotely control the relevant device.²

Family Care has made the Safety Patrol feature — which utilizes SmartThings to send a new Bespoke AI Jet Bot Steam Ultra to check various areas around the house — even more convenient. If the care recipient’s activity is not detected for a specified period of time, users receive a notification and the feature can be remotely activated if the caregiver needs to take action.³ Using a camera built into the robot vacuum, caregivers can view issues that might occur — such as a person lying incapacitated — and two-way communication through the built-in speaker and microphone allows them to act.

To further enhance the level of care provided to loved ones, the Care Insight feature been enhanced to provide even more actionable, long-term data within the Family Care service. It analyzes factors like temperature and humidity levels, paying attention to whether they deviate from optimal ranges. It also tracks significant changes in activity levels and connected device usage compared to the previous week.

Expansion of Now Brief to TVs and Family Hub

Now Brief delivers a rich AI experience by integrating a broad range of key SmartThings services that help users stay informed about their daily lives, their family members and conditions inside and outside the home.

With the launch of the Galaxy S26 series, Now Brief will support Home Security, Family Care and Pet Care, in addition to existing features that include Home Insight, Energy and the Sleep Environment Report. Through Now Brief, users can access the useful information needed to care for themselves, their families and their homes at a glance.

 Now Brief is set to deliver a consistent customized experience throughout the home,⁴ and will soon roll out in phases to TVs launched in 2024 or later, as well as Family Hub refrigerators launched in 2021 or later.

For added convenience, users will not need to manually launch Now Brief. If the feature is set up in advance, it will be automatically activated when they approach the TV, touch the Family Hub refrigerator screen or open and close the refrigerator door.

And now, whether at home or on the go, the expanded Now Brief helps users stay up to date by providing information such as home device status and energy usage, as well as the sleep status of the previous night, Home Security updates based on door locks, door sensors, and security mode, parents’ daily activity updates and dog-walking information.⁵

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1. Care on Call is available on Galaxy smartphones running One UI 8.5 or later. Internet calls are not supported. ↩︎
2. Remote control is available when the caregiver has been set up to remotely control the care recipient’s devices. ↩︎
3. Remote control is available when the caregiver has been set up to remotely control the care recipient’s devices. Availability may vary depending on product, model and region. ↩︎
4. Availability may vary depending on product, model, region, and each product’s Over The Network (OTN) software update schedule. ↩︎
5. The relevant devices should be registered in SmartThings, and the service must be activated in the Life tab. ↩︎