[U: Available] Google and Samsung join forces to improve SmartThings and Nest integration

Updates

January 14, 2021: Nest now appears in the list of brands while setting up a new device in your Samsung SmartThings app. Awesome!

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Want to control your Nest cameras, thermostats, doorbells, and more via the Samsung SmartThings app? Samsung and Google have joined forces and beginning in January 2021, You can do all of this and more. After adding your Nest devices into Samsung’s app as Works with SmartThings devices (WWST), you’ll be able to do things like adjusting the Nest thermostat’s temperature and more by voice straight through the app. You’ll also be able to create what are called “scenes”, or automated experiences, similar to Google Home’s Routines feature to perform multiple actions simultaneously with one voice command.

The update will also allow you to see your Nest cameras, including your Nest Hello doorbell feed on your Samsung Smart TV (without a Chromecast) and even your fridge! I’m not going to lie – since all of life’s answers are in the fridge (those who stand with the fridge open and stare into the abyss, thinking, know exactly what I mean), this doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to try.

More importantly, at least for many Google fans, you’ll be able to control your SmartThings…things with your Google Home devices via the Google Home app! The coming reverse integration proves that the two companies are figuring some things out. I’m sure Samsung wasn’t too happy when the Works with Nest program ended last year and they have probably been working towards reintegrating back into Google’s ecosystem for some time now using the Works with Google Assistant program – the thing that replaced it.

Works with Nest allowed users to connect third-party services and smart devices to the Google Home app in the same way that the Works with Google Assistant program does now, but in addition to allowing Assistant hotword activation, Google maintains a more granular control over which devices can access Nest customer’s data and hardware using special security audits.