Samsung offers a better connected smart home with blockchain security

by Arthur · October 12, 2022

During the Samsung Developer Conference keynote on Wednesday, the company showed off a slew of software updates coming to phones, TVs, appliances and other devices designed to make them better connected and more protected.

Samsung’s big theme for the event is “Quiet Technology,” or smoothing the process of connecting smart devices to work together instantly. Samsung’s SmartThings umbrella has expanded to include more integrations with energy, pet and cooking devices as well as Samsung’s Hub Everywhere.

SmartThings users can also connect Philips Hue Sync to their SmartThings setup. Users get more smart device commands for Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant, and developers can program more voice controls into their apps using the new Bixby Home Studio.

Samsung is also integrating Google’s Matter standard for smart homes in the coming weeks to integrate supporting devices into either SmartThings or Google Home, with what is intended to be an easy path to integrate devices from one app platform to the other.

Samsung also has a new security feature that not only protects the network of smart devices, but also relies on them. Knox Matrix is a new security system that connects all your devices in a private blockchain that has nothing to do with cryptomining, instead using the group verification system to ensure that your Galaxy phone, router, smart TV and other devices agree that they are all safe. If one device has been compromised, the others automatically shut it down from the network.

Samsung chose to use the private blockchain concept instead of verifying through the cloud because the company wanted a more local, distributed way to ensure security. That means the devices should be self-sustaining, checking to see if they’re on the latest software and even downloading updates locally on one device (like a phone or router) and then sending it to another that’s on older software versions. It’s an interesting way to think about smart home security, and users will be able to try it from Samsung devices launching in 2023 – and at some point with products from partner companies.

Samsung phones will get One UI 5, which brings more customization options with Modes and Routines, a redesigned version of the old Bixby routines that learns your usage patterns and tailors the phone accordingly. Bixby also gets a new text-to-speech feature that answers calls for you and reads what you type, useful if you’re shy about speaking on calls.

There were many other announcements, including a new Privileged Health SDK for developers to build apps using the Galaxy Watch series’ BioActive Sensor, as well as the separate Samsung Health Stack SDK offered to healthcare institutions to aid their research into body stresses and neuroscience.