Can your smart home keep working when the internet goes down? SmartThings local control, explained

Samsung expanded SmartThings so your phone can talk directly to a SmartThings Hub on your home Wi-Fi, keeping supported controls working during an internet outage. Here is how to check your hub and which routines actually run locally.

Dinner is on the stove, the internet drops, and suddenly your lights will not answer the app — even though everything you need is sitting right there in the house. Short answer: With Samsung’s expanded SmartThings local control, many of them now can. Your phone can talk directly to a SmartThings Hub when both are on the same home Wi-Fi network, so supported controls keep working during an internet outage.

Here is why that works: your router can still connect devices inside your home to each other even when it cannot reach the outside world — though the router and hub still need power, so this does nothing in a power cut. The app switches automatically between local control at home and cloud control when you are away, and Samsung says controls responded about 30% faster in its own controlled tests, though real homes will vary. The update also adds Matter 1.6 support, including categories like energy meters, irrigation, and soil sensors, plus SmartThings Now suggestion cards.1.

Confirm you have a supported hub. The list includes the SmartThings Station and the V2, V3, and V4 hubs, plus hub-enabled Samsung smart TVs and Family Hub refrigerators — on Android and iPhone alike.2. Update the SmartThings app.

Local control arrives with the latest version, so install updates on your phone and let the hub update too.3. Test a control at home. Open a light or plug in the app while you are on your home network and notice the snappier response — that is local control working.4.

Check which routines run locally. A routine only runs on the hub if every device and feature in it supports local execution, so move your essentials into routines that qualify.5. Keep a plain backup for essentials.

A normal wall switch or one lamp kept simple means you are never standing in the dark waiting on any app.Pro tip: Do not assume a routine is local just because the devices are. One cloud-only device in the chain quietly sends the whole routine back to the internet.Ad’s take: This is how smart homes should have worked from the start — the kitchen lights should not need permission from a server three states away. Set it up once, test it, and enjoy one less thing breaking at dinner.