Samsung revealed its new Galaxy S21 phones last week, but that wasn't all the company talked about. It was also announced that Samsung's SmartThings device controls would soon be accessible through Android Auto, and now the functionality is already going live.

The Android Auto integration appears to require SmartThings v1.7.59.23, which is still rolling out on the Play Store. If you don't have it already (like I didn't), you can grab it from APKMirror. Once you have the newest version, an Android Auto section will appear in the app's Settings.

From there, you can choose which smart home gadgets appear in the Auto control panel, up to a maximum of six devices. You can also choose to receive Auto notifications for running a scene when you approach your home, so you could turn on all your home lights before leaving your car.

The interface on Auto is extremely simple: you get a toggle for each device, plus a settings button at the top for changing notifications. I don't have any devices connected to SmartThings with variable controls (e.g. lights with dimmers), so I wasn't able to test if more advanced controls are supported.

SmartThings was already functional on Android Auto by connecting your SmartThings account to Google Assistant, but it's nice that touch controls and scene notifications are now available too.

SmartThings
SmartThings
Price: Free
Android Auto - Google Maps, Media & Messaging
Android Auto - Google Maps, Media & Messaging
Price: Free
  • Thanks:
  • Joe Kester