Samsung’s one-stop IOT (internet of things) solutions app SmartThings has been updated to include new Galaxy SmartTag related features, the brand announced via its official blog. New to the app is voice activated SmartTag searches via Bixby, and the ability to detect unauthorised and potentially intrusive Tags within your proximity.
The first new feature is pretty straight forward in terms of its functionality. Basically, users can now just call up Samsung’s onboard Bixby assistant and search for their SmartTag-attached belongings via voice commands. This, of course, spares you the extra steps of manually launching the SmartThings app and then activating the search feature. Quite a tiring process, I know.
The other newly added feature is the more interesting among the two. As mentioned earlier, the IOT app’s new function – called Unknown Tag Search – provides users the ability to scan and detect unauthorised Galaxy SmartTags or any other Ultra-Wideband (UWB) trackers that may have been planted on your items to illegally track your whereabouts. When activated, the app will list out any unknown Tags found nearby, making it easier for you to determine if any particular ones are “following” you around.
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If this sounds somewhat familiar to you, this is because it’s basically a similar anti-tracking feature to that of Apple’s recently launched AirTag tracker. In Samsung’s case, the new Unknown Tag Search addition to SmartThings only arrived months after the debut of its Galaxy SmartTags in mid-January 2021. In addition, both the Korean tech giant and its Cupertino-based rival insist that their respective UWB devices are encrypted and securely protected through a randomized private ID, ensuring that other users are not able to access your device’s location.
The new SmartThings features are now available to all Samsung smartphone users via the recently released app update.
(Source: Samsung [Official blog])
