Samsung? Run. Run fast and run far.
I have had the displeasure of using their Samsung Smart Home app to access my Samsung washer and dryer. The setup steps literally took several hours just to connect the WiFi using their “Easy Connect”. (Full disclosure, I have been a hacker since the mid 1970s, and have a Master’s degree in Software Engineering. Setting up WiFi is not exactly foreign turf for me. For example, Saturday night I set up a new Rheem water heater’s headless WiFi module in under a minute.)
I don’t know if I could possibly list all the things wrong with their app and their software; but I’ll hit most of the low points.
[ol][li]The #1 reason I bought these premium priced appliances was to get an audible/vibration alert on the iPhone when the laundry was done downstairs. The Smart Home app only provides a silent alert on screen. It is useless at attracting my attention. ::)[/li]
[li]Neither the washer nor the dryer provides remote connectivity unless you select the on-screen button to “smart connect” after putting the clothes in and closing the door. When one load is done, you have to manually enable “smart connect” again. This does not meet my definition of “smart” or “automation”.[/li]
[li]Despite selecting the “remember my username” box, the iPhone app forgets my username about once a month.[/li]
[li]The iPhone app doesn’t know how to switch to the “email” optimized keyboard for entering my account’s login/email.[/li]
[li]The iPhone app requires me to enter my password every time I access it, and again every time I attempt to add a device (which was more times than I could count, see below.) There is no option to remember my password, although I have no concerns about the security of my iPhone, nor do I have concern about hackers accessing my washing machine’s controller. (If they can actually get it to do something useful, more power to them.)[/li]
[li]The iPhone app doesn’t know how to switch to the “password” optimized keyboard for entering my password, so if I select “show password” it unexpectedly Upper Cases the First Character of the Password - not exactly helpful.[/li]
[li]Manually configuring the washer to connect to WiFi is easy. I was able to enter my access point’s password, and even manually set up a static IP address. It works fine for updating the machine’s firmware. But manual connection isn’t good enough for the Smart Home app, which refuses to set up a machine unless I connect using their “easy connect” feature.[/li]
[li]When “easy connecting”, the washer goes into access point mode so the iPhone can connect (typical for appliances with no UI). But the iPhone very infrequently succeeded at connecting to the access point (1 in 10 tries worked); it usually sat for minutes making no progress. Occasionally it would be assigned an IP address and netmask after about 30 seconds, but still wouldn’t fully connect. To be fair, I tried on two different models of iPhone and two different iPads. I had equally poor success with all of them.[/li]
[li]The iPhone would never successfully connect to the washer’s AP again after attempting to join the washer’s AP. I had to select “forget this network”, then re-enter the washer’s default password for every single attempt.[/li]
[li]Realizing the manual network setup might be causing some of the issues, I tried to erase my existing connection, but the washer doesn’t provide a “forget this network” feature.[/li]
[li]I had to reset the washer by going into the hidden diagnostic mode (press and hold both power+start during boot) then selecting “reset”. (While there I executed a “WiFi test”, which passed.) This is not documented anywhere.[/li]
[li]On the rare occasion when it connected, and the washer actually found some access points, it would sometimes allow me to choose the right one. More often than not it would fail. My primary access point is located less than five feet above the washer, and works quite well with the other devices in that location. To be fair, I rebooted my AP as well, and eventually my entire network stack, to no effect.[/li]
[li]After selecting the right AP and entering the WiFi password (using the wrong keyboard), it would command the washer to join it. After getting this far, this still failed at least four times. I reset the washer a couple of times during this process. After several hours spent over several days, I finally got it connected on Monday night.[/li]
[li]The washer goes online to auto-check for updates every time it turns on, but it does not connect to an NTP server so the clock is always wrong.[/li]
[li]The touch screen uses a scrolling select-a-wash list down the left side, and it has a momentum behavior to it like a spinning wheel, which is fine. However, it does not come to a stop exactly on a selection, and refuses to select if it’s not properly lined up, instead hopping around under my finger like a bug that doesn’t want to be squashed.[/li]
[li]Some icons are inscrutably cryptic. They’re all tiny. Some are outlined in a circle, some are not. Most of the icon touch targets are less than 1cm square, far too small for fingers operating it at waist-high level (our GUI recommendations at work for touch targets at arm’s length are to make them 5/8" or larger.) At least they have visible and audible feedback.[/li]
[li]For safety there is no provision to control the gas dryer remotely. This includes the inability to cancel a running load that might be getting over-dried. Given the demonstrated competence of their developers, locking out the remote is probably still a safer approach, so this may not be classified as a bug.[/li]
[li]Just now, as I was typing this, I opened the iPhone app to view more of the badness and it proudly announced it has forgotten its association with the dryer and it entered set up all by itself; oh, and it’s also failing to connect to the washer. 
I’m not sure if I’m ready to fight those battles again at this time.[/li][/ol]
I have seen a lot of bad apps over the years, but these are actively user-hostile. If you are considering a Samsung anything, reconsider. Then if you’re still thinking of buying Samsung anyway, reconsider again.
On the plus side, the mechanics and operation of the washer and dryer are great. They are very efficient with water and electricity, and they get the clothes clean and dry. They seem well built. All I can do is hope they fire their entire Home Automation software division and replace them with with people who actually use the equipment in the real world.
