Smarthings API Fees

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Well… it finally happened.

Somewhere in a meeting room, someone apparently looked at an API and thought:

“What if we charged people for using the thing that makes our ecosystem valuable?”

Congratulations. We have officially entered the “subscription everything” timeline.

For years, Home Assistant users have done something remarkable. We’ve bought SmartThings devices, integrated them into our own homes, built automations, written documentation, helped other users, and in many cases made Samsung’s ecosystem more useful than it would have been on its own.

Now the reward appears to be… API fees.

It’s a strange strategy.

Developers don’t usually cost you customers.
They usually bring customers.

Enthusiasts don’t usually hurt your platform.
They become your unpaid ambassadors.

Home Assistant users are often the people recommending hardware to friends and family. We’re the ones writing guides, fixing integrations, reporting bugs and generally doing the kind of community work companies dream about.

Charging for API access sends a very different message:

“Thanks for helping build the ecosystem. That’ll be extra.”

Nobody expects cloud infrastructure to be free forever. Running services has real costs. But there are countless ways to recover those costs without discouraging the very communities that keep your products relevant.

If this direction continues, many users will simply do what Home Assistant users do best:

Find another way.

Matter.
Zigbee.
Z-Wave.
Local control.
Anything that doesn’t disappear behind another paywall.

The smart home should become smarter , not more expensive every year.

If this decision affects you, don’t just shrug and move on.

Tell Samsung exactly why.

Leave the needed feedback through the SmartThings app, Samsung Members, their community forums, support channels, or, if you’ve genuinely had your experience worsened by this decision, reflect that in your own app store review. Companies pay attention when thousands of real customers independently explain how a decision impacts them.

The louder the community speaks, the harder it is to ignore.

Hopefully someone at Samsung is listening before “Works with Home Assistant” becomes a reason not to buy SmartThings products.

What are your thoughts?

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I bought a Samsung refrigerator because I could link it to HA (through smart things). I would have chosen an other brand if that would not be possible for free. I would not pay extra on the device because its online capabilities and then pay a subscription on top of that to use it.

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Your situation is similar to mine but x 10. I have connected AC’s, TV*s, lights, fridge, washing machine, I wouldn’t have bought any of them if I knew Samsung would go in this path.
Even though we can try to go around it, using IR for AC’s, or any other local control “hack”, that was not what I paid for.

One thing is now clear for me, I am selling everything I can, unfortunately it takes to much effort to change the AC’s. And of course I will be putting the brand on a blacklist.

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Read this I believe it has some possible solutions

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I agree with You, thou i have sort of “giving up” , meaning the S…heads can do want they want, as im not a “Slave” to them, i as well can do what i want
Fortunately i bought my latest 2 TV’s ( Androids ) of other Brands, so basically i just have my new Samsung Washer ( Which i actually manage Manually ), thou i like getting the Status and datas into HA ( And a red light blinking when it’s finished :slight_smile:

So my “Contribution” to Samsung’s Approach is quite simple, i don’t buy their Devices anymore ( Hurt them on their “wallet” is the best, most efficient way )
I f no-one buy their subscriptions , Nor Devices, they will eventually"faster" get the point ( But yes “Money rules” so they will just raise the prices on the product ( i.e including lifetime subscription )

BTW,there is already a VERY similar Topic in this Regards, how many more will we see in here soon, do you think ?

Find a “free solution” ( maybe one in here already ) and post/share it to others

Edit: Ohh i just saw Arh’s post above, this and the one i got my “Solution” from makes it 3 Topics now, i swapped to localthings , hope it “survive” 1st of October :slight_smile:

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I swear I searched for topics on this! :sweat_smile:
Localthings sounds amazing! Will look into it.
But still, Samsung probably won’t make this last for long, but its a great start!

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Yeah, you are most likely right, Another Native Integration i Have, choosed Another Path.
When they ( The Company ) realized that more and more HA-users were actively using their API , they blocked certain(most) datas ( like i.e real-time-datas ), and “included” everything in a subscription. leaving just a few in the “open API”
Like i.e Weather-Services have/will do, Like TV-Providers change their Channel-Packets, picking out popular Channels ( In The Middle Of A Subscription Period )
There is absolutle NoShame in the behavior of “Bloodsuckers” and never will be.

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I’m not yet convinced that Matter should be on that list.

Lots of talk here about how that standard allows manufacturers to retain at least some control, which could in theory allow a switch to the subscription model. Or a company could go out of business or drop their product support, bricking or reducing the feature set of the device.

SmartThings was on my short list before I chose HA. The key decision point was HA’s support for totally local control. I’ve tried other cloud-dependent devices and have nearly finished ridding myself of all of them. It’s clear to me that any external service which isn’t subscription-based today, will be so in the future. Or be abandoned by the manufacturer. This announcement by Samsung should not be a surprise to anyone.

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The big upset with Samsung last year was when SmartThings introduced banner advertisements on the displays on their connected refridgerators “to give more value to consumers”. The API fees are not surprising at all.

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Not targeted at anyone in this thread or elsewhere for that matter.

Isn’t this why so many of us push for local control? The only cloud information I want is intentionally cloud, such as weather, package info(from email), etc.
Tuya, Smartthings, and other api providers are just awful and as always aggregating all of the data they can to sell to who knows where.

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Talking about “intruders” in Peoples private life,that’s crazy