the application that allows you to use devices from different brands

Transforming everyday objects into smart devices is one of the most important trends of this century. This reached its maximum expression with the home automation, capable of giving advanced functions to the elements of a houseand lately this has also happened with connected cars. In Europe more and more promotions are built taking into account the use of this device control system, but most people usually start little by little.

The most used devices are usually smart sockets and light bulbs, which allow us to control the switching on and off of the different devices that we connect. This activation and deactivation can be done using voice commands.but for this you need an application that controls the devices and that we normally carry on our mobile.

Major brands have their own control apps. A good example is Xiaomi Home, the control center of the brand’s ecosystem which, however, also has Mi Fitness for health products. The different smart vacuum cleaner companies also have their own applications, since they are complex devices. However, many smaller brands don’t develop their apps and rely on a central company.

Smart life and yours

Tuya is a giant cloud services company that develops hardware and software products and solutions. One of their strategies is growth in the home automation sector, which is why they have several devices in their catalog. All of them are controlled from their own app, also called Tuya.

But the company also has an app called Smart Life which is essentially a clone of its own app and which offers other companies that cannot build their own infrastructure. This way, These companies are not required to invest in their own application nor be obliged to use that of a competing brand.

This made Smart Life has become a perfect application to control devices of different brands without having to install different applications and allowing cross-use with conditions and programming. Therefore, many users prefer to purchase a product compatible with Smart Life rather than choosing to install a new application.

Tuya also allows businesses to pay to have their own app under the company’s infrastructure. In short, what it does is create a clone of Tuya or Smart Life, but using the company’s colors and logoremaining halfway between having an application designed from scratch with what it costs and having to use a generic application. Gosund is an example.

However, the good news is that Smart Life is still able to manage all these devices because the protocol it uses is the same. In the case of Tuya there are more restrictions since the company limits the devices that can be used from this application to its own and a few others, so It is always more advisable to use Smart Life

Pair a device

When we buy a new device compatible with Smart Life, we can connect it in two ways. Or we scan the QR code of the same or we select from a list. Both actions are available at the top of the app, in an icon with the + symbol in blue.

Normally what we will do is search using Bluetooth then connect to our WiFi to transmit the password to that device, but not before having to connect via Wi-Fi to the network created by that same device. The app interface shows us the steps one by one and there is not much complication. Yes indeed, Keep in mind that most of these devices only support 2.4 GHz networks.

Use smart life

Once we know that Smart Life is surely the application we want, it must be said that its use is very simple, although it advertising banners appear from time to time. This is because it is a free application that many companies use, but it is something strange. Fortunately, they can be removed simply by clicking on the X that appears in one of its corners.

The main interface is where we have all the devices linked. They can be assign to roomswhich will create differentiated tabs in this interface in case we want to enter only to control the devices in a room. At the bottom we also have the scenes, which are commands controlled by certain criteria, such as the scene, the installed sensors, etc.

The smart tab provides access to advanced alarm notification functions, energy savings management if you subscribe to monthly administration fees, etc. This isn’t a section we’re going to use much. And the last one is the profile, where we can manage the house, create a new one, Pair devices with voice assistantsetc.

Dentro de cada aparato vinculado podremos controlar diferentes parámetros. Si es una bombilla, por ejemplo, podremos controlar el color, el brillo, hacer que cambie con la música que suena, etc. Si es un enchufe podremos programarlo, ver el consumo que ha tenido el aparato enchufado a él, ver el histórico de esos consumos…