Samsung smart TVs from 2011 to 2015 lose control app support

Samsung has decided to phase out the ‘remote control app’ Smart View later this year. Support for the app will expire, which means that a significant number of Samsung smart TVs from the period 2011 to 2015 can no longer be controlled via this app.

Samsung announces on the Google Play page and in Apple’s App Store that support for the Samsung Smart View app will expire after October 5. Users who delete the app will not be able to download it again afterwards.

The manufacturer points to an alternative: the Samsung SmartThings app. According to Samsung, this app includes many of the features from the Smart View app. The downside is that this newer app only works with TVs from 2016 and later.

The Smart View app was introduced in 2011 and gave users with smart TVs from that year and the following years the option to use the app as a remote control. The app also made it possible to send photos and video to the TV, open TV apps, or use the Art mode on Samsung’s first The Frame TV.

Incidentally, there are quite a few complaints about the Smart View app. The app’s Google Play page is full of negative user reviews, including complaining about an update that caused the top button to stop working. Another user reports that the power, pause, and play buttons also no longer work and that the SmartThings app has even less functionality than the Smart View app.