Samsung launches “Galaxy Upcycling at Home” in beta

When Samsung launched their Galaxy Upcycling at Home initiative at CES 2021, it caused quite a bit of a stir as those who had older devices that they didn’t want to let go of can now have some use for it. Now they’re entering into the beta testing phase and gives more details about how you can transform your old phones into smart home devices like baby monitors and smart home devices. There are two modes that you can use with the SmartThings app to upcycle your devices: Sound Sensor and Light Sensor.

The Sound Sensor mode will be able to recognize sounds in everyday surroundings and you can choose which sounds you want to save and send an alert to you. For example, if it detects a baby crying, it will send an alert to your smartphone and you can listen to it and determine if it’s something that needs your attention. This way, you can use your old phone as a baby monitor or even as a pet care solution.

As for the Light Sensor mode, you can turn your old smartphone into a light sensor. It can detect the amount of light in your room, whether it’s sunlight or regular room light and then trigger one of your smart devices to do something once a certain level of light is detected. Samsung has also equipped the upgrade with battery optimization solutions so that it will use minimal power, in case the device is running on battery power.

For now, the program is only using the microphone and the light sensors of your older devices but in theory, it can do so much more especially if they will use the camera. They can use old phones as IP cameras but for now that is not yet an option. But since this is still in beta testing and in initial stages, we can expect more future features that you can use with your phone and the SmartThings app.

The Galaxy Upcycling At Home is available for all Galaxy S, Note, and Z series released from 2018 and running on Android 9 and above. It’s still only available in the US, UK, and Korea.