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Certify and Publish Your Device

Product Policies

What You Should Know​

Smart homes are meant to be an ecosystem. We know that SmartThings can only succeed with partnerships. We want to work with you to add more devices and integrations to customers’ homes. We also know that you have a business to run. The following guidelines will help you understand how we want to collaborate with you on building experiences for customers.

Your Rights​

You own any integration that you create. This means that you are responsible for ensuring everything in your integration complies with SmartThings Terms of Service and local legal requirements in regions where you distribute. We must comply with local laws in all markets that we operate, and expect you to do the same.

Intellectual Property​

Do not use protected third-party material, such as trademarks, without permission. Integrations should be submitted by the person or legal entity that owns or has licensed the intellectual property and other relevant rights. If you believe your intellectual property has been infringed upon by another developer, let us know here.

As part of the Works with SmartThings certification process, we will test your integration in a laboratory environment. Please provide an active demonstration account and login information, plus any devices, hardware, or resources that may be included in certification. We will not attempt to use your integration outside of the testing requirements defined in the Developer Workspace.

Proof of Business​

In order to submit a product for WWST certification, you must verify your business identity. You can do this by creating your Organization in the Certification Console. Once registered, you will receive an email with your Manufacturer ID (MNID).

note

Store your Manufacturer ID (MNID) for future reference.

Right to Remove​

Typically, we will provide you with a notification if there is an issue with your integration. However, we reserve the right to remove your integration from the SmartThings Catalog or terminate access to the SmartThings Cloud without notice. Repeated or serious violations of the guidelines may result in further termination of individual, partner, or other related accounts.

Performance and Stability​

A great user experience is paramount when it comes to integrating your product with SmartThings. We consistently strive to bring customers the most seamless, low latency smart home experiences. Ensuring your systems are always running and up to date is important - especially if a user is controlling/connecting to your service via a cloud infrastructure.

Best Practices​

Consider how a user will interact with your product, including setup and control. Use the resources available in our developer documentation and code samples to assist with the development and testing of your integration. Use the SmartThings Community to discuss your ideas and best practices for staying below the platform rate limits.

Security​

Smart homes are meant to be peaceful sanctuaries. Many smart homes have families of diverse ages and backgrounds. The following guidelines ensure that all customers will feel comfortable with their smart home and the SmartThings apps. In addition to the below guidelines, we may use our discretion to determine if your integration violates local laws or customs.

Sexual Content​

Your integration must not:

  • Present or encourage overt sexual concepts or content (including, but not limited to, explicit nudity, exposed male or female genitalia, pornography, pedophilia, bestiality, sexually explicit behavior, and sexually suggestive poses).
  • Present or encourage exploitative sexual behavior (including, but not limited to, sexual abuse, sexual assault, and bestiality).

Violence​

Your integration must not:

  • Present or encourage murder, suicide, torture, or abuse.
  • Present or encourage violence or criminal behavior that could instigate a crime.
  • Present or encourage threats toward people or animals.
  • Present or encourage recklessly gruesome content (including, but not limited to, excessive bleeding).
  • Present or encourage real-world use of weapons, bombs, terrorist actions, or other dangerous objects.
  • Contain content that could lead to self-harm, choking, serious injury, or death.

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs​

Your integration must not:

  • Present or encourage the illegal use of alcohol, tobacco (including electronic cigarettes), or drugs.
  • Present or encourage the sale of alcohol, tobacco (including electronic cigarettes), or drugs to minors.
  • Encourage excessive consumption of or make unnecessary references to alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
  • Encourage consumption of recreational drugs.
  • Present medical information to users, and must notify users that the medical information could be inaccurate.
  • Contain unauthorized drugs, regulated drugs, dietary supplements, or products with names or designs that can cause user confusion.

We understand that some substances may be considered regulated or recreational in some regions but not others. If there is any nuance, we will err on the side of not accepting your product for WWST Certification.

Defamation and Vulgarity​

Your integration must not:

  • Present content that could defame (by slander or libel) individual persons or groups of people based on race, gender, sexual preference or identity, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion, political identity, or ideology.
  • Present excessively unpleasant, repellent, obscene, or vulgar language or expressions.
  • Present offensive, discriminatory, or inflammatory content about specific religious, social, or political parties, groups, or concepts.
  • Present content that reasonable public consensus may find to be improper or inappropriate

Child Safety​

We have a zero-tolerance policy against any form of child or sexual abuse content, including but not limited to any sexual exploitation of minors. If we become aware or are informed of any integration or content promoting or facilitating the distribution of any form of child sexual abuse content, we will promptly report it to all appropriate authorities and remove the SmartThings Developer, User Accounts, and anyone else that may be involved with the distribution.

Illegal Activities​

We do not permit integrations that promote illegal activities. You are responsible for determining the legality of your integration in countries where it will be available to SmartThings customers. If we determine that your integration is unlawful in specific countries where you have made them available, we will remove it.

Data Privacy​

Smart homes are meant to be private. The following guidelines ensure that all customers will feel protected and secure with their smart home and content shared with SmartThings. We follow all local laws and guidelines for the distribution of any third party integration to consumers. In addition to the requirements below, you must comply with the local data privacy laws of the country or region where you make your integration available. Be sure to check each country’s local laws.

Privacy​

Your integration must:

  • Provide a mechanism for users to delete their data. Customers are trusting us with their data. They must be able to delete this data from your systems.
  • Display a user privacy policy during registration if personal data is transmitted outside of the SmartThings Cloud.
  • Not access, collect, use, transmit, or share user data without explicit user consent in accordance with local laws.
  • Not require that the user grant more permissions or provide more personal information than the minimum necessary to successfully support features.

Additionally, your privacy policy must include the following information in an easily understood format:

  • Collected user data items and types
  • Purposes of using user data
  • List of third-parties with which your integration shares user data and shared data types
  • User data items and data types that your integration shares with third-parties
  • User data retention period and user data deletion (for example, upon account deletion or integration uninstallation)
  • Method of notifying users when the privacy policy is revised
  • User data-related privileges (such as reading, revising, or deleting data) that can be requested by users

Experience​

Smart homes are meant to be natural. People want to have unique experiences that can adapt to their physical surroundings, local designs, and enhance every difference that makes each person special. Whether it’s having the thermostat lower the temperature when the user leaves their home or having the lights change intensity and color based on an event the user defines, almost anything is possible. We want people to feel that way when they integrate your product with SmartThings. Users should trust that their integration is providing an original experience, using trusted standards, and accessible to everyone in the home. The following section details the expectations for you when building these distinct solutions.

Original Design (Intellectual Property Protection)​

Do not copy another product experience. Add a bit of flair to make your integration unique to your organization. Do not make small changes to someone else’s integration and attempt to submit it as your own.

Device or Service Ownership​

Some product owners may not want all of their features available on SmartThings. We know that many developers like to make their own versions of an integration. These alternative integrations are not permitted for WWST certification. You must be the owner, or an authorized representative, of an organization that owns any IP rights to your product or service.

  • If you are submitting a device for certification, you must be the OEM or authorized representative (e.g. an authorized contract manufacturer).
  • If you are submitting a Connected Service for certification, you must be an authorized representative of the service.
  • In certain cases where you are seeking to certify an open source product or platform that may not have an IP owner, you must be a recognized contributor to the project.

If we determine that you have submitted a product Certification or are representing a company without their authorization, your SmartThings Developer account will be deleted and you will lose access to any information you have submitted to SmartThings. We reserve the right to delist your product from the Catalog at any time. Refer to Section 5. Submission, Certification, and Distribution of Applications of the SmartThings Terms of Service for additional details.

Modern Standards​

When designing how consumers will use your device, consider how to apply best practices for reliability & uptime, UI interaction and design, optimizing code to improve performance, and other aspects. What are the best apps you use today on your smart phone or in your home? Why do these apps and experiences resonate well with you? Think about how to apply a similar experience with your device integration or connected service.

WCAG Compatibility​

Having a great consumer experience for everyone is paramount when designing your integration. Consider using best practices found in the Web Compatibility and Assistance Guidelines. Examples include providing different text sizes for readability, using alternative text for images, and supporting dark mode. Refer to the WCAG for additional information.

Language Localization​

The minimum requirement is for your integration to be in English or Korean. To offer the best user experience, SmartThings supports 30+ languages. We encourage you to localize for countries where customers may use your device. In non-English speaking countries, the SmartThings app will select the closest available language (default English).

About Our Authorized Test Provider (UL)​

UL Logo

The UL test lab has been the on the forefront of wireless technology, interoperability testing and “Works With” programs for over 15 years. UL is a key partner to major technology companies that provide voice assistant/recognition testing to verify that connected devices performs to specifications. UL’s dominant position in interoperability testing has allowed the company to naturally transition to be a leading test lab for wearables, infotainment, home automation and IoT. The primary focus of UL testing is to ensure that the consumer has a positive and reliable experience with the products they test. Testing includes a lightweight standard testing process that will use be used to validate that your device(s) work well in the scenarios they were envisioned for.

Contact Information​

When you apply for certification, your submitted application will be forwarded to UL and a quote will be issued for product testing. You can choose one of the test locations based on your main business area or the main sales area of your product. Once you accept your quote, UL will guide you on how to ship your device.

For inquiries related to testing quotes, delivery, and device testing, please contact the UL WWST team at wwst-functional@ul.com.

Test Locations​

Below you can find the the addresses of WWST UL testing laboratories. Be sure to ship according to the instructions for customs clearance and device acceptance.

U.S.
UL Solutions
Attn: Interoperability Lab
12 Laboratory Drive
Durham, NC 27709 - USA

South Korea
UL Korea, Ltd.
218, Maeyeong-ro, Yeongtong-gu,
Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea (16675)