Smart Shades 2.0 4+

Remote vs. iPhone App

We purchased Shades from Smith & Nobel for our Master Bedroom (5 Windows), Kitchen (2 Windows) and Family Room (3 High windows with Solar charging).

We have extensive lighting automation in our home. When we remodeled our first floor, automated shades seemed like a good addition to our home automation plan. This was especially the case in our Family Room with windows 14 feet high.

Some blinds have different features that can be enabled in the iPhone app, like ability to open fully or a specific percentage. Take the time to explore features blind types as your order.

We had some issues initially getting the shades to work properly. Once the hub was upgraded to newest version issues using the hand held remotes, (separate remotes for each room) were resolved by an onsite tech.

However, issues persisted with the iPhone app that needed additional work by the development team, who made several software upgrades over a short period of time.

The iPhone app is very flexible but there’s a bit of a learning curve to be able leverage all the features to get to the desired result.

It’s been a journey to get the blinds working to our desired end state but we are pleased with the result.

Many thanks to Della and her team for working on fixes and patience with me as a new user of the app.

Big improvement from previous app, still not great

We’ve had Smith & Noble shades for a year. They are great. The shades are great. Well made, stylish, perfectly designed for our home.

This app? Not so much. We upgraded our hub and got to move from the previous app, which was a certifiable one-star disaster.

The current iteration is better, in particular the UI, which is much more intuitive. Scheduling is much easier.

But this app is still plagued by connection/ responsiveness issues. The issues are intermittent - so some mornings as the shades are rising on schedule, just one of them won’t go up. Sometimes manually using the app fixes it, sometimes we have to use the remote.

It’s all very frustrating but small potatoes compared to the last app so I’m giving this version three stars.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback. We do apologize! We continue to update our App and Hub to improve the user experience. Please make sure you have the latest version of the App downloaded and the most recent firmware update on the Hub. Our Care team can help via care@smithnoble.com or call us at 800-248-8888, press 3 for Customer Care.

Exceptional Customer Service

If you have the opportunity to work with Robyn Heine (designer), Mario Saldana (installer), Della McCay (motorization expert support) and/or Andre Comitre (tech support), consider yourself blessed. Robyn was a phenomenal designer and got me exactly what I needed. Mario fit everything beautifully in my home. I had issues with the app connecting with my eero system and Della and Andre were relentless in their pursuit for a resolution. A company can be made on its tech, user experience, or affordability, but few things are a proxy for how a customer feels than the way the company treats its customers. On that point, my experience has been second to none. Cannot say enough about these folks and how they treated me. Five star people all the way.