Tuya Smart App – Comprehensive Guide

For anyone looking for a single point of control for their smart home devices, you’re in the right place. In this article, you’ll learn everything about the Tuya Smart app – how to set it up, how to add your smart devices, and how to use it.

If you’re not certain if this is something you actually need, make sure to read the next section, which explains exactly why you’d benefit from using an app like Tuya Smart.

What Is Tuya Smart and Why Should I Use It?

In recent years, there’s been a significant rise in the number of smart devices. That’s why you’re now able to use anything from a smart speaker or smart TV to smart fridges, light bulbs, and power outlets. And thanks to the booming smart home market, a lot of manufacturers have jumped at this opportunity.

With so many smart devices and different manufacturers to choose from, it became quite hard to choose only one brand and stick with it, especially since none of them offer a complete array of all types of smart devices. If you want to turn your home into a truly smart home, chances are you’ll have to go with at least two or three different manufacturers to cover all your needs.

Although there’s nothing wrong with that, the downside is that you’ll probably have to use each manufacturer’s mobile app to control their respective devices. And that’s exactly where some inconveniences might arise when using such a complex system of devices and apps. It’s pretty similar to having three different remote controls for your TV, sound system, and cable channels. Wouldn’t it be nice if you just had one remote control for all your entertainment devices?

That’s where apps like Tuya Smart can save the day. Allowing you to connect all your smart devices to a single app, Tuya Smart solves the inconvenience of having multiple smart device brands under your roof. It also lets you create all kinds of automations to tell your devices when to turn on or off and how to perform exactly as you need them.

In summary, here are the main features Tuya Smart app comes with:

• Connect and manage all the smart devices you use in your home.
• Manage multiple homes with a single app.
• Create groups to control multiple devices with just one tap.
• Invite users and assign them different authorization levels within the app.
• Create automation rules and scenarios.

Setting Up Tuya Smart

If you’ve decided to try Tuya Smart, there are some steps you’ll have to take first in order to start using the app:

• Install the app on your smartphone.
• Create your Tuya account.
• Get your bearings around the app’s home screen.
• Create your home’s profile.
• Add your household members.
• Connect the smart devices you want to use with Tuya Smart.

Installation and Account Creation

The first step in using the Tuya Smart app is to install it on your smartphone. It’s available for Android and iOS devices, so head over to either Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store and download it.

Once that’s done, it’s time to start the app and log in. If you don’t already have a Tuya account, it’s time to create one.

1. When you start the app, tap “Register.”
2. Tap “Agree” on the Privacy Policy pop-up screen.
3. Now choose your country code and enter your mobile phone number.
4. The app will send you an SMS with a verification code, so enter it on the next screen.
5. Finally, create your password and tap “Done.”

The Home Screen

Now that you’ve logged in to the app, you’ll see the app’s home screen. The layout is pretty clean and simple. The main portion of the screen is reserved for listing your smart devices. Since you haven’t connected any device with the app, you’ll see the “No devices, please add” image and the “Add Device” button.

In the upper part of the screen, there are three icons. The icon in the upper-left corner will show your home’s name once you set it. To the right, there’s a button for voice commands (the “microphone” icon) and a button for adding new devices (the “plus” icon).

At the bottom, there are three icons that take you to the main sections of the app:

• Home – The shortcut to the Home Screen, which shows all your connected devices.
• Smart – The menu for management of automation functions.
• Me – This is where you manage your home settings and add household members.

Creating Your Home’s Profile

The next step in setting up Tuya Smart is to create your home’s profile in the app.

1. Tap the “Me” icon. It’s the one in the bottom-right corner of the home screen.
2. Now tap the “Home Management” option from the menu.
3. On the next screen, tap “Add new.”
4. The “Edit Home Info” screen appears. From this, you can set various options for your home:
   1. Home Name.
   2. Home Location.
   3. Rooms.

Setting up the home name:

• The first step is to enter the name of your home. This is the name you’ll see in the upper-left corner of the Tuya Smart home screen. This information is mandatory to be able to proceed. The maximum length of the home name is 25 characters.

Setting up the home location:

1. Next, tap “Home Location.” Although this field isn’t mandatory, it will allow the app to provide you with various information based on your home’s location. This includes weather info, air pollution levels, and more.
2. Now you should see a map from which you can choose the location of your home. If you’ve enabled the “Location” option on your smartphone and you’re at home at the moment, simply tap the “target” icon at the bottom of the screen. This will focus the map on your location, making it easier to pinpoint the right spot.
3. Once you’re done, tap “OK” in the upper-right corner to return to the “Edit Home Info” menu.

Defining the rooms in your home:

1. The next step is to define the rooms for your home. The app provides you with a common list of room names you can use, such as Living Room, Master Bedroom, Second Bedroom, Kitchen, etc. If the recommended room names perfectly suit your home’s layout, you won’t have to change anything. You can tap “Save” in the upper-right corner right away.
2. If you want to add another room to your home, tap the “Add Room” option at the bottom of the screen.
3. The “Add Room” screen appears, where you can type in the room’s name. Here you’ll also see some recommendations you can use for the new room, such as Balcony, Porch, Kid’s Room, Closet, etc. If you find the right one, just tap the recommended name and it will automatically fill in the new room’s name.
4. Once you’re done, tap “Save” in the upper-right corner of the screen.
5. Now that you’re back on the “Edit Home Info” screen, you can add more rooms, edit the existing ones, or delete some of them.
   1. To edit a room’s name, simply tap its entry from the list and make the change on the next screen.
   2. To delete a room, simply swipe its entry to the right and tap the trash can icon.

Saving the home settings:

• When you’re satisfied with all the home settings you’ve entered, tap “Save” in the upper-right corner of the “Edit Home Info” screen. This will take you back to the app’s home screen.

Now that you’re back on the Tuya Smart home screen, you’ll see that it changed slightly, showing the information based on your home settings:

• In the upper-right corner, you’ll see your home’s name.
• Beneath that, the app will now show current weather conditions for your location (if you’ve set it), such as Sunny/Cloudy/Rain/Night, current outside temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.
• Beneath the weather information, you’ll see a row showing your room names. This acts as a filter to view devices for each room separately. The first option to the left is “All devices” which lists all smart devices you’ve added to Tuya Smart. Of course, at this moment you don’t have any devices to show, so that will be the next step.

Adding More Homes to Tuya Smart

What’s great about Tuya Smart is that it allows you to manage and control smart devices in multiple homes through a single app.

To add another home to the app, follow the steps below:

1. From the app’s home screen, tap your current home name in the upper-left corner of the screen.
2. Now tap the “Home Management” option.
3. The next screen will show all the homes you’ve added to the app. At this moment, you’ll probably have only one.
4. Tap “Add new” to create another home in the app.
5. Now follow the steps as explained in the “Creating Your Home’s Profile” section above.

When you’ve created one or more additional homes in the app, you can switch between them quite easily. Simply tap the home name in the upper-left corner of the app’s main screen and choose another home from the drop-down menu. It’s that easy. When you switch between homes, the app will show you only the smart devices you have in the home you’ve chosen.

Adding Household Members

Now that you’ve completed the home setup in Tuya Smart, it’s time to add your home members. This way, everyone you live with will be able to control the smart devices you have in your home.

1. From the app’s home screen, tap your home name in the upper-left corner.
2. Tap the name again to open the “Home Settings” screen.
3. This screen allows you to manage various settings for your home, like the name, rooms, location, and home members. To add a new member to your home, tap the “Add Member” option.
4. In the next screen, enter the member’s name, set their role, and enter their phone number or email. There are three member roles to choose from, and these define the level of interaction with the smart devices in your home:
   1. Home Owner – That’s you, and there can be only one such member. This is the highest authorization level in the app, allowing you to manage all aspects of your home. That includes managing your home settings, devices, rooms, automation scenarios, and other members.
   2. Administrator – This allows the management of your smart devices, rooms, automations, and other members.
   3. Member – This is the lowest authorization level, allowing only the use of devices and automation scenarios.
5. Once you’ve entered all the details for the new member, tap “Save” in the upper-right corner of the screen.
6. This will take you back to the “Home Settings” screen, where you can see the new member’s entry appearing in the “Home Members” section. With that done, you can add more members to the app or return to the home screen by tapping the back arrow in the upper-left corner of the screen.

When you add a new member to the app and return to the “Home Settings” screen, you’ll notice that it says “Waiting to join...” beneath the member’s name. This status will remain until the member accepts your invitation and starts using the app. Once they accept the invitation, this status disappears and the member’s email address or mobile phone number appears instead.

To better understand the process new members go through, here are the steps required for them to start using the app:

1. The first step is for them to install the Tuya Smart app.
2. Next, they start the app and create their Tuya user account.
3. Once they log in to the app and you add them to Home Members, they will receive a pop-notification from Tuya Smart.
4. When the “Confirm Invitation” pops-up, they have to tap “Accept.”

After that, the home that you’ve created will appear in their Tuya Smart app in the top-left corner. What they can do in the app will depend on the authorization level you’ve assigned to their profile.

Device Sharing

Another interesting feature of this app is that you can share control over a device in your home with anyone you like. The only condition is that they need to be in the same country as you. This is a pretty convenient feature when you want to allow your guests to use some of your smart devices while visiting. That’s especially useful if you have relatives or friends that come to stay with you for a couple of days at a time and you want them to feel as comfortable as possible.

Of course, this option is not ideal for the members of your household. For that scenario, you should add them as members in Tuya Smart, as explained in the section above.

Setting Up the Voice Assistant

Like many other smart apps, Tuya Smart also works with voice assistants. It’s compatible with Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Samsung’s Bixby through its SmartThings app.

To connect Tuya Smart with an assistant, follow the steps below:

1. From the app’s home screen, tap the “Me” icon on the bottom of the screen.
2. On the “Me” screen, you should see the “Third-Party Integrations” section. Tap the “More” button in the upper-right corner.
3. Now you should see the list of available third-party integrations Tuya Smart is compatible with.
4. Tap the voice assistant you’d like to use and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.

Now, whenever you want to use a voice command, you can call out to your assistant, or use the “Voice Command” button from Tuya Smart home screen. You can find this in the upper-right corner of the screen. The icon looks like a microphone.

Adding Smart Devices to the Tuya Smart App

Now that you’ve fully customized the application with home settings, it’s time to add your smart devices. There are two ways you can do this – either manually or automatically.

Adding Devices Manually

1. To start adding the devices, go to the app’s home screen. To do so, simply tap the “Home” icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
2. Now tap the “Add Device” button in the center portion of the screen. You can also add devices by tapping the “plus” icon in the top-right corner.
3. On the next screen, tap the “Add Manually” tab.
4. Now various device types will appear on the screen. Tap the device type you’d like to add to the app.
5. On the next screen, you’ll see the list of available Wi-Fi networks close to you. In the center portion of the screen, you’ll also see the recommendation to switch your home Wi-Fi to 2.4 GHz if you’re using a 5 GHz network. This is done through the Wi-Fi router’s settings.
6. When you see the name of your home Wi-Fi in the list, tap it and enter the password.
7. Tap “Next.”
8. This takes you to the “Reset the device” screen. Tap “Net Pairing Mode” in the top-right corner of the screen to select the pairing mode for your device.
9. In the “Net Pairing Mode” drop-down menu you’ll see two options:
   1. EZ Mode – This the default mode for connecting smart devices with the app using your home Wi-Fi network.
   2. AP Mode – Use this mode if you have a dedicated access point or gateway device. These devices create a closed Wi-Fi network for communication between your smart devices and the app you’re using.
10. Tap the mode you’d like to use.

Using the EZ Mode

1. Tap “EZ Mode” from the “Net Pairing Mode” drop-down menu.
2. Now follow the instructions on the “Reset the device” screen, showing you how to set your smart device to its pairing mode:
   1. Power on the device.
   2. Turn on the device’s pairing mode. This process differs from device to device, so follow the device’s manual to learn how to do this.
3. When the indicator light on the device starts blinking rapidly, tap the “Confirm indicator rapidly blink” radio button.
4. Tap “Next.”
5. Wait until the pairing between the device and the app is complete.
6. Once that’s done, you’ll see the basic device settings screen. Enter the name of the device and select which room it’s in.
7. Tap “Done.”
8. Go to the app’s home screen, and you should see the device in the main portion of the screen.

Using the AP Mode

1. Tap “AP Mode” from the “Net Pairing Mode” drop-down menu.
2. Now reset your device following the instructions on the screen.
   1. Power on the device.
   2. Turn on the device’s pairing mode.
3. Tap the “Confirm indicator rapidly blink” radio button when you see that the indicator light on the device is blinking rapidly.
4. Tap “Next.”
5. In this step, the app tells you that you need to connect your smartphone to the dedicated device’s Wi-Fi hotspot. This is also called “Access Point” or “Gateway,” depending on the device you’re using. To do so, go to your smartphone’s Wi-Fi settings and switch from your home Wi-Fi to the Wi-Fi hotspot of the device you’re using.
6. Once you switch to the hotspot network, return to the Tuya Smart app and tap the “Go to Connect” button.
7. Tuya Smart will establish a connection with your smart device using the dedicated Wi-Fi hotspot.
8. When they connect, you’ll see the screen where you can enter the name of your smart device and select the room where it’s placed.
9. Tap “Done” to proceed.
10. Return to the app’s home screen and you’ll see the device appearing in the main portion of the screen.

Adding Devices Automatically

The Auto Scan mode allows you to automatically connect several smart devices at once by letting the app search for all your devices. This includes standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth smart devices, dedicated gateways, Bluetooth mesh devices, Zigbee gateways and devices, and many more. Once you enable this option, anytime a new smart device is turned on and set to pairing mode, Tuya Smart will automatically detect it and offer to add it to the app.

1. From the app’s home screen, tap the “Add Device” button in the center portion of the screen or tap the “plus” icon in the top-right corner.
2. On the next screen, tap the “Auto Scan” tab.
3. The app will now automatically search for any available smart devices in your home.
4. In the main portion of the screen, you’ll see the “Enable permissions for scanning devices” dialog.
5. Tap both the “Enable Wi-Fi” and “Enable Bluetooth” buttons.
6. Tap “Start scanning” to immediately start looking for the nearby smart devices.
7. When Tuya Smart finds your devices, you’ll see a pop-up showing you how many devices it has detected.
8. To add them, tap “Go to add.”
9. Now return to the app’s home screen and you’ll see all the devices Tuya Smart has successfully connected with.

Managing Devices and Rooms on the Home Screen

Once you’ve added all your smart devices to the Tuya Smart app, they will appear on the app’s home screen, right beneath the room filters. By default, the app shows you the “All Devices” filter, letting you see every device you’ve added to the app in one place. If you want to see only the devices you have in your living room, simply tap the “Living Room” filter.

On the right side of the room filters section, you’ll notice a three-dot icon. When you tap it, you get three options:

• List View.
• Device Management.
• Room Management.

List View

This option allows you to change how the devices appear on the home screen. You can choose either List View or Grid View. By default, the app uses Grid View.

Device Management

In this menu, you can drag the devices to arrange them as you like. You can also view them in grid or list mode. Devices that are currently turned off will be grayed-out. To remove one or more of the devices, select them by tapping each one and then tap the “Remove Device” button at the bottom of the page.

Room Management

Using this option, you can rearrange the order in which your rooms appear in the room filter menu on the main screen.

1. To enter the edit mode, tap the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. It looks like an arrow pointing down with three horizontal lines next to it.
2. Now tap and hold the icon to the right of each room to move it up or down through the list.
3. From this menu, you can also remove the rooms you don’t need. On iOS devices, tap the minus icon to the left of the room’s name. On Android, swipe the room’s entry to the left to reveal the delete button. When you tap it, the room will disappear from the list.
4. Once you’re satisfied with the room list, tap “Done” in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Using Your Smart Devices Through Tuya Smart

With the app completely set up and all devices and rooms arranged to suit your needs, you can now start using your smart devices.

The first thing you’ll notice is that certain device icons show some key information the device is registering. Here are some examples:

• A smart thermostat can show current home temperature and humidity.
• Smart air purifiers show the PM levels in your home.
• Smart light bulbs and power outlets will provide a power button, allowing you to easily turn them on or off.

If a device has some common options for you to play with, you can quickly access those by tapping the icon in the lower-right portion of the device tile. It looks like an arrow pointing down. The benefit of this option is to set some basic features through a pop-up menu instead of opening the device’s options page.

This is pretty convenient when you want to quickly set an option for the device. For example, a smart thermostat will provide a power button and a slider that allows you to set the desired temperature for your home. If you have an RGB lighting system like Philips HUE, this menu allows you to change its color, intensity, and lighting pattern.

To access all of the device’s options, simply tap the device’s tile to open its management menu. This menu allows you to view and change many of the options related to each device, such as:

• Device’s name and icon.
• Which room it belongs to.
• See some more technical details such as the device’s ID, MAC address.
• Check its connection status.
• Turn the device on or off.
• Change its time zone.
• Enable or disable the device’s automation options.
• Share the device with a home member.
• Create a group of the same devices or add this one to an existing group.
• Add a shortcut to the device, which will appear on your smartphone’s home screen.
• Check for device updates available from its manufacturer.
• Remove the device from the Tuya Smart app.

Creating Automation Scenarios

Now that you’ve customized Tuya Smart to perfectly suit your needs and added all your smart devices, you can conveniently control your entire smart home from your mobile phone. Although that sounds futuristic, it’s only the start.

One of the greatest benefits of using an app like Tuya Smart is creating automation scenarios that tell your smart devices when and how to perform. These can range from a simple task of turning on the lights on your front porch at sunset to more complex scenarios that handle multiple devices at once.

An Example of a Complex Automation Scenario

Here’s an example of a fairly complex automation that you can easily create with Tuya Smart. This automation reacts to your presence at home. The moment you leave home for work in the morning, Tuya Smart detects that and immediately issues a series of tasks:

• Shut down the lights in your entire home.
• Turn off the air conditioning.
• Send your robotic vacuum cleaner to do its thing.

After a hard day’s work, the moment you enter a radius of some 1,000 meters from your home, the automation can do the following:

• Turn on the air conditioning to reach the optimal temperature before you return
• Run the air purifier to improve the quality of air in your home.
• Turn on the lights in your home.
• Tell your smart speaker to connect to your Hi-Fi audio system via Bluetooth and play your favorite radio station from Spotify.
• Turn on your smart TV and set the channel for the news station you follow.

That’s great, right? Although it might seem like you’re adding a bit of sci-fi to your everyday life, it’s actually a pretty common thing nowadays.

Adding Fully Automated Scenarios

Automations in Tuya Smart work based on a predefined set of conditions. Once the conditions are met, the app will tell the related smart devices to perform the tasks you’ve set for them. Activating an automation scenario doesn’t require any action from you once you’ve created it. It will run on its own until you deactivate it or delete it from the app.

1. From the app’s home screen, tap the “Smart” icon. It’s the middle one at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap the “Automation” tab.
3. Tap the “Add Automatic” button in the main portion of the screen. Once you add your first automation, you can add more by tapping the “plus” icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. This takes you to the “Smart Settings” menu. To add a new condition, tap the “plus” icon in the “Conditions” tile.
5. Now tap the plus sign in the “Task” tile to define what kind of task a smart device should perform.
6. Enter a name for the task.
7. Choose the color style for this automation’s tile so you can easily spot it in Tuya Smart.
8. Define the time period in which this automation should run.
9. Once you’re done, tap “Save” in the top-right corner.
10. This will take you back to the “Smart” screen, where you’ll see a new tile appearing for the automation you’ve just created.

Adding Tap-to-Run Automations

Tap-to-Run is another great way of controlling your smart home through Tuya Smart. Compared to the full automation described above, Tap-to-Run lets you manually start a series of tasks with just one tap.

1. From the app’s home screen, tap the “Smart” icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap the “Tap-to-Run” tab.
3. Tap the “Add Tap-to-Run” button in the main portion of the screen or tap the plus icon in the top-right corner.
4. This takes you to the “Create Smart” menu. In the “Set a condition” step, tap the “Launch Tap-to-Run” option.
5. Now you advance to the “Set up task” step, where you should tap one of the available options:
   1. Run the device – Ideal for activating multiple smart devices of different types at once.
   2. Select Smart – Allows you to turn on or off one of your full automation scenarios without triggering their tasks.
   3. Send Notification.
   4. Delay – Use this to create a delay between device tasks.
6. Depending on the task you’ve chosen, simply follow the on-screen instructions to set all the details for the task.
7. When you’re done, tap “Next” in the upper-right corner, and a new Tap-to-Run tile will appear in the app’s “Smart” screen.

Once you complete this process, you’ll be able to launch any of your Tap-to-Run automations with a single tap from the “Smart” screen.

Managing Your Automations

Now that you’ve created all your automations and tap-to-run scenarios, you can also manage how they appear in the app’s “Smart” screen.

1. Go to the “Smart” screen in the app.
2. Tap either the “Tap-to-Run” or “Automation” tab, depending on which one you want to manage right now.
3. To the right of the “Tap-to-Run” and “Automation” tabs, you’ll see the three dots icon. Tap it.
4. Now the corresponding menu appears, showing your “Tap-to-Run” or “Automation” entries.
5. To rearrange the order of the entries, use the three lines icon to the right of the entry’s name. Simply tap and hold the icon and move the entry up or down.
6. To delete an entry, simply tap the “minus” icon next to it and confirm the action by tapping “Delete,” which appears to the right of the entry.
7. Once you’re satisfied with the changes you’ve made, tap “Done” in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Tuya Smart Is Truly a Great Help in Your Home

Hopefully, this article has helped you learn how to set up the Tuya Smart app and how to connect all your smart devices into a single ecosystem. Once you establish control over your entire home from a single point such as your mobile phone, there’s no turning back to the old ways. And with so many automation options for you to work with, it shows just how beneficial smart living is.

Have you managed to integrate your home in Tuya Smart? Do you find automation scenarios useful? How often do you use them? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.