SMGS Hub for Android · Walkthrough

01

Getting started

SMGS Hub needs Android 12 or later. It's built from source with Gradle; there are two flavours that install side by side:

SMGS Hub (com.smgsankar.hub) signs in to your Carrier / Jio Smart Living account with your mobile number and a one-time code.
SMGS Hub Demo (com.smgsankar.hub.demo) has three pretend ACs and no account, for trying things out.

cd android
./gradlew installProdDebug     # or installDemoDebug
./gradlew test                 # unit and UI tests

On first launch the app asks you to sign in once; the session is saved and renewed silently from then on. This walkthrough starts right after sign-in, at adding your ACs.

The screenshots on this page come from the demo build on a OnePlus phone, so no real phone number or device ids appear here. Every screen, label and behaviour is the real app. Use the Light / Dark switch at the top to see each screenshot in either appearance; the app follows the phone's dark theme unless you pick one in Settings.

02

Adding your ACs

Right after you sign in, SMGS Hub lists every AC registered to your account. Everything starts ticked; untick anything you don't want on this phone and tap Add.

The app with no ACs yet: a 'No ACs yet' message and an Add AC button. — **No ACs yet.** If you skip the list, the app offers it again.

Add air conditioners: Bedroom AC and Living Room AC online, Study AC offline, all ticked, with an Add 3 ACs button. — **Add air conditioners.** Each row shows the room and whether the unit is online right now.

The AC list after adding: Bedroom AC cooling at 23 degrees, Living Room AC off, and Study AC offline. — **Added.** Each AC fills in its live state within moments.

Open the list any time with Add AC at the bottom of the AC list. It only shows ACs that aren't already on this phone.
Brand-new units are still set up in the manufacturer's phone app first. Once they're on your account they show up here.

03

Your ACs at a glance

The first screen is your house: one card per AC, in the order you added them.

Badge: the set point in the AC's mode colour while it runs, a dash when it's off or unreachable.
Summary: Cool · fan auto · swing while running, Off, or Offline · last seen 3 min ago when the unit has dropped off Wi-Fi. The green dot means online.
Power button on each card turns that AC on or off without opening it. Orange is reserved for power, everywhere in the app.
Header: how many ACs are online, Refresh to re-read them all now, and Settings.
Tap a card to open that AC.

On a tablet the list stays on the left and the AC you pick opens beside it.

The AC list with three cards, each with a temperature badge, name, summary and power button.

04

An AC's screen

Each AC opens to two tabs, Controls and Usage; swipe sideways or tap to switch.

Header: the AC's name, its room and what it's doing right now (Cooling, Drying, Off), in the mode's colour. ⋮ has Rename and Remove.
Status line: Online · updated just now, or Offline / Can't connect.
Info chips: room and outdoor temperature, plus the timer only when one is set.
The dial, with − and + to change the temperature.
Control dock at the bottom, within thumb reach: Fan, Mode, Power, Functions and Timer, each showing its current value.

The soft glow behind the controls takes the colour of the mode while the AC runs: blue for Cool, teal for Dry, green for Fan, indigo for Auto, grey when it's off.

Bedroom AC's Controls tab: status line, room 26.5 °C, outdoor 34 °C, off in 2h 30m, the dial at 23 °C cooling, and the control dock.

05

The thermostat dial

The dial is a ring that fills from the AC's lowest to highest set point (usually 17–30 °C) in a gradient of the current mode's colour.

Large numerals show the target. In Fan mode the AC ignores the target, so the dial shows --.
Mode line underneath (Cooling · Fan auto) and tags for whatever's switched on: Swing, Light, Eco, Sleep, Instacool, Self Clean, FC1–FC5.
− / + change the target one degree per tap. The number moves immediately; the command goes to the AC once you stop tapping (about 0.6 s), so five quick taps send one change, not five.
Drag along the ring to set the temperature too, if you turn that on in Settings.

06

The control dock

Every button in the dock shows its current value and opens a sheet from the bottom. Picking an option applies it and closes the sheet; tap outside or swipe down to close without changing anything.

The Mode sheet with Auto, Cool, Dry and Fan, Cool selected. — **Mode.** Auto, Cool, Dry and Fan, each in its own colour. Only the modes this AC reports are offered.

The Fan sheet with Auto, Low, Medium and High. — **Fan.** Auto, Low, Medium, High. The sheet explains when the speed is fixed.

The control dock at the bottom of Bedroom AC's screen. — **Power** sits in the middle in orange. It's the only control that works whenever the AC is online.

Every change shows on screen instantly. If the AC rejects it, the app re-reads the AC's real state and tells you what went wrong.

07

Functions

Function	What it does
Eco	Energy-saving cooling. Cool mode only; not with Sleep.
Light	The AC's display light on or off.
Sleep	Gentle night profile. Cool mode only; not with Eco.
Instacool	Maximum cooling fast. Cool mode; locks the set point.
Self Clean	Dries and cleans the coil. Cool or Dry; locks everything else while it runs.
Step	Moves the vertical louver to its next fixed position (stops vertical swing).
Flexicool	Caps cooling capacity to save power: FC1–FC5. Tap the active level to turn it off.
Swing	Separate vertical and horizontal swing switches (horizontal only if the unit has it).

Lit circles are on. Dimmed ones can't be used right now; tap one and the app says why.

08

Timer

The timer counts down in the AC's own 30-minute steps, up to 24 hours. Its meaning follows the power state: while the AC is running it switches it off; while it's off it switches it on. The sheet says which, so there's no guessing.

The Timer sheet with a timer running: 2 hr 30 min, with a Cancel timer button. — **A timer is running.** The dock button and an info chip show the time left (*Off in 2h 30m*).

Turn on Timer notification in Settings for an ongoing notification while a timer is set, with a Cancel button.

09

Why a control is greyed out

SMGS Hub mirrors the Carrier app's rules so you can never send a combination the AC would refuse. Tap a dimmed control and a message explains why.

Control	Available when	Message when it isn't
Everything	The AC is online	The AC is offline
Temperature	On, not Fan mode, Instacool off	(− / + dim; dial shows `--` in Fan mode)
Mode, Functions	The AC is on	Turn the AC on first
Fan speed	On, in Cool or Fan, with Eco and Sleep off	Fan speed is automatic in Auto and Dry mode · fixed while Eco or Sleep is on
Eco / Sleep	Cool mode, and not both at once	Eco can't run with Sleep
Instacool, Flexicool	Cool mode	Instacool works in Cool mode
Self Clean	Cool or Dry, with Eco and Instacool off	Self Clean works in Cool or Dry mode
Timer	Any time, except during Self Clean	Not available during Self Clean

10

Offline & errors

When an AC loses its Wi-Fi, its card says Offline · last seen …, and its screen shows a banner explaining what to check, with every control dimmed. Room and outdoor read --; nothing can be sent until it's back.

If it's the cloud service that can't be reached instead, the banner says so, so you know whether the problem is the AC or the connection. The app keeps trying in the background and the status line shows when it last heard from the AC.

Study AC offline: a banner reads 'This AC is offline. Check that it's powered and connected to Wi-Fi.' and all controls are dimmed.

11

Usage & cost

Usage tab: 287.1 kWh in 30 days, about ₹2,397, a daily bar chart, cards for peak day, running days and projected bill, and the Tamil Nadu slab strip with a 500-unit warning.

The Usage tab turns the AC's own energy meter into a report for the last week, month (30 days) or year, and prices it the way your electricity bill actually works.

Headline: total kWh for the period and what it costs, with the effective price per unit.
Chart: one bar per day (per month for Year). Touch a bar for the exact figure.
Cards: peak day, how many days it ran (and the average on those days), and the projected two-month bill.
Tamil Nadu slabs: domestic (LT I-A) bills are charged every two months, and the first 200 units are free as long as the household stays within 500. SMGS Hub stacks this AC's projected units on top of everything else on your meter (set in Settings), so its cost is the extra it actually adds. If the AC pushes the household past 500 units, an orange warning says so.

12

Home screen widgets

Widgets put an AC on your home screen, live and controllable without opening the app. Long-press the home screen, then Widgets › SMGS Hub, or use Add a widget in the app's Settings.

Android's Add to Home screen dialog for the SMGS Hub Device widget, 4 by 2. — **Add a widget** from Settings asks Android to place one for you, then asks which AC it should show.

Choose a device: the widget's picker listing Bedroom AC, Living Room AC and Study AC. — **Choose a device.** However you add a widget, it asks which AC it should show. With only one AC it's picked for you.

Each widget keeps its own AC, separate from what you have open in the app, so you can put one per room on the home screen.
Resize to change the layout: Thermostat (dial with buttons, shown above), Compact and Pill for smaller sizes. Single-AC widgets stop at two rows high; they can be as wide as you like.
All ACs is a second widget that lists every AC with a power button each; it can grow in both directions.
Without the app open, widgets refresh about every 15 minutes and show how old their reading is. Tapping a control updates them straight away.
To change a widget's AC, long-press it and pick Reconfigure where your launcher offers it, or remove it and add it again.

13

Quick Settings tile

Add the SMGS Hub tile from the Quick Settings edit screen for one-swipe power from anywhere.

Tap turns the AC on or off. Like the Mac's menu bar icon, it shows three states: lit with the mode icon while running, dim when off, and marked unreachable when the AC can't be reached.
Long-press opens the app on that AC.
The tile follows the AC you last opened in the app.

14

Rename & remove

On an AC's screen, ⋮ has Rename… and Remove from this phone….

Rename changes the name on this phone and its widgets; the AC keeps its name on your account.
Remove asks first. It only takes the AC off this phone: it stays on your account and you can add it back any time from Add AC.

Remove Study AC? It will only be removed from this device. The AC stays on your account and you can add it back any time. Cancel or Remove.

15

Settings

Open with the gear on the AC list.

More settings: household usage, home screen widgets with Add a widget, Drag along the ring, Timer notification, and About.

Account: who's signed in, and Sign out, which also removes your ACs from this phone and asks first. (The demo build has no account.)
Appearance: System, Light or Dark, and Use wallpaper colours for the app's chrome. The mode colours never change.
Electricity cost: Tamil Nadu domestic slabs (enter roughly what your EB bill shows for two months without this AC) or a flat price per unit.
Widgets: a reminder of the widget types, and Add a widget.
Extras: Drag along the ring and Timer notification.

16

Voice assistants

On Android 16 and later, SMGS Hub offers its controls to assistants through Android's AppFunctions: list the ACs, read one's state, turn it on or off, set or nudge the temperature, change mode, fan speed or a function, and set or cancel a timer. ACs are matched the way you'd say them ("the bedroom AC", "ground floor").

As of October 2026, Gemini can only call AppFunctions in Google's private preview, so asking Gemini doesn't reach SMGS Hub yet. The functions are in place for when that opens up.

17

How it stays live

SMGS Hub talks to the Jio Smart Living cloud that the Carrier app is built on: a REST API for sign-in, account and energy history, and a secure MQTT connection for commands and live state.

Pushed updates: when anyone changes an AC (the remote, another phone, the Mac), the cloud pushes it and the app, widgets and tile update within moments.
Polling: every 15 seconds while the app is open, as a safety net; widgets refresh in the background about every 15 minutes.
Optimistic commands: your change is shown immediately and rolled back with an explanation if the AC refuses it. Quick taps are combined, and a late, out-of-date report from the cloud never flips the screen back.
One sign-in: the session renews itself in the background and is stored encrypted with the phone's keystore.

Every AC in the house, in your pocket.