At some point, all bicycle owners have experienced the anxiety of potentially losing their bikes. It’s often difficult to track down a missing bicycle, leading to approximately 35,000 bikes¹ per year being abandoned on the streets and eventually ending up in landfills in Korea.

Samsung Electronics is offering a new solution to help alleviate these concerns for bike owners. Recently announced at the Samsung Developer Conference 2023 (SDC23), the Galaxy SmartTag2 — a mobile accessory that tells users where their belongings are located based on Bluetooth and SmartThings Find without the need for GPS — is a new way to help prevent bike loss.

With a much smaller size compared to the previous model, the upgraded tag can be easily attached anywhere. The Galaxy SmartTag2’s search location has become even more accurate, thanks to ultra-wideband (UWB) support. With Lost Mode, your contact information and messages can be shared with anyone who locates your belongings when he or she tags the Galaxy SmartTag2 with an NFC-enabled smartphone.

Read on to learn how the Galaxy SmartTag2 can help you get into gear for your ride and safeguard your bicycle.

STEP 1. Connect the Galaxy SmartTag2 to Your Galaxy Device, Then Attach the Tag to Your Bike

To activate the Galaxy SmartTag2, start by registering the device in your SmartThings app. The process is straightforward: the SmartTag2 will automatically be detected when placed near your Galaxy smartphone or tablet. Simply bring the tag to your phone or tablet during the initial registration, and a pop-up window with installation instructions will seamlessly guide you through setup.

Follow the onscreen instructions to register the SmartTag2 on your SmartThings app. Next, give a name to the object you’re tagging, for example, “Bike.” You can modify this name whenever you like.

Once the setup is complete, it’s time to attach the SmartTag2 to your bicycle. The Galaxy SmartTag2, known for its sleek and compact design, can be safely placed inside your bike’s pouch or discreetly under the seat, keeping it out of plain sight.

If you want to completely conceal the Galaxy SmartTag2, try using the dedicated protective case.² Simply place the tag inside this protective case and attach it behind your bike’s bottle cage to completely hide the tag.

STEP 2. If You Can’t Find Your Bike, Try Checking Its Location and Searching the Route Using SmartThings Find

What if you’ve lost your bicycle? The first step is to open SmartThings Find within SmartThings app on your smartphone and quickly pinpoint your bike’s current location.

Once you’ve identified the location of your lost bike on the map, you can quickly head to that spot using the Navigate feature for directions. SmartThings Find supports popular apps such as Naver Map, Kakao Map and T Map, allowing you to choose your preferred map and making it easier to retrieve your bicycle.

STEP 3. Find the Location of Your Lost Bike More Accurately Using the AR Camera

If you’ve reached a location near the spot where your lost bicycle is shown on the map app but still can’t pinpoint its exact whereabouts, click Search nearby to track it down using the signals transmitted by the Galaxy SmartTag2.

Featuring UWB technology, the Galaxy SmartTag2 offers the Find Using Camera feature, which uses augmented reality (AR) to help you find your things with greater accuracy and ease. After tapping Find Using Camera, you can track down your lost bike by following the arrows on your screen.

STEP 4. Add an Extra Layer of Security With Lost Mode

Lost Mode adds another level of security in protecting your bicycle. With this new feature, you can add your contact information and messages — making them accessible to anyone who finds your bike and scans the Galaxy SmartTag2 using an NFC reader on their smartphone.

Thanks to the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) capabilities, the tag will detect and send notifications to other Galaxy users passing by your bike. Lost Mode also prevents other Galaxy users from connecting to your Galaxy SmartTag2 by locking the pairing process.

The Galaxy SmartTag2 comes with additional security features. The Notify when left behind feature alerts you if your bike moves too far from your smartphone. Additionally, the Location history feature allows you to review your bike’s location history from the past week, providing extra assurance that your valuable bike stays safe and sound.

Thanks to the Galaxy SmartTag2, you can ride your bike with peace of mind — knowing that you can track its location anytime, anywhere. Stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for more tips and tricks for the Galaxy SmartTag2.

¹ Average number of abandoned bicycles collected from 2019 to 2021 (Source: Statistics Korea Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS), as of September 2022)
² Protective case accessories for the Galaxy SmartTag2 are sold separately.

Read on to learn about some of the main innovations covered at SDC23 that are enhancing users’ lives.

Enriching Customer Experiences: Innovating Platforms and Enhancing Ecosystems

Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics, kicked off the event by highlighting how the growing number of Samsung devices around the world drives innovation within the company.

“Over 500 million Samsung products are sold every year, and the number of people using Samsung accounts exceeds 600 million. To us, this is both a huge asset and a profound responsibility,” he stated. “Samsung’s innovations connect countless people, products and services. I believe that if you join this journey of innovation, we can create greater opportunities and a brighter future together.”

Touching on the main advancements to Samsung’s suite of devices and applications — including the SmartThings ecosystem, Bixby virtual assistant, Samsung Knox security platform and more — Han expressed how collaboration has helped bring many of the company’s products to life.

“The possibilities we can realize together are endless because as developers, we share the engines of innovation and collaboration,” he said.

Building Meaningful Home Experiences Through Enhanced Partnerships

Jaeyeon Jung, Executive Vice President and Head of SmartThings, Device Platform Center at Samsung Electronics, discussed Samsung’s ongoing commitment to increasing interoperability between devices and expanding the SmartThings home ecosystem — focusing on the company’s support for open home standards such as Matter and the Home Connectivity Alliance.

“We are building experiences that promote the whole family’s well-being by keeping us all connected during the busyness of everyday life,” she said.

Through Multi Hub Network and SmartThings Home API, Jung showcased the newest additions to the SmartThings platform that provide access to a growing list of devices, apps and services. By utilizing its wide network of partnerships and tapping other industry leaders, Samsung aims to enable users to live more digitally integrated lives – both inside and outside their homes.

Bixby: Setting a New Standard for the Samsung Ecosystem

Enhancing at-home experiences means using the most advanced technologies to tailor them to each user’s needs and tastes. Anil Yadav, Head of Bixby Lab at Samsung Research¹ America, underlined Samsung’s future vision for Bixby and how the company is working to create more intelligent and comfortable spaces for the future.

Thanks to deeper home integration, Bixby will intuitively respond to users’ commands based on their unique preferences — making smart homes that much smarter for individuals and their families. Additionally, Bixby will seamlessly route user commands to the appropriate device, creating a harmonious multi-device home ecosystem.

“This combination of personalization and adaptation ensures that every interaction with Bixby will be optimized, easy and convenient,” he said.

Providing a Safe, Secure and Convenient Cross-Device Environment

Since multi-device networks can be prone to hacks and breaches, forward-thinking security solutions are more necessary than ever. With this in mind, Samsung has been reinforcing its security solutions to anticipate evolving digital threats.

Shin Baik, Engineer of Security Team, Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics, emphasized the need for comprehensive security solutions in an expansive and highly connected device network.

“It’s time to look beyond today’s solutions and start building a better-protected future,” he said.

Baik spotlighted the company’s proprietary security innovations containing the latest features. These include:

Samsung Knox Matrix — which comes with updates to Credential Sync — enabling end-to-end encryption to backup or restore data on the Samsung Cloud. If a server is compromised or account details are stolen, user data is protected as data can only be encrypted or decrypted through the user’s device.

Mobile devices with One UI 6 will have access to passkeys — a digital credential technology that uses biometric recognition as authentication on websites and applications — marking a significant step towards a password-less future.

Beyond flagship mobile devices, Samsung Knox Vault is being expanded to Samsung Neo QLED 8K TVs in 2023, and Galaxy A series smartphones that launch with One UI 6 or later² in 2024 — protecting more customers and their devices.

Tizen Reboot: Paving the Path for the Decade Ahead

Hobum Kwon, Vice President of Platform Team at Samsung Research, unveiled advancements to Tizen, Samsung’s Linux-based open-source operating system, and how the company is rebooting it for a new generation of devices.

“We’re always thinking of how to expand the Tizen Ecosystem — and as a result, the platform has a reliable and adaptable architecture built on our commitment to open innovation,” he said.

Recently, Samsung expanded Tizen to operate on new home appliances with larger displays, such as washing machines and ovens, to enrich the user experience by providing graphic information, convenient UI and useful video content. Alongside the expansion of applicable product lines, Samsung will boost developer support through a unified Tizen Software Development Kit (SDK) that includes a 2D and 3D combined graphics engine and a new Samsung Experience Services feature.

Tizen Screen: Your Window to a World of Possibilities

Bongjun Ko, Executive Vice President of Application Software R&D Group, Visual Display (VD) Business, revealed how Samsung is elevating the Tizen TV experience for users in their day-to-day lives.

“Whether it’s through a TV or smartphone while you wait for your train, these screens are part of our daily lives,” he said. “This is why we, at Samsung, are always innovating to deliver best-in-class experiences with Tizen, starting with the biggest screens in your home.”

Ko shared that Samsung Gaming Hub is now available on a variety of Tizen-supported screens such as The Freestyle 2^nd Gen and Odyssey Neo G9 as well as 2022 and 2023 Samsung Smart TVs. Taking social interaction to new heights, Chat Together connects users with friends in chat rooms while they are watching their favorite shows, movies and sports. What’s more, the platform is adding Relumino Mode to Samsung TVs to create a more accessible and immersive viewing experience for those with low vision.

Tizen is opening its doors to a broader ecosystem of partners and developers, offering robust support and a dynamic environment to revolutionize how people connect, play and interact via screens.

Expanding the Galaxy Experience With One UI 6

One of the main highlights was the reveal of One UI 6, a transformative user experience designed for Galaxy devices. Sally Hyesoon Jeong, Vice President of Framework R&D Group, Mobile eXperience (MX) Business, introduced this innovative upgrade, focusing on enhanced usability and intelligent photo and video editing. One UI 6 includes a fresh, intuitive look and feel with a revamped Quick panel, redesigned app interfaces and a stylish, exclusive typeface: One UI Sans.

Additionally, One UI 6 will analyze photos in the Gallery using AI features — such as Photo Remaster and Object Eraser — to suggest the most relevant editing options, helping users enhance their photos quickly and more precisely. Likewise, with Samsung Studio and its multi-layer video editing features, users have greater control when editing their content to freely add effects such as text, stickers and music with the video editing timeline.

Jeong also announced the highly anticipated Galaxy SmartTag2. With a compact design, improved battery life and IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, the SmartTag2 is set to redefine how users keep track of their belongings — giving more people greater peace of mind.

Building a Digital Health Ecosystem Through Connected Care at Home

Hon Pak, Vice President of Digital Health Team, Mobile eXperience (MX) Business, highlighted the importance of fostering strong connections among devices, data, consumers and services for more optimized digital health experiences.

“Our vision for Samsung Health is to build a healthier future for everyone,” he said. “It starts from the same place where many of you started your day today — at home.”

Samsung’s vision is recognized through strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening the digital health ecosystem. Samsung Privileged Health SDK provides access to the Samsung BioActive Sensor, giving partners increased flexibility to develop powerful, health-sensing capabilities in their applications. Samsung Research launched Samsung Health Stack 1.0 to support researchers with critical tools to advance their studies. The App SDK included in Samsung Health Stack 1.0 provides developers with the building blocks to streamline participant data collection, and Web portal provides researchers with a dashboard to monitor and manage research progress in an organized and easily readable way.

Additionally, Samsung partnered with the MIT Media Lab to focus on cutting-edge research in sleep and mental health monitoring. Together, they will develop novel, scientifically validated and accessible solutions that help people sleep better and improve their health, well-being and daytime performance. The collaboration highlights Samsung’s commitment to bolstering the wellness industry and enhancing the lives of users.

Savoring the Future of Cooking With Food AI

Nick Holzherr, CEO of Whisk, Head of Samsung Food Platform, expressed how new AI-enabled customer experiences will help people not only eat better but also make “Food Your Way.”

Samsung Food makes it easier for users to share their favorite dishes with the community and follow their favorite food content creators. With the app, users can explore new levels of customization and convenience in the kitchen, from grocery shopping and personalized recipe recommendations to automated cooking settings.

“Over the coming year, we’ll continue to grow our device connectivity across Samsung’s appliances, watches and phones,” he said. “I’m super excited about how we can bring software and hardware together to create value for our Samsung customers!”

Smarter Living, Every Day

To close out the presentation, JH Han returned to the stage to offer a final word on the company’s vision for the future of hyper-connected living. Leveraging its industry partnerships, Samsung is committed to redefining how individuals interact with technology — striving to make daily life more connected and convenient for users everywhere.

“Samsung’s new products and technologies need to be anchored by a solid ecosystem,” he said. “We are committed to fostering mutual growth with all the developers and partners here.”

Watch the video below to see the complete recording of the SDC23 keynote.

¹ Serving as Samsung Electronics’ advanced R&D hub, Samsung Research leads the development of future technologies for the company’s Device eXperience (DX) Division.
² Samsung Knox Vault availability may vary by model.