What Is AT&T's Smart Home Manager Used For And Do You Need It?

Smart Home Manager is a free app for AT&T internet customers to have more control over their Wi-Fi networks. The app gives customers a convenient way to view, manage, and customize nearly every aspect of their home internet service. It's available on both iOS and Android devices and accessible for anyone with a compatible AT&T Wi-Fi gateway.

In essence, AT&T's Smart Home Manager centralizes all your main network features — including many of the ones that would normally require a call to technical support in order to tweak or adjust. Through the app, account holders can check (or change) their Wi-Fi name and password, see all devices currently connected to their Wi-Fi, and even block unknown devices from the network.

Beyond these basic settings, Smart Home Manager also gives customers tools to optimize their network's performance. This includes running speed tests, checking signal strength in different rooms, and pointing out any dead zones where one of AT&T's All-Fi extenders could come in handy. If you're an AT&T subscriber (they are one of the major internet service providers in the U.S., after all), you'll probably need one of the app's features at least once or twice. 

The app also comes with a suite of parental controls. Families can create individual profiles, set daily usage limits, and pause Wi-Fi access for specific devices. That way, parents can enforce screen-time limits during homework, dinner, bedtime, or otherwise — not unlike Apple's parental control features. The app also lets you group devices by household member, giving the account holder a clear picture of how much bandwidth is being used across the home (and who's using the most of it).

Another helpful in-app feature is the guest Wi-Fi hub. The app makes it easy to set up a separate guest network so your visitors can have internet access without being able to view personal files or devices on the main network. If you know the person and feel comfortable letting them connect to your home network, you can just share access via QR code, text, or email. (It sure beats having to hunt down the Wi-Fi password, write it down, and share it with your trusted guest.)

Perhaps most importantly, the Smart Home Manager acts as a resource for self-service troubleshooting. Instead of waiting on hold with customer support for who knows how long, you can open up the app and connect with a 24/7 virtual assistant. The app can handle quick fixes (like rebooting a gateway remotely or running a device-specific security scan) and give you customized recommendations on what to do next. It can also send push notifications about outages, new connected devices, or tell you ways to make your smart home more secure.

For households already using AT&T internet, the Smart Home Manager app is a helpful way to bring all your Wi-Fi controls together in one place. Need to reset your network? Turn to the app. Want to change your network name or password? The app is the place to go. Trying to speed up your connection? That's something the app can do, too. (Even the simple fact that it can save you a customer service call could make it well worth it to you.) It's not a requirement to have it on your phone as an AT&T customer, but it sure does make itself useful.