The expansion of information technologies has made the smart city one of the key approaches in urban planning and management. However, realizing a smart city depends not only on technological infrastructure development but also on citizens' trust and participation. This study aimed to explain the lived experience of Tehran citizens regarding the smart city, using a qualitative approach based on Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 19 Tehran citizens using theoretical sampling. Data analysis was conducted through three stages of open, axial, and selective coding using MAXQDA software. The findings showed that "ambiguity of status toward smartification" is the core category of citizens' experience. This category emerged from the simultaneous occurrence of two conflicting orientations: fear and hope toward smartification. Weak technological literacy and training, privacy concerns, the possibility of job elimination, emerging social harms, weak infrastructure, and urban management inefficiency were among the most important conditions shaping this status. In contrast, ease of access to services, improved quality of life, expanded communications, rapid access to knowledge and information, and the creation of new opportunities provided the context for hope toward smartification. To cope with this status, citizens proposed strategies such as improving technological literacy, advocacy, participation, increasing transparency, public education, legal reform, and improving institutional coordination. The consequence of this process was the conditional acceptance of the smart city, such that trust, equity of access, data security, and attention to citizens' real needs were considered essential prerequisites for the success of Tehran's smartification.