The ideal smart home seamlessly anticipates your needs and responds immediately to commands. You don’t need to open a specific app for each device or remember the exact voice command and voice assistant combination that starts the latest episode of your favorite podcast on the nearest speaker. Competing smart home standards make using your devices unnecessarily complicated. It’s just not very… well, smart.
Tech giants are trying to bridge standards by offering their voice assistants as a control layer on top, but Alexa can’t talk to Google Assistant or Siri or control Google or Apple devices, and vice versa. (And so far, no single ecosystem has created all the best devices.) But these interoperability problems may soon be fixed. Formerly called Project CHIP (Connected Home over IP), the open source interoperability standard known as Matter arrived in 2022. With some of the biggest tech names, such as Amazon, Apple and Google, on board, seamless integration may finally be within reach.
Updated May 2024: Added news about the Matter 1.3 spec release, progress with the big players, a section on what you can do with Matter, and more details on potential features.
INDEX
What is wrong?
Matter enables different devices and ecosystems to play nice. Device manufacturers must comply with the Matter standard to ensure their devices are compatible with smart home and voice services such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant and others. For people building a smart home, Matter theoretically allows you to buy any device and use the voice assistant or platform you prefer to control it. (Yes, you can use different voice assistants to talk to the same product.)
For example, you can buy a Matter-supported smart light bulb and set it up with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa – without worrying about compatibility. Right now, some devices already support multiple platforms (like Alexa or Google Assistant), but Matter will expand that platform support and make setting up your new devices faster and easier.
The first protocol runs on Wi-Fi and Thread network layers and uses Bluetooth Low Energy for device setup. Although it supports multiple platforms, you have to choose the voice assistants and apps you want to use—there’s no central Matter app or assistant. Because Matter works on your local network, you can expect your smart home devices to be more responsive to you, and they should continue to work even when your internet goes down.
What makes matter different?
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (or CSA, formerly the Zigbee Alliance) maintains the Matter standard. What sets it apart is the breadth of its membership (more than 550 technology companies), its willingness to adopt and merge diverse technologies, and the fact that it is an open source project. Interested companies can use the software development kit (SDK) royalty-free to include their devices in the Matter ecosystem. This is much simpler than certifying devices individually with each smart home platform.
Growing out of the Zigbee Alliance gives Materie a solid foundation. Bringing the major smart home platforms (Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings) to the same table is an achievement. It’s optimistic to envision seamless adoption of Matter across the board, but it’s enjoyed a rush of enthusiasm with many smart home brands jumping on board, including August, Schlage and Yale in smart locks; Belkin, Cync, GE Lighting, Sengled, Signify (Philips Hue), and Nanoleaf in smart lighting; and others such as Arlo, Comcast, Eve, TP-Link and LG.
When did case arrive?
Matter has been in the works for years. The first release of Project CHIP was due in late 2020, but it was delayed until the following year, rebranded as Matter, and then slated for a summer release. After another delay, the Matter 1.0 specification and certification program opened in 2022. The SDK, tools and test cases have been made available, and eight authorized test labs have been opened for product certification.
The first wave of Matter-supported smart home devices went on sale in the fall of 2022, and we’ve seen a steady trickle since then. The first update to the spec, Matter 1.1, arrived in May 2023 and consisted largely of bug fixes. Announced in October 2023, Matter 1.2 added support for nine new device types, including refrigerators, robotic vacuums, and air purifiers, along with improvements to existing categories.
The Matter 1.3 specification was published in May 2024 and added energy management, EV charging and water management along with support for new appliances including ovens, hobs and clothes dryers. It also brought improvements to Matter Casting, so as well as being able to cast from your phone to your TV, other smart devices – like your robot vacuum cleaner – can send messages to your TV to alert you if they’re stuck, for example.
Disclaimer for Uncirculars, with a Touch of Personality:
While we love diving into the exciting world of crypto here at Uncirculars, remember that this post, and all our content, is purely for your information and exploration. Think of it as your crypto compass, pointing you in the right direction to do your own research and make informed decisions.
No legal, tax, investment, or financial advice should be inferred from these pixels. We’re not fortune tellers or stockbrokers, just passionate crypto enthusiasts sharing our knowledge.
And just like that rollercoaster ride in your favorite DeFi protocol, past performance isn’t a guarantee of future thrills. The value of crypto assets can be as unpredictable as a moon landing, so buckle up and do your due diligence before taking the plunge.
Ultimately, any crypto adventure you embark on is yours alone. We’re just happy to be your crypto companion, cheering you on from the sidelines (and maybe sharing some snacks along the way). So research, explore, and remember, with a little knowledge and a lot of curiosity, you can navigate the crypto cosmos like a pro!
UnCirculars – Cutting through the noise, delivering unbiased crypto news
