You need to read through dozens of reviews to make sure a new device works with your Alexa or speaks to your other smart devices through Bluetooth. And heaven forbid you want to swap to a new smart home brand. To do that, you’ll need to fork over some serious cash on new devices to redo your entire smart home environment or get your hands dirty with some behind-the-scenes technical tinkering. Matter intends to fix that. We’re here to help you find the answers to those questions and get to the heart of the, well, matter. (Sorry, not sorry.) The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), formerly known as the Zigbee Alliance, is the main group behind the Matter project. As for new devices, you’ll see the Matter logo on the device itself, on the packaging, or in the online description.
You get more freedom to pick and choose new smart home devices. Setup will be simpler for smart home devices—and they’ll be more secure. You’ll no longer need to spend as much money to build out your smart home ecosystem.
To add to that, you’ll be able to control all your devices through Matter’s Multi-Admin feature, all through one app or voice assistant.1 So that means you can turn off your lights with Alexa, lock the front door with Apple HomeKit, and then use your doorbell cam to see who’s outside with Samsung SmartThings. And you, as the owner of a smart home device, get to control how that particular device communicates with all the other devices in your home. This is a relief in a world where you always have to wonder what gadget might be spying on you. Matter will also make setup easier by using QR codes that you can scan—the app then gets all the information it needs to walk you through the setup process. Currently, Apple HomeKit and Google use a similar approach to setup. (Which we found was extremely simple and quick when we set up our Nest Wi-Fi.) This may lead to more smart home brands creating a wider range of affordable devices. But you’ll probably still see some über expensive options out there for anyone who wants special features, colors, or materials. Not all smart devices speak to each other. This lack of a universal smart home language makes it confusing, frustrating, and expensive to set up a fully automated home. At least, that’s what the dream is. And any device that uses one of the following technologies will be able to communicate using Matter:1
Ethernet (LAN, a wired internet connection) Wi-Fi (WLAN) Thread (a wireless mesh network) Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for setup only
But keep in mind that Matter is not a replacement for your smart home hub. It’s what connects your smart home hub to all your various devices, and you may still need other apps to adjust settings on devices like your thermostat, lights, and security cameras. It’s worth noting that, in the past, the timeline has been pushed back. (Thanks to the pandemic and other uncontrollable events, mostly.) So it remains to be seen if Matter will be ready to go in the next few months or not. Overview of popular smart home companies supporting Matter It’s safer to wait until Matter officially launches and existing devices are upgraded. That way you can see which of the devices you own will work with Matter and fill in the gaps with new products as needed. Plus, Matter’s launch has been delayed at least a few times already. So it’s worth waiting until that fateful day when it finally goes live. Otherwise you may fork over hundreds of dollars on new devices, only to potentially have them not work with Matter. Here are the main things you should know about Matter: Another key feature of Matter is it’s an open-source project. This means anyone can hop in and test security and data privacy—and make changes to fix any gaps.
