Matter is a new standard that aims to fix the smart home’s biggest problems: interoperability, reliability, security, and being easy to use. With Matter, your smart lights, smart lock, smart thermostat, and other smart devices will all work with together, easily. All the major smart home platforms are on board — Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings — and so are almost all the big device brands, from Philips Hue and Lutron Caseta to August, Ikea, and TP-Link. If you see the Matter logo on a product, you know it will work with any other Matter-compatible gadget in your home.
As promised, Signify has updated its Philips Hue Bridges with Matter support. Surprise! You can check by opening the Hue app and going to Settings > Smart Home, then add an integration. Tap “Other apps” and you should see a big Matter logo. Have fun! Oh, and if you already have Hue working through HomeKit and you like Adaptive Lighting, don’t switch to Matter on Apple Home.
[Philips Hue US]
Bridging older smart home gadgets into Matter is finally fully supported, and cameras are on the horizon, but the new smart home standard still has plenty of unfulfilled promises.
Three new JBL smart speakers from Harman will be the first to offer simultaneous voice assistants, so you can ask Alexa to start the music and then ask Google to stop it.
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The new plug-in version of Brilliant’s wired smart switch is simpler to install and just as easy to use. But still-limited integrations keep it from being truly brilliant.
This is big news for the smart home protocol many thought may fade away with the advent of Matter.
Trident IoT is a boutique silicon engineering firm / one-stop shop for smart home device makers. It plans to provide silicon solutions and engineering expertise for all the protocols, plus help with those arduous Works With certifications.
But it’s kicking off with Z-Wave and will be the first third-party chipmaker to offer Z-Wave sillicon since the protocol opened its source code last year. Read Stacey Higginbotham’s analysis for more on why this ... matters.
[Stacey on IoT | Internet of Things news and analysis]
I still have hope for Matter, but right now setting up a Matter-compatible device can be complicated and confusing.
Especially if it uses Thread, which has specific requirements you need to know in order to use that new smart light bulb, motion sensor, or smart plug. Here’s everything you need to know to set up a Matter-over-Thread device in your smart home.
The Thread protocol offers a robust mesh network designed to solve many of the smart home’s biggest problems. But only if everyone can agree on how to use it.
Probably not.
While the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has repeatedly said robot vacuums will be part of the smart home standard, based on the slow progress of Matter, I’d say we’re still a ways out.
Garage door controller manufacturer Remsol (iSmartGate), coffee machine maker Keurig, and Loxone (an intriguing Austrian home automation company) also joined, according to the CSA, which now has 620 member companies.
And it comes with an 85-inch 8K TV attached!
The $8,000 Samsung Neo QLED 8K TV is a Matter Controller, Samsung SmartThings hub, and Thread Border Router, thanks to a new Thread/Zigbee module on board. And it’s also a sweet TV.
It does make some of the $500 Matter/Thread hubs popping up look like quite the bargain, but I bet they can’t stream Netflix in the same cinematic glory.
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[Samsung Electronics America]
Dutch smart home company Athom is finally bringing its Homey Pro to the US.
The Pro works with all the things... thanks to Matter support and a plethora of smart home radios (Wi-Fi, BLE 5.0, Zigbee 3.0 and Z-Wave, 433MHz RF, and IR). No Thread yet — that’s slated for later this year.
The Pro also connects to bridges such as Hue, and Lutron, to get all your gadgets on one platform. For a premium price.
[homey.app]
The press release mentions licensing the tech out so other companies can build calm smart home controllers, which might represent a change in strategy. The mui Board gen 2 was supposed to go on Kickstarter in June, but now seems to be coming next year. Hardware is hard; hardwood hardware might be harder. I’ve reached out to Mui for clarification.
Tapo’s new Smart Wi-Fi Switch and Dimmer work with any Matter-enabled platform, including Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, and SmartThings.
I’m excited about these. Switches are a great way to get started with smart lighting, but the few there are that work with all the platforms are expensive. These start at $25.
One connected lock does not a smart home make. If you want to get serious with home automation, start with a smart home platform.
The update began rolling out on May 26th, according to Google. I got it this weekend, and you need iOS 16.5. and version 3.1 of the Google Home app.
With this update, all four major smart home platforms now work fully with Matter on iOS. This should make it easier to deliver on Matter’s promise of cross-platform compatibility.
As the latest entry-level Alexa smart speaker, the $40 Echo Pop packs a lot of value into a small package. It’s not as good as the Echo Dot, but it’s got looks on its side.
The M1 LED light strip is bright, colorful, and compatible with everything, thanks to Matter. But its flashiest features are only in Govee’s app.
I just picked up a three-pack of Nanoleaf’s new Matter bulbs. They’re brighter and have better colors than the ancient Hue bulbs they’re replacing, but boy howdy. Adding them to Apple Home takes two or three tries; getting them onto Google Home requires a second phone. I’m half an hour into trying to connect the second bulb.
A much-needed update brings greater control and customizability. Plus, Google updates its iOS app to support Matter devices.
The first Matter-over-Thread smart lighting line, Nanoleaf’s new lights promise a lot and mostly deliver.
