Matter<\/a> \u2014 the IOT connectivity standard with ambitions to fix the smart home and make all of our gadgets talk to each other \u2014 has hit version 1.2<\/a>, adding support for nine new types of connected devices. Robot vacuums, refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers are coming to Matter, as are smoke and CO alarms, air quality sensors, air purifiers, room air conditions, and fans.\u00a0It\u2019s a crucial moment for the success of the industry-backed coalition that counts 675 companies among its members. This is where it moves from the relatively small categories<\/a> of door locks and light bulbs to the real moneymakers: large appliances.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the organization behind Matter, released the Matter 1.2 specification<\/a> this week, a year after launching Matter 1.0, following through on its promise to release two updates a year<\/a>. Now, appliance manufacturers can add support for Matter to their devices, and ecosystems such as Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings can start supporting the new device types. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yes, this means you should finally be able to control a robot vacuum in the Apple Home app \u2014 not to mention your wine fridge, dishwasher, and washing machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You should finally be able to control a robot vacuum in the Apple Home app<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The initial feature set for the new device types includes basic function controls (start \/ stop, change mode) and notifications \u2014 such as the temperature of your fridge, the status of your laundry, or whether smoke is detected (see sidebar for more). <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Robot vacuum support is robust \u2014 remote start and progress notifications, cleaning modes (dry vacuum, wet mopping), and alerts for brush status, error reporting, and charging status. But there\u2019s no mapping, so you\u2019ll still need to use your vacuum app if you want to tell the robot where to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Air purifiers and air quality sensors are also interesting additions. Currently, support across platforms for air purifiers is spotty, and products are expensive. Matter supports a wide range of air quality sensors (see sidebar) plus location for sensors, so individual sensors placed around a home can feed data to a device like an air purifier, HVAC system, or a connected oven hood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here are all the new device types and supported functions the CSA has announced as part of the Matter 1.2 spec<\/a>. This is in addition to the currently supported device types: light bulbs and light switches, plugs and outlets, locks, thermostats, blinds and shades, safety and security sensors, media devices, and bridges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Smart home platforms such as Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa can add these Matter device types to their platforms so you can control any compatible devices directly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Refrigerators:<\/strong> Functions include temperature control and monitoring, and the device type covers any refrigerator device, including deep freezers and wine and kimchi fridges.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Room air conditioners:<\/strong> Standalone room air conditioners with temperature and fan mode control.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dishwashers: <\/strong>Functions include remote start and progress notifications, plus notifications for water supply and drain, temperature, and door lock errors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Laundry washers<\/strong>: Progress notifications, such as cycle completion. The CSA says dryers will be supported in a future Matter release.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Robotic vacuums: <\/strong>Functions like remote start and progress notifications, support for features like cleaning modes (dry vacuum and wet mopping), and status details such as brush and charging status and error reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms:<\/strong> Support for notifications, audio and visual alarm signaling, alerts about battery status, end-of-life notifications, and self-testing. Carbon monoxide alarms support concentration sensing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Air quality sensors: <\/strong>Supported sensors can capture and report on PM1, PM 2.5, PM 10, CO2, NO2, VOC, CO, ozone, radon, and formaldehyde. Matter devices can also provide AQI information based on location.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Air purifiers: <\/strong>Can pair with <\/strong>an air quality sensor for sensing data and uses functionality from other device types like fans and thermostats. Monitoring of things like filters (HEPA and activated carbon filters) is also supported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Fans: <\/strong>Movement controls like rock \/ oscillation and modes like \u201cnatural wind\u201d and \u201csleep wind\u201d will be supported, plus changing the airflow direction (forward and reverse) and step commands for airflow speed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Most smart appliances already provide most functions Matter supports, but they\u2019re siloed in each manufacturer\u2019s app. With Matter, you should be able to connect them to your smart home platform of choice, unlocking intriguing automation options. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n While it\u2019s possible today to get your lights to flash when your laundry is done, turn a light red when your fridge\u2019s temperature rises, or shut off the HVAC system if the smoke alarm goes off, it can be complicated to set up and often wholly unreliable. You need to download multiple apps, maybe buy a sensor or two, deal with laggy cloud integrations, and worry about whether your washer is even compatible with your smart home app in the first place. With Matter support, this type of simple command and control should be much easier to implement in any ecosystem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The future potential is also interesting, bringing into play the ambient smart home many companies are pursuing<\/a>, where devices can talk to each other to take action on our behalf without us really having to get involved. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tobin Richardson, president and CEO of the CSA, gave this example: \u201cWith more aggregate data and more information, we can see more interaction between devices,\u201d he says. \u201cWith an edge AI engine to take care of it, if an air quality sensor senses something, then your favorite voice assistant platform can kick off the robot vac, boost the air purifier, and maybe hold off on the laundry and the dishwasher to save energy while the other devices are working.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With manufacturers like Whirlpool, Panasonic, LG, Haier (which owns GE Appliances), and more<\/a> all part of Matter, the potential is there for a broad implementation across home appliances. In particular, backward compatibility. I, for one, am not planning on buying all new appliances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n David Bean of Whirlpool told me it plans to implement Matter across all of its connected products in all of its brands. This includes KitchenAid<\/a>, Maytag, and Hotpoint. While, initially, the ability to get notifications from your appliance across your smart home will be useful, \u201cfor us, it\u2019s all about the possible abilities that are going to exist once we get Matter out there,\u201d he said. \u201cHow we work with automations and scenes and how we build upon those and take digital experiences in the home to the next level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, he didn\u2019t share a timeline for when Whirlpool will implement Matter in any of its products. And while it\u2019s just fridges, dishwashers, and washers today, \u201cwe see Matter going across the whole kitchen and laundry space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A benefit of Matter for manufacturers is being able to focus efforts on products and features and not have to build support for multiple protocols or ecosystems or even necessarily make an app. (If you\u2019ve spent much time with the app for your dishwasher or coffee maker, you\u2019ll know what a blessing that will be). An appliance can work with one or multiple Matter ecosystems with just Matter connectivity built in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s not a requirement of Matter to support every device type<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Assuming, that is, that the smart home ecosystems support the new device types. It\u2019s not a requirement of Matter to support every device type, and while most currently support most devices, not all support all functions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We don\u2019t know yet if or when Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, and Samsung SmartThings will add support for everything Matter has announced with 1.2, but judging by the responses I got when I asked them, it\u2019s not going to be anytime soon. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Amazon\u2019s Chris DeCenzo told me the company plans to add support \u201cover time.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re working with partners to support the new device types included in the Matter 1.2 spec while maintaining our high bar for the customer experience with Alexa,\u201d he said. Taylor Lehman at Google Home said, \u201cWe\u2019re working hard to add more support for Matter devices to our ecosystem … this will take time.\u201d I also reached out to Samsung SmartThings and Apple but neither provided an answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Matter is a new smart home interoperability standard<\/a> that provides a common language for connected devices to communicate locally in your home without relying on a cloud connection. It is designed to be secure and private<\/a>, easy to set up<\/a>, and widely compatible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Developed by Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung, Matter is an open-sourced<\/a>, IP-based connectivity software layer for smart home devices. It works over Wi-Fi, ethernet, and the low-power mesh networking protocol Thread<\/a> and currently supports over 20 device types. These include lighting, plugs and switches, thermostats, locks, security and environment sensors, refrigerators, dishwashers, smoke alarms, air quality monitors, and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n All of this means that if a smart home gadget you buy has the Matter logo, you can set it up and use it with any Matter-compatible ecosystem via a Matter controller<\/a>. Additionally, you can control it with multiple controllers simultaneously, a feature called multi-admin<\/a>. Once connected to an ecosystem, a device can work with any others in that ecosystem, regardless of whether it\u2019s a Matter device.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Apple Home are some of the major platforms that support Matter, and they have all updated their compatible smart speakers, hubs, and other devices to be Matter controllers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n However, Paulus Schoutsen of Home Assistant<\/a> told me he expects support to be added to his platform soon. \u201cWe\u2019ve already started testing with the new 1.2 version and working with the community and Matter device manufacturers,\u201d he said. He also added that each new device type Matter supports \u201ccan be the reason for a manufacturer to adopt Matter, resulting in another private option for our users.\u201d While manufacturers and ecosystems can leverage the cloud for additional features and remote control, it\u2019s not a requirement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The launch of Matter 1.2 isn\u2019t coming with a slew of device announcements. I reached out to several companies that are members of the CSA and make products in these categories to see if they were announcing any new integrations. iRobot (makes of Roomba robot vacuums) and Resideo (owners of First Alert<\/a> smoke alarms) said they had nothing to share, and Dyson (vacuums and fans), Google Nest (Nest Protect smoke alarm), and Samsung didn\u2019t respond before publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even the ever-eager Eve, which has been at the forefront of Matter adoption<\/a>, told me it had nothing to announce. All this means we\u2019re probably not getting new devices until 2024 at the earliest. While it\u2019s possible that over-the-air updates to existing gadgets could be implemented sooner, it\u2019s not likely. Many of those updates promised with 1.0 took a long time to arrive<\/a>, and some never did<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Robot vacuum maker Roborock did say it\u2019s working to support Matter as a top priority. \u201cThough the partnership is still ongoing and a timeline is not solidified, we foresee that Matter support will be integrated into our models as soon as the first half of 2024,\u201d Marcus Lai of Roborock told me. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n He said the integration will roll out in phases, with certain models getting support sooner, either built in when you buy it or via a firmware update. The other big robovac manufacturer, Ecovacs, told me it\u2019s planning to add Matter to its new products. Spokesperson Daniel Turk said the company is \u201cworking hand-in-hand with the CSA to integrate Matter into upcoming Deebots.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While more device types are a good thing to help push the standard forward, there are still several big holes to fill. Matter now supports over 20 categories, including door locks, thermostats, smart lighting, security sensors, and smart shades. But cameras are still missing<\/a>, as are security systems, two large components of the smart home today.\u00a0Plus, there are more home appliances that need to be added, including a big one: ovens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another important omission from the new release: new features for existing devices. We\u2019re still waiting on support for dynamic lighting effects (including adaptive lighting) and energy management, both of which the CSA has said are on the roadmap<\/a>. These are features that will really help make Matter, well, matter to smart home users.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The only notable new consumer-facing feature in Matter 1.2 is one that adds support for smart door locks that use a latch system<\/a>, a common type in Europe. There are also several new building blocks that should make it easier for developers and platforms to work with Matter devices and add more device types in the future. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n These include allowing devices to describe their appearance in Matter ecosystems (i.e., \u201cI\u2019m a bronze door lock\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m a brown light switch\u201d), the addition of semantic tags (which could help with things like energy management and support for smart buttons), and support for generic operational states (to make it easier to add certain new device types in the future). The full spec can be viewed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Along with the new spec, the CSA also announced an effort called Ecosystem to Ecosystem that will address the \u201cinitial challenges\u201d of multi-admin<\/a>, the biggest being that it doesn\u2019t work half the time<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chris LaPr\u00e9, head of technology at the CSA, explained to me that the effort is designed to fix the problem of ecosystems not directly communicating, i.e., an Apple HomePod won\u2019t talk to a Google Nest Hub. \u201cCurrently, the solution is multi admin, where, say, I\u2019m a smart switch, I\u2019m going to talk to both separately,\u201d says LaPr\u00e9. \u201cWith Ecosystem to Ecosystem, if I pair my smart switch to both sides and then I change it to \u2018kitchen light\u2019 on this side, it should make it \u2018kitchen light\u2019 on the other side.\u201d The groundwork is in place to allow this better interoperability, says LaPr\u00e9, but they are still working on its implementation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n New device types should bring much-needed momentum to Matter and address the complaints of some existing smart home users that it has yet to add much to the experience other than headaches. But this hinges on manufacturers adding it to their products. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The resistance to adopting Matter seems to be growing. We\u2019re a year in, and companies that initially said they would keep an eye on Matter with a view to adopting it still haven\u2019t (Lutron being a notable one here). Some that seemed fully on board from the outset have slowed down or even completely stopped their development, pulling a Wemo<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Despite being a top-tier Matter member, Resideo still hasn\u2019t adopted Matter in its products, such as the Honeywell Home T9 thermostat<\/a>. It also owns one of the largest smoke alarm companies, First Alert, and I would love to see some better connectivity options in smoke alarms. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n One issue is the inherent tension between Matter\u2019s role in creating an even playing field \u2014 it\u2019s removed interoperability as a hindrance but also a selling point. Companies now need to create enough differentiation to compel the customer to pick them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Matter also has competition. Resideo is very active with the Home Connectivity Alliance<\/a> (HCA), a rival \/ potentially symbiotic organization to Matter working to have large appliance manufacturers connect and control each other\u2019s devices through their own apps. It has wide adoption among the big appliance manufacturers<\/a>, including LG, Haier, Samsung, and Electrolux. (Whirlpool is not a member; Bean told me they are watching it closely.) <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The HCA\u2019s approach is more appealing to these companies as it keeps everything in the manufacturer\u2019s proprietary ecosystems<\/a> and maintains the cloud connection, a valuable funnel for data<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n When I asked LG which product categories it planned to add Matter support to, L\u00e9a Lee of global corporate communications told me she couldn\u2019t share any specifics but that \u201cwe\u2019ll\u00a0keep working closely with members of industry groups to create positive impacts for customers.\u201d Like Samsung\u2019s TVs, LG\u2019s webOS-based TVs are capable of being Matter controllers but not Matter devices controllable by other ecosystems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Samsung is leading the HCA<\/a>. When I spoke to Jaeyeon Jung, global head of SmartThings, at the IFA 2023<\/a> tech conference, I asked if the company planned to make any of its appliances Matter device types. \u201cSamsung devices already connect to SmartThings and with HCA<\/a> we give an option for others to use Samsung devices through our partner\u2019s apps,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ll see, we\u2019ll wait and see.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\nAll the new device types supported in Matter 1.2<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
What do these new Matter devices mean for your smart home?<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
More Matter, but no new products<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
What is Matter?<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
One new feature and multiple more attempts to make Matter \u201cjust work\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Will more device types move Matter forward?<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n