The latest Matter spec brings a number of improvements to the smart home standard<\/a> founded by Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung. Released this week by the Connectivity Standards Alliance<\/a>, Matter 1.3 brings support for more appliances, including ovens and cooktops, adds energy and water management, and introduces new features for Matter\u2019s universal casting protocol<\/a> that could be a competitor to AirPlay and Google Cast.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This is all great progress, but as none of the major platforms have added support for Matter 1.2 yet<\/a>, who knows when they\u2019ll get around to supporting 1.3? But I digress. First, let\u2019s dig into what\u2019s new.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The 1.3 update adds microwave ovens, ovens, electric cooktops, extractor hoods, and electric dryers, which join washing machines and a slew of appliances added to Matter 1.2 last year<\/a>. The spec also brings new energy and water management features that make EV chargers, water leak sensors, freeze detectors, rain sensors, and water valves compatible with the standard (see sidebar).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With the addition of these new device types, Matter now supports most of your home’s major appliances, along with gadgets like smart locks, lights, shades, thermostats, and a variety of other smart home sensors. The CSA\u2019s Chris LaPr\u00e9 tells The Verge <\/em>that heat pumps and water heaters are coming in the next release, slated for the fall, and that they are working on solar panel integration. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n What is the point of a smart home industry collaboration when no one can actually use it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n We\u2019re still waiting for popular devices like cameras and video doorbells<\/a> to be part of Matter. But overall, the smart home standard has come a long way in fulfilling its promise of providing a way for every smart device to work in your home locally over an interoperable communication protocol, even if the implementation still has some bugs<\/a> to work out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While there are plenty of smart devices in the above categories that may work with one or more smart home platforms today, you often need to use products from one manufacturer or one ecosystem to get the most functionality. For example, Moen\u2019s Flo water valve shutoff device<\/a> only works with Moen\u2019s water leak sensors<\/a>. In theory, with Matter, these types of devices will work with any other Matter device, regardless of who made them and in any Matter-supported ecosystem.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But while Matter now supports more device types and features, there are still two big problems. First, there are hardly any 1.2 devices available to buy, let alone 1.3. Second, none of the major platforms have added support for Matter 1.2 yet. Who knows when they\u2019ll get around to 1.3? What is the point of a smart home industry collaboration when no one can actually use it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We have reached the chicken-and-egg stage of a new protocol. If the platforms don\u2019t support the new device types, manufacturers are less likely to spend resources supporting them (on top of all the other support they need to add to their products to work with Alexa or Google Home or Apple Home, if they can\u2019t do it through Matter). But if there are no devices, then why should the platforms bother putting time, effort, and resources into supporting the new device types?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We\u2019re in developer conference season, so we may see some movement at Google I\/O<\/a> next week or Apple\u2019s WWDC in June<\/a>. But even if Apple announced full support of Matter 1.2 and<\/em> 1.3, we\u2019ll still likely have to wait at least six months for it to arrive, presumably with iOS 18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n