Your iPhone will soon support smart home standard Matter (and this is what you get)
Building a smart home is now often a hassle – especially since many smart home devices cannot operate in different ecosystems. Matter will soon make this much easier and the official launch of this has been announced.
Read on after the ad.
Matter 1.0
The new smart home standard Matter takes a big step forward. The Connectivity Standars Alliance and its members – including Apple – have announced the official launch of Matter 1.0. Companies that will support Matter now have all the resources to implement Matter in their platforms.
So nothing stands in the way of Apple adding Matter to HomeKit. In a beta we saw that iOS 16.1 already lays the foundation for Matter, where in the Settings app under ‘General’ you can see an option ‘Matter accessories’. So there is a good chance that we can already add Matter-compatible accessories to the Home app from iOS 16.1. We expect the iPhone update to be released this month.
What is Matter?
Matter is a new smart home standard that regulates communication between smart devices. More than 250 manufacturers have indicated that they will implement the smart home standard Matter, including the main tech giants: Apple, Google, Samsung and Amazon.
This is good news for consumers, because Matter enables smart devices to work with just about any ecosystem – regardless of who the manufacturer is. You will soon have a choice of many more devices to expand your smart home, because with Matter support, they are all compatible. You don’t have to worry about whether that one smart bulb works with Apple HomeKit or not.
There is no Matter app or voice assistant. You can choose whether you use Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Samsung SmartThings to control your smart devices. And several together is also possible.
Will Matter work with my current smart home devices?
Whether Matter works with your existing smart home devices depends on how they are connected. Matter works on the basis of WiFi or Thread, which means that in many cases it already works on existing equipment. Many manufacturers will release updates in the near future to enable Matter on older products. So you don’t have to replace your entire smart home right away.
The Connectivity Standars Alliance says Matter will support a variety of smart home products after its initial release, including lighting, window coverings, safety and security sensors, door locks, media devices, controllers and bridges.
Do you want to stay informed of the developments? Sign up for our newsletter:
