Home LivingSmart HomeMatter’s getting an upgrade to make smart home setups even simplerThere’s a new version of the smart home standard coming to Apple, Google, Alexa and moreWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Home LivingSmart HomeMatter’s getting an upgrade to make smart home setups even simplerThere’s a new version of the smart home standard coming to Apple, Google, Alexa and moreWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
There’s a new version of the smart home standard coming to Apple, Google, Alexa and more
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Walmart)
(Image credit: Walmart)
Quick SummaryThe latest version of the Matter smart home standard has been published.It should mean easier and less frustrating setups, especially with devices from multiple manufacturers.
The latest version of the Matter smart home standard has been published.It should mean easier and less frustrating setups, especially with devices from multiple manufacturers.
The latest version of the Matter smart home standard has been published.It should mean easier and less frustrating setups, especially with devices from multiple manufacturers.
The latest version of the Matter smart home standard has been published.
It should mean easier and less frustrating setups, especially with devices from multiple manufacturers.
One of the ongoing headaches with smart homes is setting them up. However, a new version ofMatter, the smart home interoperability standard, hopes to change that.
The newly announced Matter 1.4 addresses some key omissions in the existing standard, and that should mean much simpler smart home setups in the future.
What’s new in Matter 1.4?
One of the big new features is enhanced multi-admin. This improves the existing feature that’s supposed to make all your different manufacturers' devices play nicely with each other, even if they’re from different ecosystems. It will make Thread border routers work better with one another, and should make it easier to add Matter via Wi-Fi routers and access points too.
There are other key improvements too. There are updates to the energy management support to include heat pumps, home battery storage and solar panels under the Matter banner, but the planned support for security cameras hasn’t yet arrived. It’s still on the to-do list, although there’s no official date for its arrival.
As for Matter 1.4, what’s happened here is just publication of the latest specification. The next step is for manufacturers to actually use it.
That’s where the promise may lose some of its lustre, because new Matter devices don’t have to adopt every part of the Matter specification, while old ones don’t have be updated when there’s a newer version.
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That means we’re dependent on manufacturers not just to roll out the newer spec, but to roll out all of it. And even the ones who do support the standard may take time.
Speaking toThe Verge, Amazon promised updates to supported Eero and Echo devices early next year, but neither Google nor Apple were able to give a timeline.
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