Why Matter is important for Smart Homes and what it can do for you

Buying smart home products is not always easy. Manufacturers often make it quite difficult for you. Support for certain items is often limited to one ecosystem. This means that you cannot just rely on the fact that every smart gadget can be linked to the rest of your smart home contents. Fortunately, that will change in the future thanks to Matter. But what exactly is that?

Matter is a new smart home connection system created by more than 200 companies. It was founded by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). The system uses Internet Protocol (IP) such as Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi and Thread. Smart home devices are connected to one overarching standard thanks to these protocols.

How does Matter work?

Matter makes it easier for businesses and developers to build smart home devices that work together seamlessly, regardless of brand. That means that in the future you will be able to use Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple, Samsung SmartThings products at the same time more easily than ever. This will also simplify the buying process for both retailers and consumers. After all, they can purchase smart home products without any worries.

Thread is an important link in how Matter works. This is a mesh protocol, similar to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with the aim of allowing products to communicate with each other wirelessly. It is based on IPv6 and uses an edge router, or border router. That way, Thread can connect to other networks like Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Cloud. The collaboration between Thread and Matter can be seen as follows: Thread serves as the connection between the devices, while Matter is the language that these devices use. So one cannot exist without the other.

Which companies are involved?

More than 200 companies are involved in the Matter Working Group. The biggest names are probably familiar to you. These include Google, Amazon, Samsung and even Apple. These companies have already pledged their support for Matter and Thread on future products.

Amazon is even going to give existing smart gadgets this extension. The company starts with the Echo and then expands to other devices. Google will integrate Matter with Android and Nest. Some products like the Nest Hub support Matter over Thread, while others support Matter over Wi-Fi. So not every product will use a Thread support. Samsung has also pledged support for Matter in its SmartThings platform. It is just not known which products this concerns.

From when can we use Matter?

In the second half of 2020, the companies planned the full launch in 2021. Due to a delay in the process, the timeline was updated in August 2021. The launch was predicted to take place in the second half of 2022 at the earliest. CSA CEO Tobin Richardson said the delay was necessary. The various tools were not yet ready to meet expectations.

At CES 2022, Matter was announced for a mid-year release. The goal was to release products around the December holidays. However, the CSA announced another delay in March 2022. More time was needed to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Still, the delay doesn’t seem to be a problem. Matter is still expected to launch in the fall of 2022. Until then we will have to be patient.