Ultimate Guide to Matter Smart Home

The Matter smart home interoperability protocol is finally here, and it's the future of smart home automation. It promises to transform how we control smart devices with more security and choices. Our ultimate guide to Matter answers common questions to help you prepare for a Matter-powered smart home.

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Matter is a next-generation smart home platform that connects devices using Internet Protocol (IP) networking. It's the product of a partnership between the world's largest tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, Comcast, Google,^† Samsung, Signify, and hundreds of others.

Matter aims to reduce fragmentation in the smart device market while improving security and reliability. What does this mean for you? You’ll be able to buy compatible devices without hours of research.

Although Matter isn't replacing existing smart home platforms like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, and many others, it creates a standard language allowing them to work together and share control over your devices.

Compatibility has always been the biggest barrier to mainstream smart home adoption. It limits your choices when buying products and keeps you from getting the most out of your smart home. While this model works well enough for enthusiasts and pros, it's confusing for everyone.

Matter wants to rebuild the way you think about smart home technology:

• Buying new smart devices won't come with as many compatibility headaches.
• Using a single app to control devices will be easier.

Google Nest devices, like the Google Nest Thermostat, are a prime example of what Matter's promising. They don't natively support Apple HomeKit—you can't control them using Siri or the Apple Home app. But with Matter, your Nest device gains access to Apple's outstanding smart home platform for the first time.

The IP-based protocol behind Matter isn't replacing existing smart home ecosystems as much as helping them work together. And while Matter's an open-source platform that any device maker can use, it must join the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA)—Matter's governing body—and submit products to authorized test labs as part of a certification program.

On the hardware side, Matter works using one or more wireless technologies:

• Wi-Fi is available on practically every computer and smartphone, making it a natural choice for wireless communication between Matter devices—and, if necessary, the internet.
• Ethernet uses a wired connection and offers many of the same benefits as Wi-Fi.
• Thread is a low-power smart home protocol that creates a mesh network between devices—similar to Zigbee. Thread is an ideal choice for battery-powered devices.

Matter devices using Wi-Fi and Ethernet don't require a hub to communicate, but you still need a Matter controller for setup. While "Matter controller" sounds like a hub, it's simply whatever compatible device you use to set up and control your devices—like a smartphone or smart speaker.

You'll need a Thread border router if your Matter device uses Thread. This is essentially any Thread device that connects to Wi-Fi and has a continuous power source. (Thread devices using batteries, like sensors and smart locks, stay inactive when they aren't sending status reports or receiving commands.)

No hard-and-fast rule says a Matter controller and a Thread border router can't be the same device. The Nest Hub (2nd Gen), Apple HomePod Mini, and Amazon Echo (4th Gen) will all function as both after Matter launches.

You can control Matter and non-Matter devices in the same app—if they're in the same ecosystem. If something worked with the Google Home app before Matter, it would continue working with any Matter-certified devices you add to Google Home later.

The biggest hurdle for uncertified devices is that they can't use the Matter network to communicate with other ecosystems without a bridge.

A bridge, like a Thread border router, makes it possible to translate data into a Matter-friendly format. This means you don't need to rely on Matter alone—using incompatible Z-Wave devices is possible as long your Matter hub supports Z-Wave.

One of Matter's most significant benefits is that everything connects to a local network via Wi-Fi, Thread, or Ethernet. A local network doesn't rely on an internet connection to function—something previous Wi-Fi devices required—so your devices will work faster because there's no need to send data to a cloud server for processing.

Local control also keeps information from Matter-enabled devices more secure and private since an internet connection is unnecessary when you're home. Your IoT devices connect to the internet only when you access them remotely via a Matter controller.

Any smart home device that uses Wi-Fi, Thread, or Ethernet has the potential for Matter compatibility. It ultimately depends on which brands pursue Matter certification. Once certified, brands can update the device's firmware with Matter support.

Matter's a big enough deal that you'll probably get an email or notification if your device earns the certification. Amazon, Google Nest, and Samsung SmartThings confirmed that Matter support is coming to existing devices.

We suspect many recent products will eventually support Matter since certifying an existing product may be easier and cheaper than designing a new one. For example, Google plans to add Matter functionality to the original Google Home smart speaker—a device it first released in 2016.

The CSA released the Matter 1.0 standard and opened the product certification program in October 2022. New and existing products wanting to offer Matter compatibility must obtain certification before they can add support.

We don't know how long the device certification process takes, but we imagine you'll start seeing the first products with the Matter logo by next month.

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