What matters about Matter, the new smart home standard

  News, Rassegna Stampa
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Matter is a common language for smart home devices designed to simplify everything about the smart home, from purchase to setup and everyday use. Its biggest promise is making smart devices work with each other across platforms and ecosystems, no matter who made them. No more checking for the “works with” HomeKit, Google Home, or Alexa badges — Matter devices work with all of them. It’s also entirely local, so gadgets should respond more quickly. Yes, Matter should make your smart light bulb work just as fast as your non-smart light switch. 

All this means you won’t have to pick a platform when adding Matter devices to your home. You can control your smart lighting, smart locks, etc., simultaneously with Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and even Bixby, should you want to. You can also easily switch your gadgets between platforms.

Matter should make your smart light bulb work just as fast as your non-smart light switch. 

This article is a breakdown of the basics around Matter and how it will work in your home. Including which products and platforms will work with the new standard and when. For more on the technology behind Matter, check out this deep dive into the new standard: Matter’s plan to save the smart home

As new information comes out, we’ll keep this article updated.

Matter is an interoperability standard designed to solve many of today’s smart home headaches

Developed and run by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, Matter is supported by a long list of companies. From platform owners like Apple, Google, and Amazon and major manufacturers such as Samsung and LG to smaller accessory-focused players like Nanoleaf, Eve, and Wyze, there’s an unprecedented industry coalition behind Matter. Which is why it’s probably going to work.

Matter isn’t a new protocol; it’s a specification for how devices should talk to each other. It runs over existing protocols: Thread for low-power, low-bandwidth devices such as light bulbs and sensors and Wi-Fi or ethernet for higher bandwidth devices like streaming media players and cameras (when they arrive).

A key feature of the specification is that all devices can run locally in your home; they do not require an internet connection to work or to work together, although cloud connectivity is an option and allows for out-of-the-home control and integration with cloud services.

Matter officially launched in the fall of 2022 but hasn’t arrived yet; we’re waiting for platforms and devices to be updated to support the standard. That’s starting to happen, but early 2023 is when you can realistically expect to use Matter in your home.

This diagram explains how devices will communicate across the different protocols supported by Matter.

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