Whether you’ve been thinking about piecing together a smart home or you’ve already committed to a platform like Amazon Alexa or Apple Home, you’ve likely come across something known as Matter. Technically speaking, Matter is an interoperability standard for smart home devices that allows products from different platforms to interact with each other. But what exactly does that mean? And how does it impact your smart home? More importantly, should you go out of your way to purchase Matter products?
If you’re short on time, know this — Matter is an incredible bit of engineering that allows you increased freedom when shopping for smart home devices. Products that used to be relegated to a single platform (like Alexa) can now be controlled via platforms like Apple Home. The end result is incredible flexibility, allowing you to sync thousands of devices together to create a hyper-connected smart home.
Ready to learn more? Here’s a closer look at what Matter is and how it fits into the complex smart home landscape.
How does Matter work?
Matter is a way for your smart home devices to communicate with one another. By providing a common platform that manufacturers agree on, consumers can rest assured that their various products can work with one another. From an end user’s perspective, this means you could have a Matter-certified motion sensor trigger your Matter-certified smart lights, even though they’re from different manufacturers.
Matter is an application layer, so those working on the software side of smart home products would use code compatible with other devices on the same standard. Google, for example, is heading up the software development kit for Matter apps on mobile. Those who want to dig into the open-source code can find it all on GitHub.
A lot of this code is invisible to users, though. From Matter, control bubbles up further to platforms like Apple HomeKit and ultimately the Home iOS app where users interact. That means as soon as you tap a command in the Home app, it goes through HomeKit, then Matter, then the Thread network, then to the specific device in the home.
Matter aims to simplify the connected home while maintaining reliability and security. In theory, whenever you see a Matter brand on a product, you should have confidence that it will fit in with your other Matter products.
Who owns Matter?
Matter is composed of an alliance of tech industry giants. That organization is called the Connectivity Standards Alliance. This alliance continues to manage Zigbee, a wireless communications standard that has been used by products like Philips Hue for years. Amazon, Google, Huawei, Samsung, and Apple are also members. Alongside component companies like NXP and Texas Instruments and over 200 other companies, there’s a wide range of industry support for the Matter standard.
What’s the difference between Thread and Matter?
Thread is a networking technology upon which much of the Matter application layer is built. Matter incorporates other networking technologies as well, like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Thread’s main selling point is being able to ditch dedicated hardware hubs to connect products, and instead designating proper smart home devices as border routers to take on the same role. Like Zigbee, Thread is a low-power mesh network, but instead of a single static hub coordinating communications, different devices can take over the routing role as needed.
Thread is internet protocol-based, so it’s talking the same IPv6 language as your Wi-Fi router. This should mean that Matter devices will be quite responsive since once a command has been sent through the Thread network, it won’t need to revisit an application layer for translation. Zigbee currently bounces commands back to the application layer, which slows things down.
Matter also works over Wi-Fi, offering added flexibility to create your connected smart home.
When can we expect to see Matter products?
Matter products are on the market right now. Head over to Amazon or Home Depot or any of your favorite retailers, and you’re bound to find a litany of Matter products on their shelves. Just look for the Matter logo on the side of the box. New categories of supported devices are constantly being added, and it remains an excellent way to futureproof your smart home. If you need help getting started, check out our roundup of the best Matter devices.
The nuts and bolts of Matter and Thread are a little complex, but as an end-user, all you really need to know is that Matter is a certification that will hopefully ensure your smart home devices can seamlessly talk to one another.
