Why Matter, Why Now
Smart home tech was meant to make our lives easier, safer, and more enjoyable. But, for many people, the reality hasn’t yet lived up to their expectations.
Getting devices set up, figuring out which app to use for what, or discovering that products simply won’t talk to each other has put off plenty of would-be smart home users.
Before Matter, building a smart home could be frustrating. You may have had to jump between different apps, each with its own setup steps, even for simple or similar types of devices.
Some devices worked with only one app or ecosystem, leaving your home split and making it harder for everyone to control the smart home the way they wanted.
And some devices relied on cloud services for even basic operation, meaning they could stop working if the internet went out, or the manufacturer dropped support.
Your smart home needs to be simple and reliable – for you and the others in it.
To make this a reality, leading and innovative smart home brands came together in the Connectivity Standards Alliance to develop Matter, an open smart home standard created to help solve a number of long-standing challenges.
Simplicity: Taking The Guesswork Out
Matter’s goal is to help make every step of the smart home journey easier, from buying a device to setting it up, and using it every day.
Only products that have been thoroughly tested are certified to carry the Matter logo. These devices may be controllable ones like lightbulbs and thermostats, or devices that connect and control them like smart speakers, routers, TVs with built-in hubs, and even apps. Some devices like TVs and refrigerators can even have both functions.
Controllable devices carrying the Matter logo can be set up, connected to, and controlled by any app or ecosystem that supports that type of device.
Many product makers and ecosystems take this promise a step further, by testing specific Matter products for performance and reliability with their specific ecosystem beyond basic Matter functionality, in order to provide further assurance to customers in the form of “Works With” badges.
With Matter, setup can be much simpler and, crucially, more consistent too. Whether it’s a light, plug, thermostat or sensor, the process follows a familiar, consistent pattern.
You usually start by scanning your new device’s QR code or entering its numeric setup code into your chosen smart home app. It’s similar across all the smart home ecosystems and apps, and it’s secure by design.
Interoperability: Everything Works Together
Interoperability, a core principle of Matter, means smart devices from multiple brands can work with each other, and with different smart home ecosystems.
Matter is a common language that lets devices speak to each other over existing technologies that you already have and use in your home network every day, like Wi-Fi, Thread, or Ethernet.
Matter also includes an important feature called Multi-Admin, which means that a single device can be controlled by multiple smart home apps or ecosystems at the same time.
Matter is the way that devices talk to each other and to smart home apps and ecosystems: it does not replace them.
It’s especially helpful for households where different members may prefer a different smartphone, app or smart home system, or simply want to control them from different devices at different times.
Matter makes shared control simple.
Matter is designed to grow with you and your smart home. The standard is an ongoing project that continues to evolve as new device types, new categories, and new smart home trends and needs emerge.
The Alliance and its members continue to grow and evolve what Matter can do, regularly adding support for more device types and their features, and improving the overall experience with each update.
Reliability: Consistent and Responsive
Matter’s focus on local communication enables devices that are fast, reliable, and private.
Matter devices talk directly over your home network instead of depending on the cloud. The idea is that users can build a smart home that can be more responsive and reliable by not depending as much on the internet, or product makers’ cloud support.
This gives users more choice in how they build their smart homes, but they can still benefit from internet-enabled features that their ecosystems or apps offer.
Security: Built-in Peace of Mind
Security and privacy are at the core of Matter. The identity of every device is verified before joining your network, and all communication is end-to-end encrypted. Only the minimum information required for a device to function is shared via Matter between devices.
With Matter, you are in control and can decide which ecosystems and apps are allowed to access your Matter devices and their data, and as a result, you can choose Matter products and ecosystems that meet your privacy goals.
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