How to Use Matter Smart Home Standard: The Best Way to Get All Your Devices to Talk

There are a lot of great smart home devices on the market right now, but it’s not always easy to get them to talk to each other and work in harmony. That’s where Matter comes in: it’s a standardized set of rules that make smart home gadgets speak the same language.

Every smart home device has its own apps—but what happens when you want to turn off your lights and heating with a single voice command? Or you want to use smart plugs from two different manufacturers?

Matter aims to standardize all of this. It’s being developed by a group of companies — including Google, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon — that includes most of the major players in the industry. Here’s what you need to know about the technology, and what you need to think about when shopping for smart home kit.

Basics of matter

Matter version 1.0 arrived in October 2022 as a successor to a program called Project CHIP (Connected Home over IP). The standard is being developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which currently has over 500 members, from the aforementioned big tech names to companies like Intel, Logitech, TCL, Sonos, Dyson, LG, and HP.

Matter isn’t a product brand, it’s a badge you look for on the box (or in an online listing) when you’re shopping for smart home devices. That means the gadget you’re buying will work with other gadgets that support Matter. Matter can communicate over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Bluetooth (every smart home device will offer at least one of these).

Matter also uses another smart home protocol called Thread: It’s another way for devices to communicate, like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. If Matter is a language like English or Spanish, Thread is one way to convey that language — think sending a text message or making a phone call. You can have one without the other, but devices that use both are best set up to communicate as quickly and effortlessly as possible.

While Matter can connect to the cloud, it doesn’t have to—the idea is that your devices can still communicate with each other without a network, which increases reliability and reduces latency. As Matter has been released, more and more device types have been added to the standard. At the time of writing, the latest version is Matter 1.3, which adds support for microwaves and electric dryers.

However, while Matter continues to slowly and steadily evolve, it is not without its problems. For example, video doorbells and home security cameras are not yet connected, and some device manufacturers have been slow to update their products to the latest Matter standards.

Take Matter Casting, a standard feature that lets you cast video from one device to another, similar to Chromecast or AirPlay. Right now, only Amazon has implemented the technology into its products, meaning we’re a long way from the day when any video can be cast to any screen in your home.

Different types of Matter devices

In addition to understanding the basics of Matter, you should know about a few different types of devices. The first are Matter-enabled gadgets: smart lights, smart locks, and anything else you have installed. These should sync well with other Matter devices.

Then there are Matter controllers, which are like smart home hubs. You don’t need a controller, but it does give you more features, like online access (so you can control what’s going on in your home over the network). Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, and Nest Hub devices are Matter controllers, as are smart home apps from Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung.

If you’re using Thread with Matter, you’ll also need a Thread border router: As with Matter controllers, many smart devices also act as border routers, like Amazon Echo speakers or Apple TV 4K set-top boxes. Having more than one of these devices strengthens the mesh network that allows Thread gadgets to communicate.

Then there are Matter bridges, which can extend Matter functionality to non-Matter devices on your network. Thread Border routers serve this purpose, but there are other types as well. The Philips Hue smart lighting hub is an example of a Matter bridge that is not a Thread Border router, connecting all the Hue bulbs you have in your home to your Matter network.

It’s worth considering these different types of devices when building a smart home. It’s also helpful to stay up to date with the latest in the smart home world, as device manufacturers can often improve their devices to become Matter controllers, Matter bridges, or Thread Border routers.

Also, remember that Matter devices can be controlled with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri—you can even use them side by side if you need to. This gives you much more flexibility when it comes to figuring out which gadgets you want to connect and how you want to control them.