Is Matter Still the Smart Home Standard of the Future?

The Matter standard made a splash during its unveiling thanks to claims that it would unify smart home technology and make devices more compatible—but what is Matter, and has it really made a difference in smart homes?

What Is the Matter Smart Home Standard?

Matter is an open-source smart home standard that seeks to unify smart home ecosystems by making sure that they can all communicate together. Prior to Matter, many smart home devices from different ecosystems were already compatible—but others suffered serious incompatibilities. This was sometimes difficult for customers to figure out before making a purchase.

The main appeal of smart home devices that use the Matter standard is that you know they will all work together without snags. It’s also less likely that you’ll have to download a dozen apps, as is the case with using devices from different manufacturers within the same ecosystem. The standard also offers some future-proofing, since it’s less likely that a Matter-complaint device will become obsolete.

Matter is spearheaded by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, an organization comprised of hundreds of large and small companies that manufacture smart home devices. You can expect that any Matter-compliant device will work with any Matter-enabled apps and ecosystems. In other words, the Matter standard is only universally compatible as far as it is adopted.

Has Matter Made Smart Homes More Compatible?

While it hasn’t quite overtaken the market, Matter has made smart homes more compatible. Many devices on the market support the standard, and four of the biggest manufacturers of smart technology — Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung — have backed Matter.

According to a report by ABI Research, an estimated 5.5 billion Matter-compliant smart home devices will ship between 2022 an 2030. While many smart home devices used today precede the adoption of Matter, it’s likely that the standard will begin to overtake smart homes in the near future as users replace older, non-complaint devices.

Presently, Matter isn’t supported by all smart devices. It has been rolled out in home appliances like smart fridges, dishwashers, and air purifiers, but the release of Matter-compliant devices like the Echo is still ongoing. As of the release of Matter 1.3 in May 2024, support for sensors like water leak detectors, water valves, and freeze detectors has also rolled out.

The largest issue facing Matter implementation is a simple one: there’s little incentive to release Matter devices without Matter support and there’s no profit in implementing Matter support without enough Matter devices. The future success of Matter depends on whether customers purchase the new technology, but so far, the future of Matter looks optimistic.

How Matter Will Impact the Future of Smart Homes

As manufacturers implement Matter in new smart home devices, it will become easier than ever to upgrade your home. After all, you won’t have to worry whether it will play nicely with your existing devices. That isn’t the only benefit that Matter will bring to smart homes, however. It will become easier to control all of your smart home devices from one app as Matter is adopted, thanks to increased compatibility.

Open-source solutions like Home Assistant or widely supportive apps like Apple HomeKit already make this feasible, but Matter standardization will help eliminate any snags that still exist. Matter’s impact will accelerate when brands like Amazon and Samsung, who have backed the new standard, finally roll out devices that implement it.

You can expect to see new developments in the meantime as new versions of Matter are implemented, however — and if you get antsy, you can support the standard by trying a new Nanoleaf smart light or Kasa smart switch and pushing your home one step closer to the future.