Support for Matter is spreading more and more across multiple platforms, ecosystems, and smart devices. A few days ago we talked about its arrival on Google’s Nest devices, or on Amazon’s Echo, among many others. And it is that if consolidated, the standard that promises to unify the smart ecosystem of our home it will be very useful to us.
However, in addition to the new language that it tries to establish among the smart devices in our homes, perhaps one of the most attractive advantages is the fact that it already we do not have to depend on third-party applications or additional ecosystems to run all our home devices. And it is that once Matter is established at home, we will say goodbye to applications of dubious reliability to make way for total configuration from a single app.
What is Matter?
Matter is a universal connection protocol that can be used by devices that are compatible with it to work on all kinds of platforms. In this way, if for example you buy a smart light bulb, You will not have to worry about whether it is compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKitand other ecosystems, since as long as it is compatible with Matter, the standard promises us that we can configure it from any ecosystem.
One of its advantages is that works locally tooTherefore, communication between devices through this mode will relieve our network of traffic generated by small smart devices. So, if, for example, we want to turn the lights on or off from our phone, we can do it without depending on the cloud or additional Hubs.
This protocol works as an additional layer to existing standards such as Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth or Thread. And precisely the latter, based on the Zigbee wireless protocol, is to which smart devices must offer compatibility so that the connection can be made locally through Matter. It is a low energy wireless protocol, designed to create a connected ecosystem without congesting the home WiFi network.
How to set up devices with Matter
The idea of this standard is to offer facilities to the user when it is their turn to configure new devices at home. In this case, Matter would be ideal, since seeks to offer a quick way to discover and add devices smart to the smart ecosystem of our home.
Although details still remain to be known, and depending on the compatibility of each ecosystem with Matter, The idea is that we can configure any device from the ecosystem app itself that we are using, that is, Google Home, Alexa, or Apple HomeKit, without depending on another layer.
In this way, if for example we want to add a light bulb to the existing ecosystem in our home through Matter, we will only have to activate it, and wait for the app of our ecosystem to automatically detect the new device. This would work in a similar way to the Fast Pair mechanism on Android, or when we want to connect AirPods for the first time from an iPhone or iPad, the connection being immediate.
This would open many doors for us at the level of compatibility and unification. Besides, we would stop depending on third-party applicationsAlthough at the stage that Matter is currently in, there are still some exclusive features that require additional apps and ecosystems.
What phase is Matter in?
The protocol was launched last October, and we have already seen how many manufacturers have announced their compatibility with the standard. Although there is still work to be done in terms of its integration by the companies, this first phase is serving to know the interest of the user towards this standard.
Initially, there will be functions that devices will not be able to perform with Matter. And it is that it is a language that will begin with basic characteristics for each device. The advanced functions will depend on each ecosystem and platform. Yes indeed, Matter has the potential to do much more in the futureso we will have to wait to find out how the expansion of this protocol is progressing.
