What is Matter Residences?

Matter Residences is a new protocol that makes it easier for devices from different smart home ecosystems to talk to each other. It does so by providing a language that all devices speak, as well as a central hub that manages communications and automations. This hub is called a controller. And because Matter is backed by the big players in the industry — Apple, Amazon and Google, for example — it’s likely to see widespread adoption.

But for now, it’s limited in what it can do. The first version of the specification only supports a few categories of devices, like lighting and electrics, heating and cooling and locks and security. It also doesn’t support more advanced features, such as energy monitoring in a smart plug or complicated scene control for smart lights. That may change down the road, as will Matter’s integration with other platforms.

Some companies have already started to upgrade their devices to Matter. Nanoleaf, for example, has a line of new products that it said would all be upgradable to Matter, and Nordic’s nRF52 and nRF53 SoCs are designed to support the platform. At CES 2024, Samsung announced that its existing Family Hub appliances and TVs and the Galaxy phone family of smart cameras would all become Matter compatible with a software update.

The four major smart home platforms — Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit and Samsung SmartThings — all support Matter, and you can use their apps, speakers and hubs to manage your device collection. Other app makers, including TP-Link, Ecovacs, Aqara and Mui Labs, are planning to add support soon. matter residences