NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Connected gadgets around the home can be super convenient: Lights that turn on automatically, doors that lock and unlock from your phone, the list goes on and on.
But making sure all those different devices work together is often an annoying struggle.
Derek Flowers finds it frustrating that his family’s smart home devices don’t all work together.
“You have to choose if you want to work mainly with Alexa, with Google, or with Apple. Or with something different altogether,” Flowers said.
But thanks to the new Matter smart home standard, that’s all changing.
The new standard was created by several tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung and other companies so consumers could choose their smart home devices based on features and price rather than compatibility with a specific system.
“The big overarching goal of the new standard is really interoperability. Getting devices to work together, getting devices to be easier to use, easier to set up, and also frankly more secure so that you know you don’t have to worry about getting hacked,” Consumer Reports Dan Wroclawski said.
Another big benefit for consumers is increased competition.
“Consumers will see a lot more product options in the marketplace and that should help to lower prices and make these products more affordable,” Wroclawski said.
You should also see lower prices because devices won’t have to be manufactured to work with multiple ecosystems.
Right now, Matter supports a handful of smart home products like door locks, light bulbs, thermostats, and TVs.
But you can expect much more in the future including home appliances, security cameras, and smart speakers.
So, how do you know what smart home devices support Matter?
“For new devices, it will be very easy to tell. You should see a Matter logo on the packaging or in the user manual," Wroclawski said. "For existing products that consumers already own—which there are some that are just being updated via software to support Matter—those you’ll likely either get an email or see a notification in the app for that device.”
Something Derek is anxiously awaiting.
Matter also lets you control devices via multiple smart home systems at the same time. That means you can turn on your lights from your Samsung smartphone, dim them by asking Alexa on an Amazon Echo speaker, and then turn them off from your iPad.
