All parts of the Mattern ecosystem continue to fall for smart home fans. Here’s the latest information on smart home protocols.
Google Nest, Android Device Support Matters
All parts of the Mattern ecosystem continue to fall for smart home fans. Here’s the latest information on smart home protocols.
Google Nest, Android Device Support Matters
In a blog post, Google announced that all Google Nest and Android devices are compatible with Matter. No need to do anything, all devices were updated automatically.
Using Google Home or Nest Hub, you can control any Matter-enabled accessory. Hubs include the original Google Home speaker, Google Home Mini, Nest Mini, Nest Audio, Nest Hub (1st and 2nd generation), Nest Hub Max, and Nest WiFi Pro.
Nest Wifi Pro mesh router coming in October 2022. Matter devices use either Wi-Fi or the Great Thread communication protocol to communicate. Google has also updated the Nest Wifi Pro, Nest Hub Max, and Nest Hub (2nd gen) to be thread border routers.
Android devices can now access MateR support using Fast Pair. This allows you to quickly and easily connect Mater-enabled devices to your network. After a quick setup process, Matter devices can also connect to other apps and ecosystems.
And there are more Matter features coming from Google over the next year. Along with more mater device support, Google is planning to bring iOS support to the Google Home app. In 2023, Google will also introduce an advanced Multi-Admin feature for better cross-platform control in partnership with Samsung.
Matter devices are also starting to appear
Another major piece of the Matter puzzle is smart home accessories like locks, lights and more. Earlier in December 2022, Eve started rolling out Matter support for three devices – smart plug, contact sensor, and motion sensor.
We’re expecting a huge influx of other Matter accessories to hit the market next year with CES 2023 likely to be an introduction to a host of new options.
Get ready for an issue-filled 2023
The March to Matter has been the biggest smart home story of 2022. And with Google adding support to its popular line of hubs and accessories, Matter is shaping up to be an even more impressive 2023.
Smart home tech was supposed to bring easy automation to the places we live. But unfortunately, every major player in the market tried to force consumers to use only their products, and it quickly became a messy mess of compatibility issues and brand loyalty.
This is about to change for the better. At IFA 2022, we saw the Google Nest Hub control an Eve Apple HomeKit smart plug, thanks to Matter, a new smart home standard that could end compatibility issues for all future smart home tech.
The Eve team was quite protective of the demo as it is a very early implementation of Matter, but it is valid. A working example of the Google Nest Hub controlling the Apple HomeKit-based Eve smart plug. While it’s a huge win for Eve to be the first to show up, the implications go far beyond any producer.
When rolled out, Thread will mean third-party smart home and Internet of Things designers no longer have to choose a particular ecosystem to work with. I’m hesitant to make grand, sweeping statements, but as a reporter who’s covered smart home tech from many angles since its inception, this seems like a really big moment.
Why matter matters
To understand why matter is so important, we need to understand the basics.
When any two smart home devices interact, they use a shared communication protocol. There should be some kind of secure handshake with the instruction or request. This may be via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or other short-range radio formats. However, many communication protocols do not get along, and this was in many cases by design.
Thread is a new mesh networking protocol that allows each device to be its own mini-router. It is highly reliable, requires very little power, and crucially, it is an IP-based system which means it can communicate with the wider internet without issue.
Matter is a software layer that can use threads as the basis for an open-source communication system. It is supported by all the big players including Google, Amazon and Apple. Companies that provide the raw tools to build smart home hardware should also be widely adopted in the embedded engineering world.