Now that Matter 1.0 has been completed, what comes next?

The smart home standard is finally available for certification. As soon as this month, Matter gadgets could be found in our houses.

The Matter 1.0 certification program is now open, according to a statement from the Connectivity Standards Alliance. The first Matter devices may appear at any moment, despite a planned official launch event for November 3rd. As soon as they are certified, businesses can start upgrading or selling Matter devices.

I was one of those who believed it would never happen when the concept of Matter was initially proposed in 2019.What would the solution to the broken smart home look like if Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung sat down at a table and brainstormed it together?

Competitive manufacturers like Yale and Schlage, who create locks, and Philips Hue and GE Lighting, who make lights, are developing a global standard that would enable their products to cooperate in any ecosystem. It sounded unattainable. Furthermore, it occasionally seemed as though Matter might never show up as the delays mounted.

But now that the Matter certification laboratories are operational and the SDK is finished, businesses can begin producing, updating, and obtaining the official Matter seal of approval for their products.

Even though the specification has only recently been finalized, numerous businesses were already developing Matter-compatible goods as part of an early access program, thus Matter gadgets may soon become commonplace. According to Michelle Mindala-Freeman of the CSA, "We had a solid group of companies that engaged in our testing process." These products will be some of the first to carry the Matter brand and be made available.

These pioneering goods might be on display at the Matter launch event on November 3. There will, according to the invitation, be a demo area where businesses can display their Matter-certified goods.

Matter is a global networking standard created to simplify the use of smart home technology. Matter should make the smart home quicker and more responsive by offering your door lock and light bulb a method to communicate with each other directly, either over Wi-Fi or a newer protocol called Thread. Additionally, it should make the setup process simpler by enabling suitable devices to instantly appear on your smartphone so you can connect them. Additionally, many voice assistants or smart home ecosystems can operate your gadgets if they speak a common language that is exclusive to your house and doesn't rely on the cloud.

The first Matter spec only addresses a small number of device categories, so this isn't an immediate fix. According to the CSA, requirements are being created for additional devices, including well-liked categories like robot vacuums and security cameras. However, at first, only smart lightbulbs and fixtures, smart plugs and switches, smart thermostats and other HVAC controls, smart blinds, smart sensors, connected locks, media devices like TVs, and smart plugs and switches will be compatible.

The initial deployment also includes Matter controllers and bridges, which are gadgets like the Google Nest Hub Max and Amazon Echo smart speaker that can serve as both an interface for voice or touchscreen control of your devices and a conduit for devices to communicate with one another.

The Google Home and Apple Home apps for smartphones will also function as Matter controllers. In order to integrate their linked devices into the Matter ecosystem, bridges can also become Matter certified. For instance, Signify, the company that owns Philips Hue, has stated that it will convert its smart lighting control bridge to Matter, enabling its lights to be controlled by any Matter controller without the need to update the lights.

The CSA adds that Matter is built to be safe by utilizing technology that makes sure devices must verify their identity and place of origin before being let on the network. Matter doesn't require an internet connection to function and is completely local over IP in terms of privacy. It can readily communicate with the cloud, though. The ecosystem app or device app you use has control over such chats, and it is also responsible for controlling them according to its own privacy standards. Utilizing only tools and services from organizations you are comfortable entrusting with your data will therefore continue to be crucial.

The functionality of Matter gadgets in our homes has raised a lot of misunderstanding and queries. It appears that we shall find out soon with the publication of Matter and the start of the certification program.