Many people are likely to use the advantages of a smart home today and have one or the other device smartly connected, although the scope can vary greatly depending on their affinity for technology. Due to the rapid development, different ecosystems and closed standards have developed in recent years, which are now to be brought together under the Matter umbrella. Now Google has explained the new standard and announced that it will be launched soon.
For many people, the smart home hub is likely to consist of products from Google, Amazon, Apple, or some other big brands that integrate products from numerous other manufacturers. Although there are many compatibilities, this can quickly become a patchwork due to numerous bridges and dependencies. This should vanish into thin air thanks to an industry association created a long time ago that wants to establish the Standard Matter.
With Matter, all devices from the participating manufacturers should be easy to integrate, easy to network and address, and create a mesh system. All devices can communicate with each other through the standard and thus avoid problems, defuse incompatibilities and different generations. The new standard is to be introduced in the course of the year and is now being explained in a more user-friendly way by Google, which I would like to repeat here.
With Smart Home, we are entering a new era based on openness and cooperation. In the future, you should be able to easily use devices from different smart home providers, for example, to switch on your lights, regulate the temperature in your living room or set your alarm clock. Because all devices should work together harmoniously.
Matter, the new smart home industry standard that we have developed together with other leading technology companies, makes exactly that possible.
If you buy a device that runs the Matter standard, the setup will be quick and consistent. In just a few steps you can connect it to your home network, another smart home ecosystem and many of your favorite apps. Matter’s support through Android’s Fast Pair feature makes this as easy as pairing a new pair of headphones. Delays and possible disconnections are reduced because Matter devices connect locally and communicate with each other via Wi-Fi and Thread – a wireless mesh network technology.
To get you ready for Matter, we’re updating many Google Nest devices to act as Matter controllers. This allows you to connect all your Matter-enabled devices to Google Home and control them both locally and remotely using the Google Home app, smart home controls on your Android smartphone, or Google Assistant.
Matter controllers include the original Google Home speaker, Google Home Mini, Nest Mini, Nest Hub (1st and 2nd gen), Nest Audio, and Nest Wifi.
At the same time, Nest Wifi and Nest Hub (2nd gen) act as Thread Border routers, allowing you to connect Thread-enabled devices to your home network that need long-range connectivity — like those backyard headlights.
We’re updating our Works With partner program to make it even faster for you to find products that work well with Google Home. “Works with Hey Google” is now “Works with Google Home”. Partner devices that carry this label have made an extra effort to create quality experiences with Google using Matter or our existing integrations.