Matter Smart Home Standard Officially Launches, Support Could Come in iOS 16.1

[macduke]

Does this mean Ring will finally work with HomeKit in a round-about way? They promised HomeKit support like 5 years ago and it never happened after Amazon bought them. I bought a bunch of stuff under the promise it would work. Since then I've had to rig up a HomeBridge installation on a Raspberry Pi, which costs me additional money to purchase and power and costs me additional time to maintain updates and rollback breaking changes and upgrade node.js versions and plugins and everything else. I just want everything to work together without having to mess with running a server!

 

[TonyC28]

Unless these companies are straight up lying, most of the major ones have committed to upgrading their current offerings to Matter. Outside of my security cameras and vacuum, which I believe Matter doesn't support yet, all my smart home items have been pledged to be upgraded.

I very much hope I’m wrong.

 

[bobscape]

In my experience most of this smart stuff isn't that smart at all

So, you've been testing the Matter development kits?

 

[rgwebb]

I've never bought anything pledging eventual Matter support ergo eventual HomeKit support.

Either it supports HomeKit today or I don't buy it. I wouldn't trust these companies at all on their support statements. Especially in the smart home space, they are often reneging on their promises.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Does this mean my Hue Hub, Echos, HomePods, and Apple TVs will finally be on the same page and maybe not sucking down so much wifi all the time for no reason?

Usually I understand this stuff but this has been so confusing, anyone that wants to explain like I'm five would be much appreciated.

 

[stocklen]

Does this mean my Hue Hub, Echos, HomePods, and Apple TVs will finally be on the same page and maybe not sucking down so much wifi all the time for no reason?

Usually I understand this stuff but this has been so confusing, anyone that wants to explain like I'm five would be much appreciated.

sometimes sucking down is a good thing

 

[paulovsouza]

Glad this was developed, so 5 years from now we could have something moderately close to what was promised, but still have to pay for separate devices or services to allow connectivity.

 

[Netrox]

Love how people say it "doesn't" matter but Matter is a huge step forward to making more devices compatible to more operating systems for consumer devices. When you buy a product and see "Matter" logo, it works with your computer, period. You don't need to have "HomeBridge" or any other hacks or hubs to make it compatible. It works seamlessly into HomeKit.

But it does NOT mean that all legacy devices stop working. They still work as usual. Matter is a "connectivity" standard - it can rely on Bluetooth, Thread, or WiFi. In future devices, most of them will use Thread/BLE as primary connectivity (WiFi plugins/switches will eventually phase out since it consumes too much power while Thread/BLE consumes a hundred times less energy) and tap WiFi if large data bandwidth is necessary. Thread is also likely the common protocol since it can function as a router for all Thread devices thus making it more self healing as you add more Thread devices.

Having Matter means that the interface to devices are "open" - if the app is no longer supported or the company goes out of business, at least their devices will continue to function for the duration of their lifetime.

 

[Premium1]

I want to be excited. I really do. But I have zero confidence that current hardware made by different manufacturers will be updated with software to allow interoperability, even if the necessary hardware is already there. They are going to hope that we buy new hardware and probably charge even more for it.

Yes and no. If they leave everyone out in the dust, matter makes it easier to jump ecosystems to get new things so I think some OEM's would be shooting themselves in the foot by doing that.

 

[SFjohn]

Nearing the end of a moderately smart home remodel, so Matter doesn’t matter. And if Matter starts to really matter, I’m going to be so pissed… 🤞🏻

 

[svish]

Finally some movement. Looking to see it by the end of the year.

 

[_Spinn_]

Very excited for this to land in iOS.

 

[aleksander]

Almost every device I have works in homebridge

Mine too, until iOS 16 which broke some things.

 

[aleksander]

I won't hold my breath. Apple still not recognising robo vac category in 2022 is just silly.

 

[liudger]

I want to be excited. I really do. But I have zero confidence that current hardware made by different manufacturers will be updated with software to allow interoperability, even if the necessary hardware is already there. They are going to hope that we buy new hardware and probably charge even more for it.

Yeah but isn't this always the case with progress. They dumb the support for old stuff and let you buy new one. The best way to circumvent this is use an local hub that can talk to all devices. Like home assistant. It's some extra work, but a lot better for the environment and still have support for the latest and greatest. So Matter is for that matter actually good. As Matter is a local protocol. So matter devices will always talk to home assistant.

 

[TightLines]

Apple and manufactures have really dropped the ball in the smart home category… Matter, Thread… none of it matters if HomeKit doesn’t get a lot more attention and devotion to improving its functionality… the frustration i read about people having with HomeKit devices is out of control and not worth the hassle… i have geared up with a Synology NAS, an Apple TV, an Apple iPod, etc… to have what it needs to have my own setup without a third party cloud based subscription service for home security things like cameras, locks, door bells, etc… and have not bought one actual smart home device yet due to nothing but negative feedback and reports about the HomeKit software and lack of truly compatible devices… and Apple doesn’t seem to be interested in improving their end of the deal… Apple used to be best in class in just about everything… now they are last in class and there seemingly is no effort visibly being taken to improve that stance… interoperability or other… Just making HomeKit and its few devices work reliably and everything be stable would be a huge improvement over what they have now… As it stands right now, its all junk!

 

[k1121j]

I bet most companies are going to make you buy new hardware cause they can.

 

[name99]

Fact: Having devices with proprietary connectivity increases revenue flow.

That's a dumb analysis. It only works for one-time purchases, then everyone gets wise and the market collapses, just like earlier markets that have not had a competent steward and standards guiding them (eg Bluetooth beacons).

The IoT market is nothing like as large as it should be, because balkanization has made most users unwilling to buy anything beyond essentials (and unwilling to go back beyond a first, disappointing, purchase). All the adults in the space are well aware that standards are necessary to grow the market to its natural size.

 

[name99]

Apple and manufactures have really dropped the ball in the smart home category… Matter, Thread… none of it matters if HomeKit doesn’t get a lot more attention and devotion to improving its functionality… the frustration i read about people having with HomeKit devices is out of control and not worth the hassle… i have geared up with a Synology NAS, an Apple TV, an Apple iPod, etc… to have what it needs to have my own setup without a third party cloud based subscription service for home security things like cameras, locks, door bells, etc… and have not bought one actual smart home device yet due to nothing but negative feedback and reports about the HomeKit software and lack of truly compatible devices… and Apple doesn’t seem to be interested in improving their end of the deal… Apple used to be best in class in just about everything… now they are last in class and there seemingly is no effort visibly being taken to improve that stance… interoperability or other… Just making HomeKit and its few devices work reliably and everything be stable would be a huge improvement over what they have now… As it stands right now, its all junk!

You are right about the current state of HomeKit, completely right.
Two points to add:

- it's not like the alternatives are any better :-(
Trying for an Alexa house or a Google house or one of the FOSS schemes is just as disappointing, especially if your goal is ACTUAL AUTOMATION, not just voice control.

- there are claims that Andreas Gal, hired by Apple (well, acqui-hired) a few years ago was tasked with fixing HomeKit, and hired a whole bunch of new people to do it along with ripping out the current guts. This was supposed to ship with iOS16.0 and clearly didn't. (All we got was a crappier app, which is NOT a good confidence-building first step.)
Will it ship with iOS16.1? Hmm
Point is: at least some part of Apple seem to appreciate there is a problem. Which is not the same thing as providing a solution. Maybe we'll get to see the supposed solution this year?

 

[name99]

Does this mean Ring will finally work with HomeKit in a round-about way? They promised HomeKit support like 5 years ago and it never happened after Amazon bought them. I bought a bunch of stuff under the promise it would work. Since then I've had to rig up a HomeBridge installation on a Raspberry Pi, which costs me additional money to purchase and power and costs me additional time to maintain updates and rollback breaking changes and upgrade node.js versions and plugins and everything else. I just want everything to work together without having to mess with running a server!

I've become a lot more sympathetic to companies like Ring over time.

Look at Rachio's experience:

Rachio abandons HomeKit due to 'No Response' errors

Rachio, maker of a popular smart sprinkler controller, has announced that it will no longer support HomeKit going forward. This...

9to5mac.com

I think plenty of companies imagined they could work with HomeKit (how hard could it be?) and just gave it in the face of absolute Apple incompetence, useless documentation and (worse of all) absolutely ZERO help by the OS regarding logging, debugging, and general explanations for why anything failed.

Rachio are too polite to blame Apple (never wise to burn a bridge) but the true story is obvious reading between the lines...

(I have found HomeBridge to be pretty easy to run on a Mac Mini, probably easier than an rPi. I run it on on my HTPC. Worth considering if you have an old mac sitting around...)

 

[name99]

Love how people say it "doesn't" matter but Matter is a huge step forward to making more devices compatible to more operating systems for consumer devices. When you buy a product and see "Matter" logo, it works with your computer, period. You don't need to have "HomeBridge" or any other hacks or hubs to make it compatible. It works seamlessly into HomeKit.

But it does NOT mean that all legacy devices stop working. They still work as usual. Matter is a "connectivity" standard - it can rely on Bluetooth, Thread, or WiFi. In future devices, most of them will use Thread/BLE as primary connectivity (WiFi plugins/switches will eventually phase out since it consumes too much power while Thread/BLE consumes a hundred times less energy) and tap WiFi if large data bandwidth is necessary. Thread is also likely the common protocol since it can function as a router for all Thread devices thus making it more self healing as you add more Thread devices.

Having Matter means that the interface to devices are "open" - if the app is no longer supported or the company goes out of business, at least their devices will continue to function for the duration of their lifetime.

What you're saying is somewhat yes and no. One fly in the ointment is that Matter, like websites, uses (or at least can use) certificates, like web site security. Meaning that when those certificates expire... As we have seen with occasional web sites, where even though the web content is still hosted and still valid, the expiration of a certificate means its basically game over.

How will this play out in real life? Unclear. But, unfortunately, I suspect it will mean (at least for the first few years until, hopefully, people come up with something more robust) that when a company dies, your HW may not die immediately, but it may die a year or two later when that certificate expires...

 

[ipedro]

I’ve built a smart home over the last decade always with the condition that the devices I bought were HomeKit compatible. Those of us with a HomeKit ecosystem won’t notice much of a difference.

But some devices that I had pre-HomeKit like a Nest thermostat and DropCam and some that were gifted to me (Echo Show) have always been on the sidelines.

Old Nest thermostats and cameras aren’t going to be upgraded to Matter so I guess I’ll be replacing those soon.

Amazon promised updates to almost every Echo. What happens to Echo Show? How will it work with Siri once it’s upgraded to Matter?

What new device types will HomeKit support? Previously vacuums worked with Alexa and Google but not HomeKit because there wasn’t a vacuum category in HomeKit.

 

[stocklen]

I’ve built a smart home over the last decade always with the condition that the devices I bought were HomeKit compatible. Those of us with a HomeKit ecosystem won’t notice much of a difference.

But some devices that I had pre-HomeKit like a Nest thermostat and DropCam and some that were gifted to me (Echo Show) have always been on the sidelines.

Old Nest thermostats and cameras aren’t going to be upgraded to Matter so I guess I’ll be replacing those soon.

Amazon promised updates to almost every Echo. What happens to Echo Show? How will it work with Siri once it’s upgraded to Matter?

What new device types will HomeKit support? Previously vacuums worked with Alexa and Google but not HomeKit because there wasn’t a vacuum category in HomeKit.

Of course echo shows wont suddenly become Siri devices

Thats not how its supposed to work.

Echos will still be Alexa echos. HomePods will still be Siri HomePods - you wont suddenly get Alexa on HomePod or Siri on Echo.

 

[ipedro]

Of course echo shows wont suddenly become Siri devices

Thats not how its supposed to work.

Plenty of articles say that that's exactly what will happen:

For Echo owners, it should mean that you can choose which assistant you want: Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and others.

Big changes coming to Alexa & Amazon Echo devices this year

Updates coming to Echo & Echo Show include a male voice, Ziggy, widgets, Send to Phone and more.

www.techadvisor.com

Almost all Amazon Echo speakers will soon work with Siri, Google Assistant

Almost all Amazon Echo speakers will soon work with Siri, Google Assistant

Thanks to a major upgrade to open-source platform Matter

www.whathifi.com

I think that Siri's third party access, announced at WWDC, will play a part here. At that demo, Apple showed Siri working through an Echobee.

 

[PaladinGuy]

I am just waiting for my Nest thermostat to die, it was dead to me as soon as Google bought them. I have it and other devices like my garage door openers imported into HomeKit via Homebridge running on my NAS.

I have been waiting on a unifying standard for a while now. Looking to get everything in one App. The damn X10 I have just will not die either, but only a device or two left on that now.

Hopefully when I make my next automation push everything will be under one standard…

Agreed. I was also not thrilled when Google bought Nest. I wish I had an Ecobee instead… oh well. Like you, I’m just waiting for it to die or need replacing. Seems frivolous to replace a perfectly good thermostat.