Today it’s time to talk about Matter again and if in spring we talk about version 1.1 of the new protocol that arrives to unify the connected home, we already have news of the changes coming with version 1.2 which is about to be released.
It will be in the fall when the CSA (Connectivity Standard Alliance) releases version 1.2 of the Matter standard. A change that will prepare the arrival and integration into the connected home of new types of devices that will be added to all those that we already know. Let’s see what it will offer.
Doors and kitchens, protagonists
Matter, formerly known as “Project CHIP” (Connected Home over IP), is a collaborative effort supported by several leading technology companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and others, with the goal of establishing an open and universal standard for communication between IoT devices in the home. This standard has as its main objective improve interoperability and security of smart home devices.
And although it is still in its infancy, little by little, we are learning about changes that will come with successive revisions. In the case of version 1.2, which will be released next fallMatter will support new devices.
This is the case of smart door locks and in fact, manufacturers like NuKi have already confirmed that they will update their products so that they can work with Matter while also adapting them to work with the European door system.
In addition to smart locks, they can also be used with other common devices in the home, such as washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, fans and air conditioning systems They will also be compatible with Matter 1.2. Now it is in the hands of the manufacturers to adapt their catalogs.
For example, Matter-compatible robot vacuums have not yet been announced but companies like SwitchBot have indicated that support for Matter is on their roadmap. In the case of household appliances, the colleagues at Homekits.dehave already seen the dishwasher, fan and air conditioning system with Matter support from the Midea brand.
Later it will be time for Matter 1.4 to arrive, presumably in the fall of 2024. A standard that should finally support the use of surveillance cameras, since for now there are limits imposed among others by the different video codecs. And according to Chris LaPré, CSA’s chief technology officer, the idea is to integrate device support preferably with fall updates to use spring updates for stability improvements, feature extensions…
Even so, and with all these improvements, there is still a lot of work to do and for Matter to reach more connected home devices to end the atomization and dispersion of a large number of devices for the home, which with this new standard, will be able to interact more easily. . Companies like Google, Apple, Amazon… will have to open their ecosystem, something that we have already seen Samsung or LG do recently. The plan is on the table and now It is the companies that have to start updating and launching products.
