The long-running campaign to introduce the new smart home standard Matter is moving forward significantly. The Matter 1.0 standard and certification procedure are being officially released, according to a statement made today by the Connectivity Standards Alliance and other alliance members.
The first Matter accessories can now receive formal product certification thanks to this, which coincides with the addition of support for the technology in the most recent iOS 16.1 betas.
Finally, Matter 1.0 is here.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance stated in a press release today that the Matter 1.0 release makes test laboratories, test harnesses, tools, and the reference design, SDK, available for product certification.
This enables businesses to update their current products to support Matter in addition to releasing new products that are certified for Matter connectivity.
In addition to test cases and extensive test tools for Alliance members, the Matter 1.0 standard also includes a global certification scheme with eight accredited test laboratories that are prepared to test both Matter and its supporting network technologies, Wi-Fi and Thread.
Wi-Fi enables smart home gadgets to connect to the cloud and allows Matter devices to interact through a high-bandwidth local network. Thread offers a mesh network inside the home that is both very efficient and dependable. Together with the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the Wi-Fi Alliance and Thread Group worked to fulfil Matter’s full potential.
Several of the most popular types of smart home accessories will be supported by Matter’s initial release, including lighting and electrical, HVAC controls, window treatments and shades, safety and security sensors, door locks, media devices like TVs, controllers as both devices and applications, and bridges.
The Matter group is made up of approximately 280 businesses, including household names like Apple, Amazon, and Google. With a 2020 anticipated release date, the Matter standard—originally known as CHiP—was first introduced in 2019. After being postponed until 2021 and then to mid-2022, the launch is now finally taking place.
iOS 16.1 adds support for Matter.
Today’s announcement of the official launch of Matter 1.0 comes as Apple has added initial support for Matter accessories in the beta version of iOS 16.1. Although Apple’s implementation of Matter currently has a few oddities and flaws, many of them will probably be fixed with the release of Matter 1.0 to the general public.
In fact, the Matter interface in the Settings app has been eliminated in the most recent iOS 16.1 beta 3 release (as seen above). According to Apple’s release notes, the underlying technology underpinning Matter is still in beta. The amount of issues for Matter has dramatically decreased with each successive iOS 16.1 beta that has been released since.
The adoption and acceptance of smart homes may benefit greatly from the Matter standard. It functions by granting cross-platform capabilities to accessories with a lot less overhead than before. For instance, if a gadget is compatible with Matter, it is also effectively compatible with HomeKit.
This is a huge improvement because it eliminates the need for accessory manufacturers to adopt each smart home platform separately, such as HomeKit, Alexa, and Google Home. Instead, they could use Matter, which would come with built-in cross-platform functionality. Although it will probably take some time, Matter 1.0’s official launch today is a significant step in the right direction.
