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Matter Standard Arrives for Smart Home Devices

Smart home products from different companies will now be interoperable.

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
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Corinne Reichert
Amazon Echo Glow, Echo Show 5 Kids, smart thermostat, Echo Dot and smart plug

Amazon's smart home products will be interoperable with Google's, among others, under the Matter standard.

 CNET

Matter 1.0 has finally been released, a standard that's set to connect smart home devices from Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google and dozens more.

As part of the release, Matter test labs are now open to certify products, test harnesses and tools are available, and its open-source software development kit is complete.

The Matter specification was originally slated to be released in 2020 but was delayed until fall 2022 as kinks were worked out of the SDK. Matter will ensure the next generation of smart home devices can interact with each other, even when they're from different companies. For instance, using Matter, Google Nest devices, Amazon Echo speakers and GE smart lightbulbs could all be controlled through the Google Home app.

Read more: Best Smart Home Devices of 2022

Matter was developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which is made up of more than 550 tech companies including Apple, Amazon, Comcast, Google, Huawei, Ikea, SmartThings and LG.

Member companies that have already released devices can now update their products to support Matter. Apple says a future iOS 16 update will add support for Matter for HomeKit devices already on the market.

"iOS will include the certified SDK in its entirety," Apple says. "You are encouraged to use the Matter SDK provided by Apple for your Matter ecosystem apps. Apple will work continuously to keep it up to date."