The issue finally starting to fulfill its promise is great news for your smart home

Since its inception, Matter promised to take the gardens with different walls of smart home technology and unite them under a single protocol. Its purpose was to allow different ecosystems to interact with each other; For example, a specific Alexa device can operate with Google Home and vice versa. The protocol was first launched in 2019 under home -bound name on IP (chip), but was reprinted in 2021 per Matter.

At the same time as the Rebrand issue, the Zigbee Alliance – one of the initial members of cooperation along with Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung – renamed the Alliance of Connectivity Standards, or CSA. The CSA intended for the matter to begin in 2020, but numerous delays pushed the release back in late 2021, and later in the fall of 2022, citing the Covid-19 pandemia as the main culprit.

The version of matter 1.0 officially went directly in October 2022 and presented support for intelligent lights, thermostats, door locks, blinds and some other types of equipment. Useful, yes – but nothing like the benefits that were riding during its original development. At the time of its onset, other Smart Home standards (respectively Zigbee and Z-Wave) were supported much more broadly. Most devices at the time were It doesn’t matter.

Of course, a wave of compatible products with the matter followed its start, but that meant that many smart home users were stuck using incompatible equipment or avoiding their money earned with new products. And because matter was young and few people had practical experience with it, solving the problems of home difficulties was complicated at best.

Since then, matter has undergone some updates. Version 1.1 improved initial release, but added a little to the mode of features. Version 1.2 had more tangible benefits, including the addition of nine new types of equipment. Version 1.3 Added Energy Reporting Functionality as well as EV charging support. Finally, version 1.4 added support for even more accessories such as solar panels and water heaters.

Each of those updates brought Matter closer to his promised functionality, but it was not to date, when the version 1.4.1 of the matter began – its first “dot” release – which made a substantial change in how users interact with the equipment. While it is considered a small update from CSA (ie determination 1.4.1), it strikes me as one of the most useful supplements for matter yet.

I have worked with smart home equipment for a long time, and the previous history of history was to illustrate that while matter holds a lot of potential, many have not yet been realized. Today’s departure was the first step towards the improvements that the average user will feel. Interaction is fantastic – in fact, I would argue that smart home technology will stagnate without it – but most people will simply buy a device that works without realizing how matter brings them out.

Version 1.4.1 introduced three new features that will directly affect Smart Home daily users, especially when it comes to setting new equipment. Of these three, the ability to set multiple equipment immediately by scanning a single QR code is probably the best feature. You would no longer be forced to put your head like a lady with neck bent just to scan the QR code on the side of your smart lamp, just to repeat the process several times more for each individual lamp. Instead, you can simply scan the packaging.

Another feature (officially called on board information on NFC Tag) allows you to spend the entire QR code and instead put a device simply. holding your phone close to him. He uses communication near the field to create a connection. Some manufacturers have used this technology for a while now, including Lifx devices and most of the Homek Apple, but has not been widely adopted by industry in general.

The latest feature has the potential to change the way I approach my smart home on a daily basis. When I need to set up a device, I use manufacturer’s app. In that way, I can agree with any terms and conditions and deal with issues while they arise, rather than trying to finish my way through a HUB configuration like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Extended configuration flow characteristic (ESF), according to CSA, “supports the display of the conditions and conditions of a manufacturer directly in the commissioner’s application.”

In other words, it is now possible to place equipment from a central location without opening another application. There is no longer a jump between the Hue app and the Alexa app to understand why a lamp in the living room does not work; All information is shared between applications.

Of course, these benefits rely on these companies that choose to work together, but this is a small obstacle. More and more companies are joining CSA in making subject certified products. The Alliance of Standards of Linking has more than 600 members, and even more companies work with CSA even if they are not directly part of it.

Taken has taken about five years, but this little step forward repeated my excitement about matter and what it can bring to the table.