The encyclopedia · Software & IT · Technical decision · 2022
Amazon, Apple and Google agreed on Matter to make smart homes interoperable
Matter is a royalty-free, IP-based connectivity protocol that lets any smart-home device work with any brand's hub, and it arrived as a software update.
Connectivity Standards Alliance · Amazon · Apple · Google · Samsung
the move
Smart-home sellers built on incompatible proprietary protocols, so a lamp from one brand could not join another brand's hub, and the buyer bore the integration mess.
Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung worked with the Connectivity Standards Alliance to create Matter, a royalty-free IP-based connectivity protocol for smart-home devices.
Instead of a new network, Matter rides existing IP transport and defines a single application layer plus a certification seal of approval, so a certified device works natively across brands and ecosystems.
Matter's key choice was backwards compatibility: it rolled out to millions of existing devices through software updates, so brands and consumers gained interoperability without replacing gear.
why it works
- One shared protocol removes the need to bet on a single brand's ecosystem.
- Building on IP, Thread, Wi-Fi and BLE means little new hardware in the home.
- The certification seal converts compatibility from a claim into a promise.
- Software-update rollout brought the standard to devices people already owned.
what transfers
When rival ecosystems deadlock, the winning move is a shared standard that adopts existing hardware rather than demanding a fresh install base, so everyone can play without replacing what they own.
what came after
Matter 1.0 launched in fall 2022 with support pledged by Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung SmartThings, and it has since rolled out via software updates to millions of devices and been certified across many product categories, becoming the industry's interoperability baseline.
references
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