The Matter smart home standard was supposed to end the problem where a light bulb works with one app and not another. Four years after launch it has made real progress, and it still has not finished the job. Cameras finally joined the standard in late 2025. Setup improved in mid 2026. Meanwhile the biggest platforms remain months or years behind the specification, which means the badge on a box and the experience in a living room are not the same thing.
Anyone buying connected devices this year benefits from knowing which parts of that promise have arrived.
What the Matter smart home standard covers
Matter is an interoperability standard published by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, an industry group whose members include Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung. It launched in October 2022. The idea is that a certified device works with any certified controller, so a sensor bought for one ecosystem keeps working if the household switches to another.
It runs over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Thread, the low power mesh protocol used by battery devices such as sensors and locks. Thread and Matter are often confused. Thread carries the traffic for small devices, while Matter defines what the messages mean, so a device can use Thread without being a Matter device.
The specification grows in numbered releases. Version 1.4 arrived in November 2024 and added support for home routers and access points along with tools for sharing a device across ecosystems. Two maintenance updates through 2025 focused on testing and certification rather than features.
What Matter 1.5 changed for cameras
Cameras were the largest gap in the standard, and the Alliance closed it with Matter 1.5 in November 2025. The release also brought in closures such as blinds and garage doors, soil sensors, and a set of energy features covering tariffs, carbon data, and bidirectional electric vehicle charging.
The camera work is the part most households will notice. Video and audio stream over WebRTC, which supports two way talk along with local and remote access. The specification covers pan, tilt, and zoom controls, motion detection, privacy zones, and both continuous and event based recording. It applies to doorbell cameras, indoor and outdoor security cameras, floodlight cameras, and baby monitors. MacRumors published a detailed breakdown of what the camera support includes, and two limits are worth noting from it: clip playback and storage stay with the device maker or the platform, and on-camera audio and video analysis sits outside the standard.
That second limit matters more than it sounds. The intelligence features that separate one camera from another, such as person detection and package alerts, are exactly what manufacturers put behind subscriptions. Matter standardises the video, not the analysis, so the subscription question that dominates the category has not gone away. Anyone weighing that cost should still work through what a home security camera really costs to own before buying on the strength of a Matter badge.
A follow up release in May 2026 refined the camera work, adding multiple simultaneous streams so a single camera can send a high resolution feed for recording and a lighter one to a phone.
What Matter 1.6 added in 2026
The Alliance released Matter 1.6 on 17 June 2026. It added no new device categories, targeting instead the two complaints that have followed the standard since launch: awkward setup, and the mess that appears when several ecosystems try to control the same hardware.
NFC commissioning handles the first. Earlier versions let setup data sit on an NFC tag but still needed Bluetooth to finish the job. The full exchange now runs over NFC, and because the phone’s NFC field can power a passive tag, a device can be commissioned before it has mains power. A bulb can be set up before it goes into a ceiling fitting, and an in wall switch before the power is on.
Joint Fabric handles the second. Instead of each platform running its own separate network and syncing access between them, multiple authorised controllers can co-administer one shared network through a central datastore, so a device added once becomes visible to every participating controller. 9to5Mac covered both features and the accompanying security programme, which extends certification from individual devices to whole systems including apps, gateways, and cloud services.
That security change deserves attention from buyers rather than only developers. Certifying a device on its own has always left an obvious hole, since a connected product is only as private as the account and cloud service behind it, and breaches in this category have more often come from a vendor’s servers than from the hardware. Widening the scope also lines the programme up with the EU Cyber Resilience Act, which sets security obligations for connected products sold in Europe. Security certification on a smart home device is becoming a regulatory requirement rather than a voluntary badge.
Where the Matter smart home standard still falls short
Publishing a specification is not the same as shipping a product. Platforms have to implement it, device makers have to ship firmware, and historically that has taken anywhere from months to more than a year.
The gap between platforms is the persistent complaint about the Matter smart home standard. Samsung SmartThings has moved fastest, announcing support for the 1.5 camera work within weeks. Apple Home has generally followed. Google Home and Amazon Alexa have lagged, and a status review of the standard in 2026 found platforms still sitting on version 1.2 while the specification had moved several releases ahead.
The consequences show up in ordinary purchases. That review points to Ikea’s Matter range, where the Bilresa remote fails to work in the Google ecosystem and the Klippbok water detector will not integrate with Alexa, because that platform does not yet support leak sensors. A device can be fully certified and still do nothing useful in the app a household already uses.
There is a design tradeoff underneath this as well. Because the standard defines a common set of commands that every brand can implement, features that go beyond that common set tend to be stripped out or pushed into the manufacturer’s own app. A Matter connection often delivers the basics reliably while the interesting functions stay proprietary.
Adoption is also incomplete at the brand level. Lutron holds senior membership in the Alliance and has issued no Matter lighting. Belkin scaled back its involvement and retired the Wemo line in January 2026, leaving those devices unsupported, which is the outcome the standard was created to prevent.
None of that means the project has stalled. Independent trackers now list well over 700 Matter products, up from a handful of plugs and bulbs at launch, and professional installation brands have started backing the standard alongside the consumer names. The direction is steady even where the delivery is uneven, which is why the useful question for a buyer is narrower than whether Matter works. It is whether this device, on this platform, does what the box implies today.
What to check before buying Matter devices
- Confirm the device is Matter certified rather than Matter compatible. Compatible is a marketing term that sometimes means support is planned in a future firmware update.
- Check the specific platform, not the logo. Support depends on whether Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, or SmartThings has implemented the relevant release.
- Look up which device type is supported. Certification covers categories, and a platform can support the standard while lacking the category a device belongs to.
- Assume a delay after any specification announcement. Features described in a release usually reach consumers long after the news.
- Expect advanced features to live in the manufacturer’s app. Matter tends to cover core functions rather than the full feature set.
- Add devices gradually. Testing one certified device against an existing setup is cheaper than replacing a whole system on the strength of a standard.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Matter smart home standard worth waiting for?
There is no longer much reason to wait, though there is reason to check. The Matter smart home standard now covers most common device categories, and buying certified hardware is the safest option for anyone who might change ecosystems later. The condition is confirming that the platform in use supports that device type, since platform support trails the specification.
Does Matter replace Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Thread?
No. Matter is an application layer that runs on top of Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Thread, defining how devices describe themselves and respond to commands. Thread is a separate low power mesh network for battery devices. Zigbee remains a distinct protocol, and many Zigbee devices reach Matter systems through a hub rather than directly.
Do Matter cameras work with any smart home app?
In principle, once the platform supports the camera device type from the 1.5 release. Streaming, two way talk, and pan and tilt controls are standardised, while recording storage and features such as person detection stay with the manufacturer or platform. Support arrived on platforms at different times, so checking the specific app matters more than checking the box.
Is a Matter hub still necessary?
It depends on the devices. Wi-Fi and Ethernet devices can connect without a dedicated hub, while Thread devices need a Thread border router, which is built into many speakers, displays, and newer routers. Controlling anything from outside the home also requires a controller that stays online, so most households still end up with a hub of some kind.
