Amazon Alexa gets Matter support, joining Google Home and Android
A week after Google announced that it finished theMatterrolloutto Android and Google Home, Amazon is following suite. If you’re not familiar, Matter is a new interconnectivity standard that promises to make smart homes less complicated. Rather than having to check if devices you buy are compatible with your smart home ecosystem of choice, you only have to make sure that your smart speaker or phone supports Matter. And now, both Google and Amazon offer initial support for these devices.
Amazon already shared during the Matter launch event last month that it wanted to roll out support for the standard by the end of the year, and it held true to its promise. Matter devices can now be controlled via Wi-Fi by the following 17 Echo devices, hooking up millions of owners with the new standard:
In addition to the Echo devices, Amazon says it also added Matter support to a number of plugs, bulbs, and switches that can be set up with Android. The company promises that you won’t notice much of a difference in terms of setup and usage when compared to devices part of the “Works with Alexa” program, making it easy to expand your smart home beyond just products supporting Amazon’s own APIs. Amazon still encourages developers to join the “Works with Alexa” program, as devices that support both Matter and Alexa will get access to a few more advanced features that aren’t part of the Matter specifications (…yet).
Amazon makes clear that this is only the first stage of its Matter rollout, and that support will come to more devices and platforms. The company has yet to add support for Matter over Thread, a Wi-Fi-like mesh network suited for low-power devices like smart locks. Amazon also wants to introduce support for more Echo devices and further device types, and Matter doesn’t work on its iOS app just yet.
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