Google announced Thursday that Google Nest and Android devices now support Matter, an interoperable connectivity standard for smart home devices developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA).
Setting up and customizing your smart home devices with Google Home just got easier thanks to Matter, the new standard for smart home platforms, apps and devices. Starting today, Google Nest and Android devices are Matter-enabled, allowing you to quickly and consistently set up your Matter-enabled devices and customize your smart home to suit your needs.
Matter is the result of a collaboration of about 300 companies, including Google, Apple, and Amazon. It’s a unified smart home standard that works across hundreds of brands. Matter was originally scheduled for release in late 2020, but was delayed several times before finally being released in October.
We’ve added Matter support through automatic updates pushed to compatible Google Nest and Android devices, allowing you to connect to Matter devices from other brands.
The Matter standard requires a hub for users to control all smart devices. “If you want Google Home to control your smart home, you need a Google Home or Nest device that also acts as a hub for Matter,” he explains.
“These devices include the original Google Home speaker, Google Home Mini, Nest Mini, Nest Audio, Nest Hub (1st and 2nd gen), Nest Hub Max and the new Nest Wifi Pro.”
Google has also added support for Thread. Thread is a low-power networking technology that serves as his Wi-Fi alternative for Matter-enabled devices. The Nest Wifi Pro, Nest Hub Max, and Nest Hub (2nd Gen) all work as sled border routers.
Additionally, Matter support for Fast Pair is now available on Android. “Fast Pair allows you to quickly and easily connect your Matter-enabled devices to your home network, Google Home and other smart home apps. It’s as easy as pairing your headphones,” he said. .
Apple beat Google in adopting the Matter standard, enabling support for it in iOS 16.1 in October. Amazon announced Matter support for Alexa devices last month, and so did Philips for Philips Hue lights and accessories.
There are already quite a few Matter devices on store shelves, and more are expected to hit stores next year. According to Google, any smart device with the Matter badge will work with Google Home out of the box. The company also says that devices from other brands will carry the “Works With Google Home” badge if they’ve been tested to work well with Google devices.
Google has promised to bring iOS support to the Google Home app next year and add Matter support to more Google devices.