Matter 1.2 Smart Home Standard Adds Support for Fridges, Dishwashers, and More

The Connectivity Standard Alliance announced today the release of Matter version 1.2, the second update for the new smart home standard that’s been embraced by most device manufacturers. Matter promises to make devices from multiple brands work together natively, and the version 1.2 of the IoT connectivity standard adds support for 9 new device types including fridges, dishwashers, laundry washers, robotic vacuums, air quality sensors, and more.

Except for smart home enthusiasts, Matter is still not very well known by the general public, and for good reason: The first version of the connectivity standard was released in October 2022, and the Connectivity Standard Alliance, which includes over 600 companies including Apple, Amazon, Google, LG, and Samsung, is committed to releasing new updates twice a year. Matter 1.1, which was released back in April, enhanced support for battery-operated devices.

“Rather than taking years for users to replace hub hardware, software updates enable existing smart home hubs and devices to become Matter controllers. This has created a global market with up to hundreds of millions of homes ready to connect new Matter devices,” the Connectivity Standards Alliance said today.

With Matter 1.2, users will get more control over their various appliances right from their preferred smart home hub such as the Apple Home or Google Home apps. For example, Matter 1.2 will enable granular controls such as cleaning modes and status details for robotic vacuums, or progress notifications for dish and laundry washers.

Now that the Matter 1.2 certification program is open, it’s up to device manufacturers to embrace the new specification and implement it into their smart home products. Moreover, Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, and other companies making smart home apps will also need to add support for Matter 1.2 in order to enable support for the new device types and use cases allowed by the new standard.