Today, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) announced Matter 1.3 which adds support for more home appliances, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, and energy and water management devices.
When the CSA first introduced Matter 1.0 in October 2022, its support was limited to a few smart home devices. Back then, users had limited controls while connecting their devices. However, the CSA continued to update the connectivity standards to support more smart devices and their functionality over time.
Matter 1.3 brings support for new types of appliances
The latest update announced by the CSA has detailed the types of smart home devices Matter will support. One of the major additions is related to the home appliances. Matter 1.3 now adds support for more appliances which includes a range of essential household devices used on a daily basis.
The newly supported device types are microwaves, ovens, cooktops, extractor hoods, and laundry dryers. The CSA has further detailed the changes relating to these appliances in today’s blog post. Here’s a summary of those changes.
As for the microwaves, the user can control the cooking time, power level, and mode of operation. When the microwave finishes its task, users will receive notifications like “end of cycle” or “food ready.” For ovens, the Matter 1.3 update includes “configurations including built-in, stand-alone, or as a part of the range with an associated cooktop.” With the latest update, users will be able to control individual compartments of the oven from an operational mode and temperature setting perspective using information on whether the oven is pre-heated or in a cooling state.
The recently announced Matter 1.3 also adds support for cooktops. Users can now remotely access and control the induction-based cooktops. That’s not all, the latest update also allows controlling the light and fan settings in cooktop hoods, “as well as the status/end-of-life of any filter material used (i.e. HEPA filters).”
Moving on, Matter 1.3 further brings support for laundry dryers allowing users to set the dryer mode and temperature. The CSA also explains that users can remotely operate the dryer only if local safety regulations allow it.
The update also adds support for EV chargers as well as energy and water management devices
The newly announced Matter 1.3 now supports EV chargers allowing makers to get Matter certifications for their devices. It allows you to start and stop charging your EV and adjust the charging rates. Besides, you can also set the miles or range needed by your departure time and more.
Let’s not forget that Matter 1.3 includes support for energy and water management devices. The latest update lets the energy devices send real-time power consumption reports to apps via Matter. Moreover, there’s support for smart water management devices like rain sensors, leak detectors, smart valves, and freeze detectors.
Although Matter 1.3 is available to developers, major ecosystems including Google Home and others are yet to add support for Matter 1.2.