The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has released Matter version 1.3, giving smart home brands new ways to extend their technology to the kitchen and other areas of the home. One of the cornerstones of this update is the ability to control important or more essential household appliances. This includes ovens and cooking stoves.
In the former case, homeowners can see the “state of the oven,” such as whether it is preheating or cooling, and control its operation. You can tell the device to start grilling the ribs placed inside. Cooktop stoves offer a similar level of control. Users can remotely turn on the power and change the temperature.
When it comes to laundry rooms, CSA has added support for dryers and allows control of several functions, such as changing drying modes. The machine will send a notification to let you know when your clothes are dry. If you're curious about washing machine support, it was added in Matter 1.2. Version 1.3 expands that support.
Managing utilities
Owning a home involves more than appliances. Utility management is also an important aspect. To help with this, CSA has upgraded its standard energy reporting functionality. Connected smart home devices will now notify you of power consumption, power generation, and other important metrics such as current voltage. Energy capabilities will also be extended to electric vehicles. Thanks to Matter 1.3, EV drivers can control the charging level to suit their desired range. This can be done by instructing 'Set Departure Time' or manually disabling charging.
Additionally, Matter can also monitor your home's plumbing. The app displays information from installed pipe detectors to let you know if there is a leak somewhere in your home or if your pipes are stuck.
Notable improvements
Everything described so far applies to previously unsupported devices. The rest of the patch consists of new software features and past hardware improvements.
According to CSA, scenes are now supported, allowing homeowners to create special conditions that are activated with the push of a button. For example, you can dim the lights in your living room or change colors instantly depending on the scene.
Matter 1.3 also allows users to pool multiple commands and run them one after the other. CSA says this minimizes the “popcorn effect,” the long delay between a command being sent to a smart home device and its visible execution. Matter 1.3's software improvements include the ability to view notifications from other gadgets on your smart TV, as well as several bug fixes.
If you're looking to upgrade your home, check out TechRadar's roundup of the best smart home devices of 2024. The list includes speakers, cameras, thermostats, and more.
