CES 2023: Handy features are also landing on the Alexa Dev Kit
Amazon kicked off its Matter rollout at the back end of last year by bringing support for the standard to Android users through a select number of Echo devices. And now, at CES 2023, the company has announced the next phase of the plan in a blog post.
Coming this spring, those using iOS devices to power their Alexa smart home will receive Matter functionality, too, while the support will also extend to Matter over Thread.
While the company gave Matter support to some of its most popular Echo speakers in the initial phase, the next move will include the likes of smart lights, plugs, thermostats and more. The rollout will also include the rest of the Echo and Eero range, as well.
Also announced as part of Amazon’s wider CES package were additions to the Alexa Ambient Home Dev Kit -features that should, in theory, really simplify the experience.
Guide: Best Matter smart home devices
One is ‘credentials sharing’, which, as it suggests, should ensure that setting up Matter over Thread devices is a breeze, with Thread details shared between the Alexa app and other manufacturers’. It all means you won’t have to manually enter individual account logins and details for every new device you hook up, and it also should mean a single, more reliable Thread network, rather than segmented ones.
Then, there are two syncing features coming – ‘two-way device sync’ and ‘group sync’. The former is a biggie, and it means you’ll no longer be required to replicate names in every smart home app of your choosing. So, for example, your Philips Hue lights will look the same in the Hue app as they do in the Alexa app – all without you having to manually faff around with the names and the like.
Group sync is fairly similar, meanwhile, only this will transfer details regarding grouped devices between apps.
So, if you have six spotlights set up in the Kasa app under ‘Bathroom Lights’, for example, enabling the Alexa skill and opting in will see them automatically appear as an Alexa Group of the same name.
The smart home, eh? It just works.
