Android users will be the first to benefit from the new smart home standard
Amazon has completed the first phase of its Matter rollout, Matter over Wi-Fi, meaning that Alexa users should now be able to experience the power of the smart home standard (well, some of it, at least) on 17 Echo devices.
After initially detailing its plans for the Matter update last month, the company announced the update in a blog post, while also noting that broader support – we’d hope that means Thread and iOS compatibility – would be arriving in early 2023.
Back in November at the Matter launch, Chris DeCenzo, Amazon’s Senior Principal Engineer, stated that Amazon doesn’t feel that Thread is in a place yet to play a part in a major ecosystem rollout.
This initial rollout represents the first stage in Amazon’s Matter plans, then, as it follows Google in offering support for its more popular native devices before widening the scope next year.
Guide: Best Matter smart home devices and controllers
Amazon suggests this staggered approach will aid its ability to perform quality control checks regarding interoperability, stability and longevity with other Matter partners, with Alexa features such as Frustration-Free Setup also built into Matter from the beginning.
Amazon was only just beaten to the Matter update by Google, who rolled out support for eight devices to Android users of Google Home last week.
And, like Google, Amazon will also initially only offer Matter support to Android users of the Alexa app. It’s expected that iOS support will be landing over the next couple of months, though there was no explicit mention made in this latest post regarding a specific timeframe.
Amazon devices with Matter support:
- Amazon Echo Dot (5th generation; 4th generation; 3rd generation)
- Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th generation; 4th generation; 3rd generation)
- Amazon Echo (4th generation; 3rd generation)
- Amazon Echo Studio
- Amazon Echo Show 15
- Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd generation)
- Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd generation; 1st generation)
- Amazon Echo Show 5 (2nd generation; 1st generation)
- Amazon Echo Input
- Amazon Echo Flex