X
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

Matter Has Been Cooking Up a New Update and It's Bringing a Much-Needed Feature

The smart home unifying standard Matter is getting a fresh update to support scenes and a bunch of new kitchen tech.

Chris Wedel Home Tech Editor
Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to stay online tricky — not to mention making my homestead smarter. However, by utilizing his years of experience in the tech and mobile communications industries, success is assured. When not conquering the outdoors and testing new gadgets, Chris enjoys cruising a gravel road in his UTV with some good tunes, camping, and hanging out with his family.
Expertise Smart home devices, outdoors gadgets, smartphones, wearables, kid's tech, and some dabbling in 3D printing Credentials
  • Covered the mobile and smart home tech space for the past five years for multiple large publications.
See full bio
Chris Wedel
2 min read
Matter logo in the center of icons for different devices

The Matter Protocol is an open-source connectivity standard for IoT devices.

 Matter Protocol

Matter, the internet of things standard, is introducing support for new types of devices, enhanced capabilities and improvements to the overall user experience. This latest update brings us to Matter version 1.3. 

Scenes are finally supported by Matter

Perhaps the most anticipated feature arriving to Matter standard is support for scenes, a feature that enables users to create a desired state of multiple settings for devices, rooms or even the entire home with one command. With Matter update 1.3, support can be added to set, read and activate different scenes. Smart home device and platform brands will now be able to allow more customization options for users via the Matter standard and open up wider acceptance for more devices.

Matter 1.3 is now kitchen-ready 

In addition to scene support to Matter for smart lights, version 1.3 brings home appliances including microwaves, ovens, cooktops, and dryers to the standard. The ability to control cooking time, power and notifications will be some of the options available for microwaves. Matter 1.2 added laundry washers as a supported device, but 1.3 brings the rest of the laundry room into the fold.

Govee smart light bulbs in different lamps showing orange, magenta, and turquoise colors in a home

Govee smart light bulbs offer simple connectivity and vibrant colors.

 Govee

TV and streaming will become more seamless 

Matter 1.3 also brings improvements to casting to media players and managing things like notifications to TVs to make a more seamless experience. The version change includes many updates to how developers work with the protocol including improvements to network commissioning, extended beaconing period, and more.

Best Smart Displays for 2024 See at Cnet

Many of the top smart speakers and smart displays already support Matter allowing you to quickly bring devices into your Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or Apple Home Kit setups easily. The expansion of supported devices and improved features will continue to help the smart home segment become more approachable and hopefully require fewer apps on our phones.