Matter has long been talked about as the big standard for smart home technology. Stuart Corner explores where it’s at in 2026 and what it means for the integration industry.

Smart home technologies and devices are multiplying at a dizzying rate. According to the most recent (2023) estimates from Australian emerging technology analyst firm, Telsyte, 7.6 million households had adopted at least one smart home product and, on average, there were 24 connected devices per home.

This proliferation of devices poses ever greater challenges for anyone trying to create a comprehensive smart home ecosystem in which all components work seamlessly together and can be centrally managed.

Proprietary technologies like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit or Samsung SmartThings have been touted by those vendors and others as being the basis of smart home ecosystems, but, in reality, they are smart home hubs rather than complete ecosystems. They don’t meet the challenges of seamlessly integrating multiple different proprietary technologies, something any technology claiming to be the heart of a smart home ecosystem must be able to do.

Connected examined the challenges of, and the candidates for, the smart home ecosystem role in the October 2024 edition (page 48). We looked at several proprietary and non-proprietary contenders. It was clear that the lead candidate was Matter, managed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), formerly the Zigbee Alliance. It has over 30 members, including all the big names in the smart home industry.

CSA released the first version of the standard, Matter 1.0, in October 2022. Matter 1.3 came out in May 2024, adding support for energy management, electric vehicle charging and microwave and thermal ovens.

At the time of that Connected article, Matter, as the de facto smart home ecosystem, was more a promise than a reality: You didn’t have to search very hard on the Internet to find numerous complaints about Matter.

Today, the situation is very different: Matter has firmly taken the role as the de facto smart home ecosystem standard. This development was precipitated by an announcement from the WiFi Alliance on 25 September 2025 of WiFi for Matter, a new certification that “ensures applicable WiFi devices meet the CSA requirements necessary for Matter certification.”

This initial certification applies only to WiFi access points. It confirms that WiFi for Matter certified access points support certain key features of WiFi required for Matter by the CSA, specifically: support for WiFi 6, extended sleep, IPv4 Proxy Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and IPv6 Proxy Neighbour Discovery Protocol (NDP).

Even before this announcement, smart home industry players were touting the benefits of Matter for contractors and installers meeting the demand for smart home technologies. A July 2025 entry on the Schneider Electric blog said: “With Matter-compliant devices, electrical contractors can make smart home capabilities more accessible for their clients without having to become smart home integrators themselves. Once clients have their first Matter devices in place, contractors can easily assist them with upgrades and additions to their smart home ecosystem.

“Matter makes commissioning as easy as scanning a QR code on a device or its packaging, opening the platform of choice and accepting that new product onto the home’s network. This simple click-to-add process is user-friendly, allowing your clients to handle setup themselves, so you don’t have to.”

The announcement of WiFi for Matter was followed in November 2025 by the release of Matter 1.5, further reinforcing Matter’s role as the de facto smart home ecosystem.

“For device makers, the new features simplify development across major product categories, reduce the need for custom integrations and create new opportunities to innovate on top of a proven standard,” according to the CSA.

“For consumers, the benefits include broader device choice, simpler setup and confidence that products from different brands can work together to support real-world use cases.”

The announcement of WiFi for Matter went on to say: “This new certification enables WiFi Alliance members to more efficiently develop products supporting Matter functionality and bring them to market faster. WiFi Certified brings foundational benefits to the Matter ecosystem. The WiFi for Matter certification focuses on access points (APs), supporting several WiFi features – including WiFi Certified 6 – required by the Matter specification. Together, WiFi Certified and Matter certification provide consumers and manufacturers with confidence that Internet of Things (IoT) devices meet the highest standards for seamless connectivity, interoperability, and reliability in the smart home.”

The WiFi Alliance says support for these features is mandatory for Matter’s Network Infrastructure Managers (NIMs), to enable low-power client devices to conserve energy while maintaining a reliable connection with the access point.

Matter NIMs play a crucial role in smart home networks that use Matter. They can be implemented in dedicated devices or in software. They create, manage and maintain the underlying network fabric that Matter runs on. Recent models of Apple HomePod, Apple TV 4K, Google Nest Hub, Nest WiFi Pro and Amazon Echo can all act as NIMs.

The number of devices supporting Matter is already huge. Matter-smarthome.de provides an up-to-date list of devices and products that, according to the manufacturer, support Matter or are set to become compatible in the future, for example via a software update.

The list also includes Matter Bridges, which enable products that do not support Matter to be integrated into and controlled in a Matter network. These, according to matter-smarthome.de, mean that “the total number of Matter-compatible products runs into the thousands.”

Another potential development likely to further strengthen Matter’s role as the de facto smart home ecosystem standard is support for Matter’s Network Infrastructure Managers in OpenWrt, a Linux-based alternative to the proprietary software that generally comes with access points, routers and smart home hubs.

“This development is significant because OpenWrt is one of the largest open-source router projects, serving as the ‘upstream’ software for countless commercial routers on the market, even if many vendors do not publicly disclose this,” according to Matter Alpha, a blog that covers all things Matter related.

And, as for vendors helping Matter become the de facto smart home standard, leading the charge is one you would perhaps least expect: Ikea. In November 2025, Ikea announced the launch of 21 new smart home products focusing on lighting, sensors and control — all built to work with Matter.

“This means Ikea smart products can connect with a wider range of devices and platforms, making it easier for customers to build a smart home across different brands,” the company said in a statement.

At the heart of Ikea’s Matter-compatible smart home products is its DIRIGERA hub. According to Ikea: “As a certified Matter controller, DIRIGERA can also manage and control smart products from other manufacturers and brands. As a Matter Bridge, it ensures that existing Ikea non-Matter smart products will also be compatible with platforms using the Matter standard.”

It is stating the obvious to add, as the Ikea announcement observes, that Ikea’s support could “help Matter move from a promising standard to a widely used one — especially because Ikea reaches millions of homes worldwide.”