Amazon Bringing Matter to Echo Devices, But No iOS Support Until Early Next Year

Amazon today announced that it will be updating 17 of its Echo devices to support the new Matter smart home standard over Wi-Fi next month, according to The Verge. The phased rollout will initially only be supported on Android and allow those Echo devices to serve as controllers only for plugs, bulbs, and switches. Amazon's Matter support will expand early next year to include iOS devices and Thread networking, and support for additional categories of smart devices will come over time.

amazon echo matter
Amazon told The Verge that it is taking a phased approach due to the sheer number of devices involved and the complexity of getting everything transitioned over to the new standard.

"We're bringing Matter support to well over 100 million devices across 30 Echo and Eero devices," Chris DeCenzo, a senior principal engineer at Amazon and the company's CSA board director, explained in an interview with The Verge. "This is an effort unprecedented in scale and complexity. It's a big deal, and we need to make sure it goes smoothly."

In particular, he pointed to the lack of available products in the other Matter categories for Amazon to test. "There aren't many [Matter-compatible] locks, window shades, and thermostats out there yet, and we want to test everything in our beta program first."

The delayed rollout of support on iOS is also reportedly due to Apple's requirements, with Amazon saying that upgrading its Alexa app for iOS to be compatible with Matter requires using new APIs that Apple only just released and which Amazon will need to test to ensure everything is working properly.

The Verge says the following Echo devices will be updated with Matter support next month: Echo Dot (fifth-gen), Echo Dot (fifth-gen) with Clock, Echo (fourth-gen), Echo Dot (third-gen, 2018 release), Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 (second-gen, 2021 release), Echo Show 10 (third-gen), Echo Show 5 (second-gen, 2021 release), Echo Dot (third-gen) with Clock, Echo Dot (fourth-gen) with Clock, Echo Show 5, Echo (v3), Echo Dot (fourth-gen), Echo Input, Echo Flex, Echo Plus (v2), and Echo Show 8. Additional Echo and Eero devices will be receiving the upgrade in early 2023.

Top Rated Comments

Orange Bat Avatar
18 months ago
I’m moving away from Amazon devices mainly over privacy concerns. I‘m trying not to be a nut about it and I still own and use the numerous Echo devices I bought on sale many years ago. But I won’t be buying new ones just for Matter.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mediakip Avatar
18 months ago
So the standard that would make all systems work together (Matter) can be limited to only some systems (Android)..? So… what was then the point of this ”universal” standard?!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PauloSera Avatar
18 months ago
How does that make any sense? The whole point of supporting Matter is to be platform agnostic. To say it will support Matter and not support x platform is a total oxymoron.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ipedro Avatar
18 months ago

Unprecedented? I don’t doubt that it’s a big project. But really? That’s quite a bold statement.
It is. Supporting the cross compatibility of proprietary smart home ecosystems — each with their own codebases and hardware technologies — of not only the major brands like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung, is complex on its own given their rivalries, but also the hundreds of brands with their own systems and interests… is just eyecrossing complex, both technologically and politically. This is a major achievement, if they pull it off.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kirkster Avatar
18 months ago
From my understanding Matter 1.0 has no camera support. Maybe in 2.0.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
18 months ago
Good to see Amazon jumping onto the Matter standard now too!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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