Matter has spent the past few years promising to make the smart home simpler. However, anyone who’s tried setting up connected devices across multiple ecosystems knows there’s still plenty of friction involved.
The newly announced Matter 1.6 update aims to tackle some of those lingering pain points. It introduces changes that could make smart home devices easier to install and share across platforms. Also, devices may become a little smarter about how they respond to automations.
One of the biggest upgrades is a new NFC-based setup process that removes Bluetooth entirely. Until now, tapping a Matter device with your phone could still trigger a Bluetooth Low Energy handshake in the background. This created another potential point of failure if the connection were to drop.
With Matter 1.6, the entire commissioning process can happen over NFC. In practice, that means users could pair compatible devices before they’re even installed. For something like a smart light switch or ceiling fixture, that’s a surprisingly useful improvement. Setup can happen while the device is still sitting in the box rather than after it’s been wired into a wall.
The update also takes aim at one of the most common frustrations in modern smart homes: juggling multiple ecosystems.
Matter 1.6 introduces a feature called Joint Fabric, which allows platforms such as Apple Home, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings to securely manage the same Matter network together. Rather than repeatedly sharing devices between apps and platforms, homeowners will be able to set up a shared Matter environment once. Then they can access devices from their preferred ecosystem.
For households where one person lives in Apple Home while another prefers Google Home, that’s potentially a significant quality-of-life upgrade.
Thermostats are also getting a dose of common sense.
Instead of smart home platforms issuing direct commands that immediately override settings, Matter 1.6 introduces a new “Thermostat Suggestions” model. Smart hubs can now send recommendations rather than instructions. As a result, the thermostat itself can decide whether an automation makes sense based on current conditions.
That could help avoid situations where an energy-saving routine unexpectedly overrides a manually chosen temperature or clashes with utility demand-response programmes.
The update also expands support for safety-related devices. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors can now report whether they’re installed correctly. In addition, security sensors can share historical event logs across connected platforms, making it easier to see exactly when events occurred.
As with every Matter release, it’s worth remembering that support won’t appear overnight. Matter 1.6 has been released to manufacturers and platform developers first. This means new features will arrive gradually through firmware updates and future hardware launches.
Still, while previous Matter updates have largely focused on adding new device categories, Matter 1.6 feels different. The emphasis here is on removing everyday annoyances, and that could end up being just as important as adding support for the next wave of smart home gadgets.
