Support for syncing across ecosystems, home network infrastructure, energy management devices and features, and other enhancements have been added to the Matter standard by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA).

The Matter 1.4 smart-home standard is now available for device makers and platforms to integrate into their products.

This Matter 1.4 update introduces enhancements that allow device vendors and platforms to improve the multi-ecosystem user experience with enhanced multi-admin, create more reliable and interoperable home networks with the introduction of certifiable home routers and access points (HRAP), help users save energy with expanded energy management enhancements, and build better experiences with several new device types and core enhancements.

Matter products have arrived in millions of homes around the world since its launch in 2022.

Devices such as home routers and modems, access points, and set-top boxes can now be designed or upgraded to provide more robust support for Matter-based smart homes. Matter-certified HRAP devices provide the foundational infrastructure of smart homes by combining a wifi access point and a Thread border router, ensuring these devices have the necessary infrastructure for Matter products using either of these technologies.

HRAP devices also feature a secure directory for storing and sharing Thread network credentials. This standardised approach makes it easier for users to add Thread devices, including Thread border routers, to their existing Thread networks, rather than creating new ones, realising the benefits of a unified Thread mesh network and reducing network fragmentation.

Starting from this foundation, the HRAP roadmap will continue to add enhancements to improve smart home infrastructure including support for the improvements in Thread 1.4.

Multi-admin is central to Matter’s vision of choice and interoperability, allowing users to connect Matter devices to multiple smart home systems. However, sharing each device individually when managing multiple platforms can become tedious and complex as users expand their smart homes. Enhanced multi-admin makes smart home management easier with single user consent, enabling existing and new devices to connect to multiple ecosystems automatically. Matter 1.4 and future releases provide developers with flexible approaches to implement this optional experience based on their applications.

Following this release, the CSA will be publishing more in-depth blog posts on how HRAP and enhanced multi-admin functions work and how product makers can choose the path that best fits their applications.

Home energy management is emerging as one of the top reasons driving consumers to adopt smart home devices. Not only do consumers want to know how much energy each device and appliance in their home uses, but they are also looking to routines and automations to help them save energy and decrease their energy bills without making manual adjustments. This future becomes possible with the device types and features introduced in Matter 1.4.

Matter 1.3 introduced energy reporting, enabling energy management use cases for large appliances and electric vehicle supply equipment. Matter 1.4 expands its energy management capabilities by adding support for device types such as solar panels, batteries, heat pumps and water heaters. These additions, along with improvements to the energy management and thermostat clusters, pave the way for smarter, more automated energy management.

Existing electrical power and electrical energy support in Matter has been extended to solar power device types, including inverters, individual and panel arrays, and hybrid solar-battery systems.

Battery technology is included, such as battery walls, storage units and battery energy storage systems (BESS), capable of discharging energy back into the home or grid, creating virtual power plants. Enabled by home energy management systems, they support load balancing, with any controller potentially serving as the management system.

Heat pumps are an increasingly popular appliance for managing temperature in homes, with a growing number of incentive programmes for their installation. With Matter’s energy management capabilities, these devices could forecast consumption and adjust usage during peak demand. Heat pumps can shift energy use to off-peak times, such as pre-heating the home, and some feature a buffer tank that functions like a battery.

Electric water heaters can be set to a pre-set temperature or percentage, letting users monitor hot water levels. A boost command, which enables rapid heating from multiple energy sources for situations where hot water is needed quickly, allows temporary overrides in the heating schedule, suitable for situations such as hosting guests. This gives consumers more control and flexibility. Additionally, the new water heater mode cluster provides users with the ability to toggle scheduling on and off, making it simple to adjust heating patterns when normal routines change.

Electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) support is enhanced by introducing user-defined charging preferences such as specifying when they want their car to be charged, allowing users to choose optimal times for convenience and cost, building on the provisional features from earlier versions.

Thermostat clusters add support for scheduling and pre-set modes such as vacation and home-away settings. Pre-sets can be triggered through motion detection, integrated with other devices, and even automation based on calendar events.

With support for device energy management, Matter 1.4 allows energy-consuming devices to adjust start times based on energy usage forecasts and power management needs. This feature helps devices optimise their consumption patterns. The device energy management mode cluster enables easy toggling between device-specific, local or grid-wide energy optimisation, providing flexibility and efficiency for managing power across the home.

Matter 1.4 introduces two device types designed for fixed in-wall smart home devices that deliver electrical power to wired devices, such as in-wall switches for controlling lights, fans and other non-smart appliances. Previously, these were typically modelled as lights, which could limit user interface or automation flexibility.

Enhancements to the existing sensor cluster now support features such as radar, vision and ambient sensing technologies. The update also introduces customisable sensitivity settings and offers improved tuning for sensor and history reporting through event-based updates, providing a more precise and adaptable smart home experience. These updates serve as a foundation for future work to support new sensing techniques to enable capabilities such as person detection and activity classification.

Matter 1.4 introduces core enhancements that optimise battery life and communication for intermittently connected devices (ICDs) such as switches, buttons and sensors. Key updates include the long idle time (LIT) protocol, which extends battery life, and a check-in protocol to ensure reliable communication for low-power devices that require LIT. Additionally, quieter reporting of predictable attribute changes reduces network traffic, resulting in improved battery performance and network efficiency.

Developers interested in learning more about these enhancements can access the following resources: Matter 1.4 specification and test plan (csa-iot.org/developer-resource/specifications-download-request); and Matter 1.4 SDK release (github.com/project-chip/connectedhomeip). Learn more about Matter at csa-iot.org/all-solutions/matter.