Swedish flat-pack furniture giant Ikea has announced a Matter-ready hub and a smart-home app.

The hub called Dirigera is due to be launched in October, about the same time as the Matter standard is due to be ratified.

Dirigera will use software to handle more product segments and onboard more products than the existing Trådfri gateway. It will also enable the user-friendly smart-home app.

“With Dirigera and the new app, one of our focuses has been on strengthening and simplifying the onboarding process when connecting new smart products to the smart home,” said Rebecca Töreman, business leader at Ikea. “We have also added personalisation options, such as creating different scenes with pre-set functions of the smart products for all your different activities and moments in the home. Thanks to the user feedback we’ve received since launching the Trådfri gateway in 2014, we can continue to merge technology with simplicity and accessibility and bring our home furnishing expertise into the future.”

Ikea says the smart-home app will be convenient, easy to navigate and user-friendly to lower the threshold for people looking into setting up a smart home. On top of that, it will make connecting devices to the hub easier.

With the Dirigera hub for smart products, users will be able to onboard all Ikea smart products to the system and steer them individually, in sets or in groups in the smart-home app. This lets users create different scenes with pre-set functions of the smart products and increases the personalisation options for the smart home.

“We have seen an increasing interest in the home, particularly the smart home during the past couple of years,” said Björn Block, business area manager at Ikea. “Digital technologies have become natural ingredients in our everyday lives and now also in our homes. The smart home is an evolution of the home you already love and live in. The wide offer of smart products from Ikea is in the areas of sound, light, air purification, blinds and many more to come in the future.”

Users can continue to use the Trådfri gateway and the current app, and already bought smart products from Ikea can be connected to and work equally well with the Matter-ready hub. Furthermore, Ikea plans to launch access-away-from-home functionality in the first half of 2023.