Introducing Matter, the Next Standard in Smart Homes

Considering that the name of the one of the largest trade shows in North America is the CONSUMER Electronics Show, it would seem that there’s little at the show that would matter to the security pro.

Oh sure, there’s typically the introduction of a new lock that’s aimed at the DIY market that locksmiths should know about in case they’re asked to install or repair it later, and that was true in 2022. Schlage introduced the Encode Plus Smart WiFi Deadbolt.

However, this year’s show also featured a buzzword that soon will matter to security pros who do residential work. The word is Matter.

What’s Matter?

If you work with smart residential locks that can integrate with a smart-home system, then you’re familiar with connectivity standards, such as Z-wave and Zigbee. Matter is another connectivity standard. In fact, it’s the newest standard from the same group that produced Zigbee, now known as the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA).

Two things make Matter different and notable:

• It’s an attempt to make smart-home devices interoperable and plug-and-play.
• More significant, it includes all of the key players as prime movers: Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung are significant participants in CSA and, thus, Matter.

It stands to reason that if every major tech company that’s involved in the smart-home experience (think: smart speakers) has agreed to come up with a standard to make their devices work together, rather than work as separate ecosystems, then that only will accelerate the market for smart homes, which has stagnated among competing product requirements.

Matter was announced in late 2019, and the standard is expected to be released in 2022, with Matter-compatible products expected by the holiday shopping season.

In fact, one of those could be the aforementioned Schlage Encode Plus deadbolt. Donald Beene, senior product manager for Allegion, the parent company of Schlage, acknowledges that the product is well-positioned to be made compatible with Matter because of its existing technology, although he provides no timetable for release.

What Does It Matter?

Smart homes, of course, are an attempt to tie all elements of a home together so the resident can control everything through their phone or smart speaker. Naturally, security is a large component of that.

As with the leading tech companies, all the primary residential lock brands are involved with Matter: Kwikset, Schlage and Yale. Other security companies that are participating include Fortune Brands (Master Lock, Sentry Safe), Johnson Controls and SALTO Systems.

So what does all this mean to security pros? Nothing right away. There are no Matter products on the market, and there likely won’t be many a year from now.

However, Garrett Lovejoy, vice president of product management for the U.S. smart residential group at ASSA ABLOY, which oversees August Home and Yale, says the transition from early adoption to mainstream could be brief.

“Given major players in the smart-home industry have already committed to Matter, we could see the Matter adoption period accelerate quickly,” he says.

In other words, it probably won’t be too long before residential security pros will work on equipment that’s Matter-certified and will have to be in the know about those products, not only from an installation or setup standpoint but also a sales standpoint. (As for Yale, Lovejoy says Matter-certified locks should happen soon after the release of the standard and product-certification process, although he provides no further details.)

Lovejoy says the introduction and rollout of Matter probably will have next to no effect on the lock installation process — Matter-certified locks will be physically similar to smart locks being sold and installed now.

“We expect the biggest adjustment to be on the software side,” he says. Matter-certified smart devices — locks, security cameras, thermostats, appliances — will be connected and controlled through Matter. Locksmiths, thus, will have to be familiar with the correct apps and setup procedures, “so the locksmith can help the customer with the final part of the installation process.”

Stay tuned. We’ll have more to say as developments necessitate. For more information, go to buildwithmatter.com.