Matter Support For Amazon Echo Devices Coming To IOS Soon

With the official launch of the new Matter standard for smart home accessories in November, Amazon announced its plans to add Matter support to its Echo devices. The company confirmed on Monday that the phase one rollout of Matter support is now complete, while phase two is expected to begin next year with support for iOS.

Amazon to extend Matter support on Echo devices to iOS

According to Amazon, the phased rollout of Matter support to Echo devices allows the company to ensure that its devices work with the “most common device types” while continuing to work to expand “interoperability, stability and longevity testing” with its partners .

During the first phase of the rollout, Amazon added Matter support to Echo devices via Wi-Fi for smart plugs, smart bulbs, and smart switches. However, this first phase only included Android compatibility, as Amazon said at the time that supporting iOS would require its apps to use new APIs that took longer to become available.

Last month, we announced our plans to deliver a high-quality Matter customer experience by the end of this year. Today, we’re excited to share that we’ve completed the first phase of our Matter deployment. Tens of millions of Alexa customers around the world now have more ways to connect their devices with the availability of Matter via WiFi that spans 17 different Android-powered Echo devices, plugs, switches and bulbs.

With the next phases of the rollout, Amazon plans to bring Matter to even more accessories and Echo devices. Plans also include adding compatibility with the Thread protocol and iOS, which the company says would come in early 2023. In today’s statement, Amazon said it will share news about phase two of the Matter support rollout at CES 2023, which will take place January 5 – 8.

More about Matter

For those unfamiliar, Matter is a new standard supported by companies like Apple, Amazon and Google to make smart home devices interoperable across multiple platforms. This is a significant upgrade, as it means that accessory manufacturers no longer have to adopt each smart home platform, such as HomeKit, Alexa and Google Home, individually.

This initial release of Matter includes support for a number of the most common categories of smart home accessories: lighting and electrical, HVAC controls, window coverings and shades, safety and security sensors, door locks, media devices including TVs, controllers as both devices and apps and bridges.

On Apple devices, support for the Matter standard was introduced with iOS 16.1.

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