Popular maker of all things smart home-enabled Eve has today launched its first-ever out-of-the-box Matter-enabled smart home device in the form of its Eve Energy smart plug, with more devices on the way in the coming weeks.
The Eve Energy smart plug is now available with Matter support as standard when you buy it in North America, Europe, and the UK.
Eve is launching a similarly-enabled version of Eve Motion and its contact sensor Eve Door & Window, on April 17. That date also marks the point at which owners of existing Eve products can upgrade to Matter for free with an over-the-air update for Eve's iPhone and iPad apps. Again, this will apply to Eve Energy, Motion, and Door & Window if you already own one.
So what is Matter, and why is it important to the smart home?
Matter comes to Eve
Matter is the new name in smart home automation and compatibility. It's a new connectivity standard that unites previously isolated smart home ecosystems like Apple HomeKit, Amazon's Alexa ecosystem, Google Home, and more.
Matter is to the smart home what Bluetooth was to wireless headphones. It doesn't matter where you live or what device you're listening to; if you want wireless headphones, you buy Bluetooth. Now the same is true for the smart home.
Thanks to Matter, you'll soon be able to add a plethora of new devices to your smart home you previously didn't have access to. Notably, if you're invested in an Apple HomeKit ecosystem, you now have access to some devices (if they're Matter enabled) that you didn't previously. You can also control those devices with more hubs and base stations, like Alexa, where previously you would have needed a HomePod or Apple TV.
Eve is currently working on an Android app which we'll see in the future, allowing Android users to buy some of the best HomeKit devices money can get you and use them in their smart homes.
Other new Matter rollouts recently include some new Nanoleaf lights, with other companies promising more products in the future. Some companies, like Philips and its Hue lineup, are bringing backwards compatibility through bridges and hubs to existing devices using firmware updates, just like Eve is doing for its existing customers.
