Matter 1.3 pushes the standard into your kitchen, laundry room, and garage
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has rolled out Matter version 1.3 giving smart home brands another avenue to expand their tech into the kitchen and other areas of the house. One of the cornerstones in the update is the ability to control important, or more essential, household appliances. This includes ovens and cooktop stoves.
With the former, homeowners can check the “state of the oven”, like whether it’s preheating or cooling down, and control how it operates. You can instruct the device to begin broiling the ribs placed inside. Cooktop stoves will see a similar level of control. Users can turn it on or alter the temperature from afar.
When it comes to laundry rooms, the CSA is adding support for dryers and enabling control over several functions like changing the drying mode. The machine will even send out a notification letting you know when your clothes are dry. If you’re curious about support for washing machines, that was added back in Matter 1.2. Version 1.3 extends that support.
There is more to owning a home than just appliances. Managing utilities is another important aspect. To help with this, the CSA upgraded the standard’s energy reporting capabilities. Connected smart home devices will now inform you how much electricity they consume, how much they generate, and other important metrics such as the current's voltage. The energy features extend to electric vehicles too. Thanks to Matter 1.3, EV drivers can control the charge level to match their desired range. They can do this by signifying a “set departure time” or by manually deactivating the charging.
