Matter question

Now that matter is enabled on smartthings, how would we know which matter devices are supported in smartthings and which are not. Or is it the case that all matter devices should work?

It’s officially live on Android devices as of 2 days ago

Still no Matter devices to add, though.

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Its a good question. Are there any matter devices out yet though?

luckily it’s easy to tell because Matter drivers are open SmartThingsEdgeDrivers/drivers/SmartThings at main · SmartThingsCommunity/SmartThingsEdgeDrivers · GitHub

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Yes.
Eves latest products appear to be thread/matter

List of thread certified products
https://www.threadgroup.org/What-is-Thread/Thread-Benefits#certifiedproducts

Thanks for the correction, I’ve removed my post.

I’ve tried the virtual device image from Matter group .

It connects with Google Home, and Apple HomeKit on iOS 16,1,

but IT fails during pairing on the ST Android and no Matter option on iOS. hopefully will be fixed soon

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Eve’s products are Thread certified, but they haven’t received Matter certification. Not all Thread products will be Matter certified. It’s two different certifications.

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OK, but Smartthings is both Thread and Matter certified, so what does that mean wrt Eve products?
I had thought that Thread was a constituent of Matter?

thought that Thread was a constituent of Matter?

Thread is a networking protocol. It existed before Matter. Just like WiFi. It determines the frequency and byte structure of radio messages between devices.

Matter is an application layer. It determines the CONTENT of those messages.

You can send a message that can be understood by a Matter-certified device using any of several network protocols. Right now the most popular are WiFi (high power protocol) and Thread (low power protocol) but they don’t have to be the only ones. And it doesn’t mean that ALL thread devices (or all WiFi devices) will be able to send Matter messages. Just that they could if the device manufacturer designs them to.

You can think of Thread as a package delivery service like FedEx or a local courier. They tell you what the outside of the package has to conform to. Dimensions. Address label. Package material. They don’t tell you what information the document inside has to contain. That’s where Matter comes in.

Eve

With regard to Eve devices, they have said that many of their thread-enabled devices will be able to send Matter-formatted messages, but as @Automated_House said, those are two different certifications. Once Matter is fully supported by both SmartThings and Eve it means you will be able to add Eve devices that are Matter-certified to the SmartThings app as long as you have at least one Thread Border Router (any brand) in your setup.

The v3 hub will be a thread border router—the v2 hub will not. But several Echo models, several Google Home models, and the apple HomePod mini are all going to be thread border routers, so odds are good most people using home automation will already have one. :sunglasses:

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I really like the following article about Thread and Matter if you want even more details about how Thread differs from Zigbee or zwave with regard to Matter.

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If you are interested, you can find the list of certified Matter products here. Currently the list contains mostly hubs, development board and software.

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This might be the easiest to understand explanation between two networking layers I’ve ever read. As a layman, I get confused all the time, but I think I at least have link and application layers settled.

Thanks again for the thorough answers you provide this community!

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I have read on other ST forums that they now have Matter updated on their Aeotech V3 hubs. I have this hub as well but still no Matter update and still running version 45.00009. Did I somehow miss the auto update or ST just hasn’t got to me yet (US)?

You already have matter support on 45.9. You can see the matter logo under hub details in android app but not iOS app.

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I use iOS devices so can’t see it. Thanks for the explanation.

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You will have a driver option when a device is using an edge driver. You can also find all edge drivers and channels you have under hub>options>driver.

If you have a Matter device, you should be able to add the device with 0.45.9 or newer and the latest Android App (1.7.91.24) or newer!

Our Matter support is live! Unfortunately, there are not any Matter devices available to purchase. You could try to run the example Matter devices using the guidelines from here: connectedhomeip/examples at master · project-chip/connectedhomeip · GitHub; you would need to purchase the Eval boards.

Users can also onboard non-certified Matter devices, they will get a pop up asking them if they’d like to proceed with that device.

@Kianoosh_Karami if you can answer any of these, i’d be grateful:

  1. ETA on Matter approved SmartThings iOS app?
  2. How to add a Matter device that is enabled via Firmware update? Since they didn’t ship with an onboarding code, where would the code come from?
  3. Is it possible to add Thread devices that aren’t Matter certified?
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