Last month, Samsung SmartThings unveiled a suite of innovative features designed to enhance user experience, including Home Insights, Daily Routines, Quick Remote, and Automatic Hub Backup. In an exciting development, a recent report indicates that SmartThings may soon extend its capabilities to support Wi-Fi routers, coinciding with the anticipated release of Matter 1.4.
Matter 1.4
The details surrounding Matter 1.4 have recently emerged, showcasing a significant addition: the “Enhanced Multi-Admin” feature. This enhancement simplifies the management of Matter-enabled devices across various smart home ecosystems, allowing users to seamlessly integrate devices from Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and SmartThings without any complications.
Furthermore, the update promises improved device compatibility. Notably, Wi-Fi routers will now be able to operate with Matter and SmartThings, functioning as Thread Border Routers to facilitate device connections and streamline the setup process. This means that Wi-Fi routers, modems, and even set-top boxes can be conveniently controlled through the SmartThings app.
In addition to connectivity enhancements, Matter 1.4 introduces support for energy management devices, including solar panels, electric water heaters, heat pumps, solar system inverters, and batteries. This update allows users to optimize their home’s energy consumption by taking local electricity prices into account, ultimately leading to potential cost savings.
While the current iteration does not include support for security cameras, this feature is anticipated to be introduced in a future update, Matter 1.5. Given Samsung’s swift adoption of Matter 1.3, it is reasonable to expect that SmartThings will integrate support for Matter 1.4 sometime in 2025.
