Amazon Will Add Matter Support to 17 Echo Devices in December

The promising Matter smart home standard continues to come closer to fruition.

Smart home giant Amazon has announced that a number of its Echo smart home speakers will soon be updated to support Matter. Here’s what you need to know.

Matter Over Wi-Fi for 17 Echo Devices in December 2022

According to The Verge, Amazon will start a phased rollout for Matter support over Wi-Fi in December 2022.

Along with 17 Echo devices, Amazon will start support with Android phones and three smart device categories—smart plugs, smart bulbs, and smart switches.

Here’s the compatible Echo devices that will be able to control Matter products: Echo Dot (fifth-gen), Echo Dot (fifth-gen) with Clock, Echo (fourth-gen), Echo Dot (third-gen, 2018 release), Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 (second-gen, 2021 release), Echo Show 10 (third-gen), Echo Show 5 (second-gen, 2021 release), Echo Dot (third-gen) with Clock, Echo Dot (fourth-gen) with Clock, Echo Show 5, Echo (v3), Echo Dot (fourth-gen), Echo Input, Echo Flex, Echo Plus (v2), Echo Show 8.

With the firmware update, an Android phone will be able to add a compatible Matter device to the Alexa app and other Matter-compatible apps. The Amazon Echo will act as a controller.

If you’re an iOS Amazon user or hoping to use Matter over the important Thread technology, you’ll need some patience. Amazon says the rollout for those will happen early next year along with support for more Matter device types.

The phased rollout is part of a cautious approach, according to Amazon officials:

“We’re bringing Matter support to well over 100 million devices across 30 Echo and Eero devices,” Chris DeCenzo, a senior principal engineer at Amazon and the company’s CSA board director, explained in an interview with The Verge. “This is an effort unprecedented in scale and complexity. It’s a big deal, and we need to make sure it goes smoothly.”

In particular, he pointed to the lack of available products in the other Matter categories for Amazon to test. “There aren’t many [Matter-compatible] locks, window shades, and thermostats out there yet, and we want to test everything in our beta program first.”

Matter is set to help make any friction between compatible smart home products and controllers a thing of the past. For more about the standard, read our comprehensive look at what Matter is.

A Great Start for Matter

With the Amazon Echo being the most popular way for users to control their smart homes, it is great news to see Amazon begin its rollout for Matter support to its smart speakers.

It will take time, but the Matter rollout will be a huge opportunity for the smart home market to grow.