Until recently, I didn’t have much interest in building a smart home. I saw these gadgets as money grabs meant to make us regularly replace aspects of our home that otherwise last decades, and to do so with more expensive versions. But I have to admit—I like my home so much more since integrating it with Matter. Here's what I've learned from my experience.
Lights aren't left on as often
Smart lighting isn’t merely the luxury I thought it was. It’s a significant improvement to my quality of life. I live in a household of four people, and I’m the one who follows behind others, making sure they turn off the lights. Individual LED lights may not use much electricity, but when each room has between four and nine of them recessed into the ceiling, the power usage does start to add back up.
With my Matter-compatible smart lights, I’m able to turn off all the lights from my bed once I’ve heard everyone else go to sleep. Or when we leave the house, I can turn everything off from the car or even after we reach our destination, rather than making one last sweep of the house as I’m escorting out the kids. I can even control these lights from my Galaxy Watch.
I know how much energy some appliances use
Electricity usage can be a tricky thing to learn. This year I bought portable power stations for home backup, but it’s hard to know just what they can power and for how long without a handle on how much energy your appliances use.
Some of my purchases come with energy monitoring built-in. My Samsung Frame TV serves as a Matter controller, and it shows how much energy it consumes. Some Matter devices, like the Tapo P210M smart outlet, come with energy monitoring, so I can see how much power certain appliances draw. My various Tapo S505 smart lights also have the feature, which is how I got an idea just how much power our hallway lights guzzle when left on.
My devices better communicate with each other
These days, I can wear a smartwatch that controls my TV. My Bluetooth earbuds can play audio from my phone one moment and my Nintendo Switch the next. A growing number of devices are wirelessly able to just connect to other devices.
Embracing Matter turns this up a notch. Now my watch, when I choose to wear it, can turn on the ceiling fan. A voice assistant can turn on outdoor lights for guests arriving at night. My TV can show if the exhaust fan is on in the bathroom. All of these devices are now able to see, and adjust, the temperature on the Honeywell X2S Matter-compatible thermostat I reviewed.
There's automated ambient lighting in more parts of the home
Some feel that being able to remotely control aspects of the home doesn’t make it smart—it’s automations that save you from making the effort in the first place.
Our bedroom lamp now automatically turns on in the morning as an alarm clock. Our floor lights in the living room turn on by themselves in the evening and turn off after we go to bed. The light in my kids’ room automatically turns off after they go to sleep.
My spouse can control our home too
This power isn’t just reserved for me. Multiple phones can interact with a Matter controller to manage the home. Thanks to Matter’s multi-admin feature, we don't have to operate in the same ecosystem, either. Since purchasing and reviewing Home Assistant Green, I’ve mostly switched to using the Home Assistant app. My wife still uses SmartThings, which runs through our Frame TV.
The bedroom lamp turning on in the morning? That was her doing. Creating an automation is simple enough that I didn’t have to teach her how to use the software after I had everything installed. She has had an easier time waking up in the early morning since.
That’s part of the magic of a connected home. You don’t always know how it will be helpful ahead of time. Ways of controlling the home also change as smart home apps get updates, smartwatches become faster, and smart speakers grow more intelligent.
Now that it’s all set up, this convenience hasn’t suddenly made me lazy—I still spend hours on my feet handwashing dishes, loading the dishwasher, doing laundry, scrubbing sinks and counters, and all the other maintenance that goes into preserving a home. Even with Matter, it's not yet possible to automate it all.
