Matter has been a unifying standard for the smart home, but it hasn't saved users from the complexity it promised to fix. Here's where it falls short in some of our Apple Homes.
The smart home started life as a disjointed mess and new standards hoped to unify the different platforms. Today, everything feels a little too spread out even with better cross-platform compatibility.
Don't get me wrong, owning a smart home has been much improved thanks to Matter. The Connectivity Standards Alliance has done great work.
The latest standard, Matter, was built with Apple HomeKit as the foundation. For whatever reason, Apple has failed to keep up, and the industry doesn't seem all that interested in reducing reliance on their apps.
Products have only become more complex, for better or worse. The most interesting and powerful tools are being kept siloed inside of manufacturers' apps instead of being donated via Matter.
More apps and systems mean more complexity, which leads to every member of a home needing to be a technical expert to operate devices. No one should need a manual for operating an overhead light.
One more standard
I'm not going to pretend to know the depths of Matter and Thread as standards. I'm sure some parts of these complaints are issues spread across multiple companies, but that doesn't mean the problems don't exist.
Image source: XKCD comic 'Standards'
I can take the time to learn an app, how it connects to HomeKit, Matter, Siri, Shortcuts, or other third-party apps to build automations. Heck, I could even find a way to connect devices through Home Assistant or similar programs.
Things have never been more interconnected, and in some ways that's great. I only need to verify Matter support and it can connect to my Apple Home.
That simple unifying standard was the missing magic in the early smart home. For example, I couldn't use Nest or Samsung Smart Things because they were not a part of HomeKit.
Matter brings those disparate ecosystems into Apple Home, and vice versa.
Apple's most expensive set top box has a Thread radio which helps connect Matter over Thread devices
The problem isn't that they aren't able to interconnect, but that manufacturers seem to believe simple controls are enough to draw people in via Matter support. Sure, a Govee smart light can be toggled on and off in Apple Home, but special scenes are locked up inside the Govee app.
It doesn't matter where the fault lies — partially with Apple Home, partially with Matter, partially with companies like Govee — but the problem exists. It makes using a smart home worse for everyone.
The third-party app conundrum
It's amazing that I can control so many devices from all of these manufacturers in Apple Home. Automations let me set power states, colors, temperatures, locks, and so much more all within one app.
Govee's odd choices
The whole smart home "simplicity" goal falls down when I need to manage special features of a product in a separate app. This came to light most recently in my review of the Govee 21-inch Ceiling Light Ultra.
The Govee app is required for most functions of this ceiling light
It's an interesting circular light fixture with just enough pixel resolution in the light to display blurry images. It's a neat effect, but everything surrounding that feature is in the Govee app.
Nanoleaf also has more advanced functionality for its Shapes smart panels line, which has to be managed in the Nanoleaf app. The difference is that these scenes are donated to Apple Home using what is apparently a hacked-together solution.
Apple clearly needs to make it easier to bring more complex controls and options in to Apple Home, that's on them. However, for a $250 ceiling light with Matter support, I expect more options in the Home app, that's on Govee.
What makes me pick on Govee so much in this instance is its choice for the fixture to be represented as only one light in Apple Home. It is actually two addressable lights in the Govee app, and that difference can cause maddening results.
I'm not sure why Govee would have made that decision other than attempting to drive users to their app. That mentality is why I now need at least 8 apps from smart home vendors, an additional 4 apps for products that should be in Apple Home, plus Siri and Shortcuts.
The number of apps I need for my home seems to multiply over time
Let me be clear: I am a power user and would have all of those apps installed anyway. I like having access to the controls and deeper systems as needed for troubleshooting and automation.
What I don't like is requiring everyone in my home to use all of those apps to gain full functionality of these devices. I can take the time to donate a scene to Siri Shortcuts then map that action to a physical button or command, but that level of complexity isn't ideal and leaves other users out of the loop.
Every function not available in the Home app may as well not exist. The Govee image feature was rarely used outside of testing because it was out of sight, out of mind.
Again, I could set up an automation in the Govee app to have various images and animations play throughout the day or week. That can create some awkward situations, like not being able to turn off only the bottom light without a special command, shortcut, or app.
Don't bother with non HomeKit Secure Video cameras
I've had some other frustrating issues with some cameras I've tested from SwitchBot. The company included them and a hub capable of Home Assistant as part of testing another device I'll be reviewing in the future.
HomeKit Secure Video is the only option for your Apple Home
Apparently, I'm meant to use Home Assistant to bring the non-HomeKit cameras from SwitchBot into my Apple Home. I had never used Home Assistant before, so I gave it a shot, and the results were miserable.
When the Apple Home connection failed, the SwitchBot app itself showed the cameras, but that's yet another area I'd need to go for information about my home. Plus, these cameras are excluded from Apple's new AI features for HomeKit Secure Video, which SwitchBot points to an OpenClaw AI hub for similar functionality.
No thank you.
As an Apple Home user, I can't advise anyone to buy anything but HomeKit Secure Video at this point, even with Home Assistant in play. It's just not the same and not at all reliable.
Extend this out a bit more, and you need third-party apps to manage most functions outside of power states. Setup, user options, and more are all tied to the third-party apps, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
In an ideal world, I'd be able to install a smart lock, attach users, set passcodes, and see battery levels all within Apple Home. Needing so many apps for a single home is not good for the user.
Voice commands can only get your family members so far
I'm not even sure of a good analogy because the situation is kind of absurd. It's like having a universal remote that can turn on the TV, but the manufacturer's remote can only change the channels, and volume control is available via subscription.
Matter reliability and troubleshooting
Matter and Thread aren't exactly what you'd call transparent. If there's a Home Hub issue, or some other networking problem, your stuff just won't work right.
And it's worse if its an intermittent problem. There's no good mapping tools, no good troubleshooting tools, and notifications of an issue are vague. A notification saying that a Home Hub isn't connectable isn't helpful.
You can walk over to a Home Hub and reboot it. If that doesn't fix the problem, then what? There's no amplifying information, and the most common problem-solving step is to reboot your entire Thread network.
Our own Mike Wuerthele had a HomeKit lock to test. Like above, it worked in the App, and in HomeKit with a toggle, but HomeKey didn't work properly. After talking to Apple and talking to the lock manufacturer, they both agreed that Mike should cut all power to his house at the breaker, wait 10 minutes, and restart everything to rebuild the Matter and Thread connectivity.
Ridiculous.
And then, there's the Ikea situation. The hardware is inexpensive, and when it works, it works great. The problem is, it fails silently. Ikea points their finger at Matter, and Matter blames Ikea.
The solution seems to be power-cycling your Home Hub and the devices. There has to be a better way.
Nobody seems interested in figuring out how to make and deliver basic Matter troubleshooting tools. The best advice anybody has to give is telling customers with a shrug that they should reboot.
When the exact same problem crops up again, and again, across multiple device vendors, it's clear that whatever it is, is a foundational issue that Matter and/or Apple need to figure out.
No matter how tech-savvy the main user is or isn't, there's a problem here. Matter is unifying, but only in basic controls, which is a failure.
Perhaps Apple can step in and do something once it remembers it has a smart home ecosystem.
