Matter was supposed to make the smart home better. A clear standard, direct control and wider third-party compatibility are all exactly what we needed. While, in some situations, Matter has made life easier, in other ways it has complicated things and made life harder.
Fiddly and confusing to add devices elsewhere
Matter devices have a code on them that you scan (older devices may generate a code in-app, but the idea’s the same) when you add them to a smart home system, such as Apple Home. That makes sense and is easy: it’s one, built-in code and you’re done.
So far, so good, but what happens when you want to add a device to a second system? The first code doesn’t work, and you have to put the device into pairing mode via the first smart home system, generating a second code that has to go into the next app.
It’s so annoying and confusing. And, you know what, it doesn’t even always work. For reasons I’ll outline below, I was trying to connect my Tado X system to an Aqara Hub via Matter.
My system works with Apple Home, but nothing I do will let me connect the kitchen thermostat to my Aqara system. I’ve had a success message once, but then the app timed out and it all fell over. I’ve given up.
When it works, Matter’s direct control is faster and more reliable than cloud-based systems, as we used to get with Alexa; however, the cloud connection had the advantage of making it generally easier to connect a device to multiple smart home systems.
Devices sometimes change
My second problem comes from trying to set up an automation. When I had my kitchen fitted, I had underfloor heating put in, but the plumber didn’t really seem to understand how it should work and didn’t install a two-port zone valve. So, every time a radiator turns on, the underfloor heating takes on hot water, and the kitchen slowly gets hotter and hotter.
Plumbers near me seem very disinterested in fitting one, so in the meantime, I found the Aqara Valve Controller T1, which is a retrofit device that can turn a water valve on or off. Handily, there’s a valve in the hot water inlet for the underfloor system that this will fit to, to turn the water on and off.
And, the Valve Controller is Matter compatible via an Aqara Hub, so it can be added to Apple Home.
I then just need an automation to make it work. When I looked in Apple Home, my Tado Wireless Temperature Sensor X in the kitchen, which calls for heat and turns the underfloor pump on, can be used in automations.
On the Sunday before I fitted the valve, the automation triggers I got were for when the heating is turned on or turned off (a switch, effectively). That meant slightly adjusting the schedule, so that rather than having a fall-back temperature, I had to set the heating so that it was either on or off. That’s fine, I can live with that until I can get a plumber to fit a zone valve.
On the Monday, I fitted the Valve Controller, added it to Apple Home and then tried to set up the Automation. Only now, the Wireless Temperature Sensor X no longer gave me the on/off option for trigger and had changed so that the triggers were for when the temperature fell below a target or went above a target.
That’s not what I need or want. So, I tried to add the Tado sensor to Aqara only for the problem as detailed above. No dice.
Oddly, the Wireless Temperature Sensor X in the bedroom was showing the on/off triggers. So, I had to swap the kitchen and bedroom sensors and set up the Automation that I needed. All good on that front, and the system all works as I intended it to.
Oddly, the next day I checked the Home app and both Wireless Temperature Sensor X devices were showing the on/off triggers.
There’s no way to adjust the type or change which modes are exposed. Having a smart home system where triggers can change at random is no good. Matter needs to be better.
