Belkin takes a ‘big step back’ from Matter, compromising the universal smart home standard

According to The Verge, Belkin is halting support for the nascent Matter smart home standard. Devices from Belkin’s Wemo smart home brand may eventually support Matter, but Belkin will “take a big step back, regroup and rethink”its product strategy before supporting Matter in any of its products. This is a change for Belkin, which announced at CES 2022 that it plans to support Matter in several of its new accessories when the standard is ready.

Some Wemo devices already support Thread, the underlying network protocol that Matter uses to allow devices in your home to communicate without overloading your Wi-Fi router. But, at least for now, these devices remain tethered to the Apple HomeKit ecosystem.

The Matter standard, which has often been delayed, was finally released in the fall of 2022. It promises to break down the walls between smart home domains by taking the guesswork out of buying accessories and allowing you to control devices without having to install any device-specific apps. Matter devices should work whether you use HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or even some combination of all three. Matter compatible devices will also retain a basic level of functionality even if the company that made the accessory goes bankrupt or is taken over and closed.

Of course, this all depends on whether the companies actually decide to support Matter; without universal approval, it risks becoming another competing standard, creating more chaos instead of bringing order.

The absence of one brand in no way ruins the Matter initiative. Quite a few companies have announced or released new Matter devices, and others have upgraded existing devices to support Matter. As of November 2022, Matter has over 190 certified devices, and this list should expand as future versions of the Matter standard add support for more types of smart home devices. And that standard is still supported by Apple, Google, and Amazon, three companies that could most easily decide to sink Matter by not supporting it.

Belkin says Wemo devices will support Matter as soon as the company can “find a way to differentiate them,”suggesting that Belkin may still decide to join the standard eventually. Until then, do not include Wemo products in your Matter-compatible smart home overhaul plans.