The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) today launched Matter 1.3, which adds support for energy and water management devices, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, new major appliances, and new entertainment features. 

Upon its debut in late 2022, Matter's support was restricted to a select number of smart devices, leaving Matter 1.0 users with limited controls when connecting their devices. Since then, CSA has updated the smart home connectivity standard to support more devices, applications, and functionality over time. This latest update is a continuation of that effort.

New smart appliances supported by Matter 1.3

• Microwave ovens
• Ovens (standalone or range)
• Cooktops
• Vent hoods (cooker hood or over-the-range)
• Laundry dryers

Matter 1.3's support for water and energy management devices includes any capable device type reporting actual and estimated measurements of real-time energy consumption or generation, as well as instantaneous power, voltage, current, and so on. The latest version also includes smart water management devices, such as leak detectors, rain sensors, freeze detectors, and smart valves.

Matter 1.3 supports EV chargers, allowing manufacturers to get Matter certifications for their devices. Matter 1.3 lets you start or stop charging your EV, adjust the charging rate, specify the miles or range needed by your departure time, and more.

Also: Move over, Alexa and HomeKit: A new Assistant is here to open source your smart home

The CSA's announcement mentions user experience enhancements for Matter 1.3, including support for scenes and command batching in Matter controllers. You can also expect entertainment improvements, such as push messages and dialog support for new ambient experiences, a smoother casting initialization process, expanded interactivity options for TV apps, and improved search personalities.

On the developer side, Matter 1.3 brings new debugging and experience improvements, including improved network commissioning to let devices report which Wi-Fi bands they support, timestamp synchronization across devices, allowing devices to beacon for extended periods, and revisions to several clusters.

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