How to set up Matter devices for Alexa voice control using Amazon Echo

Main points

• Matter standardizes smart home devices, enabling cross-compatibility between manufacturers and ecosystems.
• Matter ensures interoperability between smart home brands and future-proofs your setup without the need for a cloud-based account.
• You can easily set up your Matter device using Matter Simple Setup or manually setting up your Amazon Echo through the Alexa app.

Smart home devices often feel far from smart. Different devices from different manufacturers use different protocols, require their own proprietary smart home hubs, or simply fail to communicate with each other. That’s fine if all your devices are from the same manufacturer, but once you start mixing and matching, things start to get tricky. Worse, if you decide to switch from one smart home ecosystem to another, you may find that you can no longer control certain smart home devices.

This is where Matter can help. Matter is a communication standard for smart home devices designed to improve compatibility, allowing you to use smart home products from different manufacturers and different smart home systems, such as Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Alexa. As long as they cooperate with matter, they will cooperate with each other.

If you own an Amazon Echo device, you probably already have a Matter-compatible smart speaker or smart display. Here’s how to set up your Matter device with your Amazon Echo so you can control it with your voice.

What is matter?

When you purchase smart home devices, you must be careful to choose the ones that fit into your chosen smart home ecosystem. For example, devices that work with Alexa and Google Assistant may not work with Apple HomeKit. That’s before you start using all the different communication protocols, from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to Zigbee and Z-Wave. This really shouldn’t be this hard.

The Matter protocol is designed to enable interoperability between smart home devices, regardless of which company they come from.

Thankfully, many smart home product manufacturers agree, including big names like Amazon, Apple, Google, LG, and Samsung, as well as more than 500 other manufacturers. All of these companies have adopted Matter, an open source connectivity standard designed for smart home technology and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The Matter protocol is designed to enable interoperability between smart home devices, regardless of which company they come from.

Matter ensures that your devices speak the same language, but it requires a communication method to transmit this information. Matter can communicate via Ethernet, Wi-Fi or Thread.

Why use Matter smart home devices?

If you have a Matter device, you don’t need to worry about whether it supports HomeKit, Google Assistant, Alexa, or Samsung SmartThings. As long as you have a Matter-compatible smart hub, it will work with any or all of these devices.

It also future-proofs your smart home. You may be using Apple’s Home app to control your smart home technology now, but what if you decide to switch to Android in the future? Your Matter devices will still work with Google Assistant, Alexa, or any other Matter-enabled system. This isn’t the case if your device only supports HomeKit. The idea is that eventually all smart home devices will support Matter, and it won’t matter which smart home ecosystem you choose to use (ahem).

Matter also lets your smart devices communicate without the need for a cloud-based account. When you use an app to control many smart home devices, commands are sent to a network server, which then forwards the appropriate commands back to the smart home device. Matter allows you to control your devices directly from your home network without sending data outside your home. This makes Matter more secure.

How to set up a Matter device with Amazon Echo

If you have an Amazon Echo device, it’s likely that it supports Matter. All Echo devices currently available for purchase are compatible with Matter, and if you have an older Echo device, the vast majority are as well. You can see the full list of supported Echo devices at the end of this article.

With a Matter-compatible Echo, you can easily add any Matter smart home device to Alexa so you can control it with your voice.

1. Open Alex Apps on your smartphone.
2. tap equipment at the bottom of the screen.
3. Click + (plus sign) icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. Scroll to the bottom and select other.
5. Click matter logo.
6. confirm There is a problem with your device logo.
7. If your smart home device has a QR code on its manual, packaging, or device, please click Scan QR code And use your phone camera to complete the pairing process.
8. If you don’t have the QR code, tap Try using numeric codes And look for the 11- or 21-digit code on the device’s instructions, packaging, or on the device itself.
9. tap Enter code and enter the code to pair your device.
10. Your device will be paired.
11. You can now see your Matter smart home devices in the Alexa app.
12. Click on the device.
13. Click on the upper right corner of the screen set up icon.
14. tap Edit name And give your device the name you want.
15. Now you can use your saved name to ask Alexa to control your device with your voice.

How to set up Matter devices using Matter Simple Setup

If you buy a device from Amazon, you may find devices that offer Matter Simple Setup. This feature allows your smart home devices to use network details saved to your Amazon account when set up. Your Echo device will automatically create a secure connection with your new Matter Simple Setup device, sharing your network details and passwords directly with your smart home devices. You need to purchase the device from the same Amazon account you’re signed into with your Echo device.

1. Turn on your Matter Simple Setup smart home device.
2. Your device will try to connect to your home network using the sharing details.
3. You should see a notification in the Alexa app that the new device has automatically connected.
4. To edit a device’s name, click it in the device list.
5. Click set up icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
6. tap Edit name and give your device a new name.
7. You can now control your device with your voice by asking Alexa and using the device name you just saved.

FAQ

Q: Which Echo devices work with Matter?

Matter is baked into all new Echo devices, and Amazon is rolling out Matter support to older models as well. The full list of Echo devices that work with Matter is as follows:

• Echo Center

• Echo Show 8 (1st, 2nd and 3rd gen)

• Echo Show 5 (1st, 2nd and 3rd gen)

• Echo Studio (1st and 2nd generation)

• Echo Plus (2nd generation)

• echo input

• Echo Dot (2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th generation)

• echo pop

• Echoflex

Q: What types of smart home devices can be used with Matter?

Matter first launched with support for a range of smart home device types, and in October 2023, 9 more device types were added to the list. Currently, Matter works with the following types of smart home devices:

• smart Lock

• Smart air conditioner

• Smart air purifier

• Smart air quality sensor

• smart fans

• Smart blinds

• Smart washing machine

• Smart dishwasher

• Smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarm

• Smart sensors such as temperature and humidity sensors

• Smart safety sensors such as contact sensors

• Smart Home Bridges and Hubs

Although Matter supports all of these device types, you may not be able to use all features of your smart device through Matter. For example, you can use Matter to turn a smart light bulb on or off or set its brightness or color. However, without using a specific app for smart light bulbs, you may not be able to control features like adaptive lighting that changes settings throughout the day.