After a long delay, Ikea’s Matter update for its Dirigera smart hub, is finally on its way.
According to a report on Techhive, an Ikea spokesperson confirmed that Dirigera’s Matter update is currently available to beta testers using the Ikea Home app.
The report also mentioned that the patch will arrive “in the future” for “all customers and more products.”
“We are excited to unveil the first version of Matter support for the Dirigera hub, available now for beta users through the Ikea Home Smart app,” David Granath, Range Manager at Ikea Home Smart told The Verge, adding that the company plans to work through a testing phase and gather feedback from beta users to “help improve the overall experience when the update is expanded to include all customers and more products in the future”.
The Verge report went on to mention that the beta focuses only lighting products initially, although Ikea has not confirmed the exact devices.
According to The Verge, the addition of Matter should mean that Ikea lights can be exposed to any compatible Matter platform through the Dirigera hub, but since Dirigera already supports Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home, those that use these platforms may not see much difference.
It went on to state that since the Hub is acting as a bridge and not as a Matter controller or Matter device, users will need a Matter controller from the platform they want to use the lights in, such as an Apple HomePod, Amazon Echo, or Google smart speaker.
According to TechHive, Ikea’s full statement about its Matter update is as follows:
“At Ikea, we are excited to unveil the first version of Matter support for the Dirigera hub, available now for beta users through the IKEA Home smart app. The initial release transforms the Dirigera hub into a Matter bridge, allowing Zigbee devices to be compatible with Matter networks. We are piloting this innovative feature with a focus on lighting products exclusively for our beta users. We are gathering feedback from users during this testing phase, which will help improve the overall experience when the update is expanded to include all customers and more products in the future. More details to follow, so stay tuned.”
Matter, developed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung (and others), is a new smart home interoperability standard that provides a common language for connected devices to communicate locally in the home without requiring a cloud connection.
Major platforms that support Matter include Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Apple Home are some major smart home platforms supporting Matter, along with hundreds of device manufacturers.
It currently supports more than 20 device types.
When Ikea announced the Dirigera hub in May 2022, it confirmed that the smart hub would support Matter. But in November, when Ikea’s three new smart sensors was launched, the company confirmed its decision to delay the update of Matter, as reported by Channel News.
Ikea has not yet provided a timeline for the public release.
