homee becomes a Matter Bridge

After we already introduced you to Homey as a universal bridge, homee now also wants to join Matter. However, homee has a different approach.

Actually, Matter is designed to eliminate the need for additional bridges. Low traffic devices can use Thread, while high traffic devices can use Wi-Fi. The fact that bridges will continue to play a role in the future is shown by the large and growing selection of smarthome devices with Zigbee, Z-Wave and other wireless standards.

homee has made it its mission to at least reduce the number of bridges by allowing you to connect numerous devices from different manufacturers. If a radio standard is missing, it can simply be extended according to the Lego principle.

The now released update to version 2.40.0 makes homee a Matter bridge. While homey acts as a Matter controller, and Matter devices can be connected to the Universal Hub, homee becomes a Matter bridge and makes connected devices available through Matter.

Currently available as beta

As with homee’s HomeKit integration, Matter is initially available as a beta. In concrete terms, this means that you have not yet gone through the certification process. While HomeKit integration failed to get certified and never left beta status, Matter’s chances should be much higher.

Initially, however, the focus is on devices for switching on and off, i.e. lamps and plugs, as well as temperature sensors.

The Brain Cube is required for homee. This can be expanded with Z-Wave, Zigbee and EnOcean Cubes as well as proprietary standards from Hörmann, WAREMA and Becker.