The topic of a smart home has been a regular focus for various companies for the past 10-15 years. This is not surprising, because during this time a technological leap has taken place - we have received a bunch of new gadgets, improved wireless protocols, reliable and fast mobile communication, which allows us to be constantly online. So all these attempts to equip almost every home device with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules have already become commonplace. Sometimes such upgrades are justified - for example, the ability to remotely control the thermostat. Sometimes it's more like playing around a few times - like voice control in a microwave.
However, today we will not talk about the obsession of companies with the goal of stuffing Google Assistant or Alexa into every device, but about how to create a smart home in 2025. After all, despite such a large number of smart devices, it is not always possible to make them friends with each other. Often you have to find some compromises - buy not the model you liked, but the one that your smart home hub supports.
So the first thing you need to start with when creating a smart home is choosing an ecosystem. Although, most likely, you have already made a choice before – when you bought a smartphone. There are three main ecosystems that you can rely on: Apple Home, Google Home or Samsung SmartThings. They have the widest support for third-party devices, so you will have more choice in the future. This includes Amazon Alexa, but Amazon services are not very popular in Ukraine, so we will focus on systems from Apple, Google and Samsung.
A few years ago, these companies teamed up to create a single smart home standard called Matter. It should make things a lot easier for users, as they won't have to worry about gadget compatibility, as mentioned above. In practice, it's a bit clunky, but it's there. The clunky thing isn't because it doesn't work well, but because its implementation isn't happening as quickly as we'd like.
Matter is powered by the Thread networking protocol. It’s energy-efficient, fast, and makes it easy to connect smart devices to your smart home. Just scan a QR code and you can add them to your ecosystem in no time.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which is developing Matter, currently has over 500 companies and is growing. This is great news, as it brings us one step closer to creating a universal smart home. You can have an iPhone, a Nest Home smart speaker, a Samsung smart fridge, and IKEA smart sockets. And they will all work together.
The process of adding a Matter device to your ecosystem takes a matter of moments
But as mentioned above, not all smart device manufacturers have yet released their models with Matter support, so you need to check whether they support your ecosystem. After all, these gadgets can use other protocols, for example, Zigbee or Z-Wave, or connect simply via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Support for a particular ecosystem is usually indicated by the corresponding icon: Works with Google Home, Works with Apple Home, etc.
The center of a smart home is usually a smart hub. Most often, this is a smart speaker, such as the Nest Home or Apple HomePod. However, it can also be a TV - many Samsung models support Thread and can be the center of your smart home. Having a smart hub is not always necessary, but it can improve response times to your commands.
However, sometimes a hub is an integral part of your setup. For example, Philips Hue lights and accessories require the Philips Hue Bridge, which supports Matter and can connect to various ecosystems. Similarly, IKEA smart devices will require the DIRIGERA hub.
Once you've decided on a hub, you can start buying various accessories. Lamps, locks, thermostats, surveillance cameras, doorbells, sockets, switches, thermostats, robot vacuum cleaners - there's plenty to start with. If they support Matter or are specifically designed for your ecosystem, after setup they will appear in the appropriate application - Apple Home, Google Home or Samsung SmartThings. In them you can control devices - turn them on/off, change the color, set a schedule, create automation scenarios, etc. Although, I advise you to also install a branded application for gadgets - sometimes they offer wider customization options.
With each update of Matter, the number of devices supported by the standard increases. Currently, it works with refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, heat pumps, air purifiers, various sensors and other devices. In total, there are more than 40 categories. But before you run to update your stupid fan, assess your own needs - perhaps it will be enough to buy a smart grid that can turn it on and off on a schedule. This way, you will save money, and the result, in general, will be the same as from a smart fan.
So what do we have in the end? Creating a smart home in 2025 looks like a much easier task than it was five years ago. If you are building an ecosystem from scratch, focus on supporting devices for the Matter standard and the Thread protocol - this is the future of smart homes for now. Choose what will be the center of the ecosystem (smart speaker, smart TV, etc.), determine the basic needs (lighting control, climate control, energy consumption monitoring), think about the automation scenarios that you would like to implement (for example, automatically turning off devices when you leave the house, or creating a desired microclimate before you return). After that, you can proceed to choosing and purchasing the necessary gadgets.
Share your experience creating a smart home in the comments. What problems did you encounter and how did you solve them? And what advice can you give to beginners in this field?