The short version
For three years, “Matter” was a promise more than a product: a shared language for smart-home gear that, in practice, still could not talk about half the things in your house. Cameras, blinds and garage doors — some of the most-wanted categories — simply were not in the standard. As of the Matter 1.5 specification, released by the Connectivity Standards Alliance in November 2025, that gap is largely closed. A camera-focused maintenance update, Matter 1.5.1, followed on 31 March 2026.
Separately, the plumbing underneath — Thread, the low-power mesh radio a lot of Matter devices ride on — got the fix it most needed. The single most useful change for anyone with a mixed-brand setup is not a headline feature at all; it is Thread credential sharing, which stops rival hubs from building competing, invisible networks in the same house.
Matter 1.5: the categories that were missing
Matter 1.5 adds three consumer-facing device families that people had been waiting for, plus a serious expansion of energy management.
- Cameras. Live video and audio over WebRTC, two-way talk, and multi-stream configurations — the foundation for doorbells, floodlight cams and pan-tilt-zoom units to work across ecosystems rather than being locked to one app.
- Closures. A modular cluster design for window shades, drapes, awnings, gates and garage doors, with precise position reporting. This is what finally makes the classic “did I leave the garage open?” check work across brands.
- Soil sensors. Moisture and, optionally, temperature reporting for gardens, lawns and pot plants — and, paired with Matter water valves, the basis for automated, water-conserving irrigation.
On the energy side, 1.5 introduces an electrical-tariff device type that can share real-time and forecast pricing and carbon data, enhanced smart metering with time-varying tariffs and historical consumption, grid-connection and power-limit signalling, and EV-charging improvements including state-of-charge reporting and bi-directional (vehicle-to-home) charging. There is also full TCP transport for moving larger datasets efficiently — the unglamorous change that makes video and metering practical in the first place.
Matter 1.5.1: making the cameras usable
Shipping a camera spec is one thing; making it efficient is another. The 1.5.1 update, released 31 March 2026, is almost entirely about that. It adds multi-stream delivery, so a single camera can serve a high-resolution recording stream, a mobile-optimised feed and a separate AI-processing stream at once, rather than forcing one quality on everything. Snapshots gain the HEIC codec for better quality at smaller sizes; recording gains HLS and DASH streaming with CMAF compatibility. Pan-tilt-zoom handling, doorbell stability, and chime behaviour (chimes can now play specific sounds, not just a default alert) were all refined. The stated goal is to “reduce bandwidth overhead, simplify integrations, and improve reliability.”
The Thread fix that matters more than any feature
Here is the problem 1.4 solved. Before Thread credential sharing, two hubs from different vendors — say an Amazon Echo and an Apple HomePod mini — would each spin up their own Thread mesh. Your Thread devices ended up split across two networks that could not see each other, with no obvious way to tell which was which. Reliability suffered and nobody could explain why.
Thread 1.4’s credential-sharing mechanism lets border routers exchange the network credentials (secured behind a one-time passcode presented as a QR or nine-digit code) so that multiple vendors’ routers cooperate on a single unified mesh. Reporting through 2026 indicates Thread 1.4 border-router support is now the baseline for new certifications. If you are buying a hub today, this is the capability to check for — it does more for day-to-day reliability than any single Matter device type.
What still does not just work
Two honest caveats, because the spec being finished is not the same as your house being finished.
Platforms adopt on their own timeline. A device type existing in Matter 1.5 does not mean Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa and SmartThings all support it on day one — camera support in particular rolled out across the big platforms through late 2025 and the first half of 2026, not all at once. Check that your chosen app supports the category before you buy the device.
Backwards compatibility has a ceiling. A Matter 1.0 device still works with a 1.5 controller — compatibility is guaranteed by the spec — but it cannot gain features added after the version it was certified against. Older gear will not sprout camera or closure smarts through a controller update.
What to actually do about it
| Buying a hub | Insist on Thread 1.4 border-router support — the credential-sharing / unified-mesh capability. This matters more than the brand. |
|---|---|
| Buying a camera or doorbell | Confirm Matter 1.5 (ideally 1.5.1) support and that your app of choice already exposes cameras. The spec is ahead of some platforms. |
| Blinds, gates, garage | Look for Matter 1.5 “closures” support for cross-app control and position reporting. |
| Energy / EV | The pieces for dynamic tariffs and bi-directional EV charging exist in 1.5, but real-world support is early — treat it as emerging, not shipping. |
| Existing 1.0–1.4 devices | They keep working; they will not gain new-category features. No need to replace what already does its job. |
The bottom line
Matter in mid-2026 is finally the standard it was pitched as three years ago: the big missing categories are in, the energy story is real if early, and Thread’s worst reliability trap has been closed. The remaining friction is no longer the specification — it is the gap between what the spec allows and what each platform has shipped. Buy to the spec, but verify against your own app before you spend.
Sources
Facts and dates above are drawn from these primary and reputable sources, captured July 2026:
- Connectivity Standards Alliance — Matter 1.5 introduces cameras, closures and enhanced energy management (20 November 2025)
- Connectivity Standards Alliance — Matter 1.5.1: enhancing camera performance and device flexibility (31 March 2026)
- Thread Group — Thread 1.4 Features White Paper (credential sharing / unified mesh)
- Matter (standard) — version history and platform adoption