This list originally ran when Matter was still “coming soon.” That’s no longer true. Matter launched in October 2022, and by 2026 the standard is on version 1.6, with over 4,000 certified devices and native support across every major ecosystem. If you’re trying to understand where things actually stand now rather than where they were heading in 2021, these are the sources worth your time.
Where To Verify Certification
- The official CSA Matter page, the current home for the standard. The old buildwithmatter.com address has been retired.
- The CSA’s certification database, where you can check whether a device is genuinely Matter-certified rather than just carrying “Matter ready” marketing language on the box, which is not the same thing.
- Wikipedia’s Matter standard page, which stays current on version history and is a fast way to check what shipped in each release.
For Ongoing Coverage
- matter-smarthome.de’s development section tracks the gap between what the spec allows and what platforms actually ship, which is usually the more useful question. As of early 2026 it was still flagging that Google Home hadn’t rolled out generic switch support from the very first Matter release, while SmartThings moved fast on 1.5.
- The Connectivity Standards Alliance’s own newsroom for release announcements straight from the source, rather than filtered through a blog.
What Changed Recently
Matter 1.5, released in November 2025, added the first standard model for cameras and video doorbells, plus expanded support for closures, soil sensors, energy tariffs and EV charging. Matter 1.6, released June 2026, focused on fixing setup friction: NFC commissioning that works before a device is even powered on, and a feature called Joint Fabric that lets one device be shared cleanly across Apple Home and Google Home without duplicate setups.
The catch, consistently, is rollout speed. A finished specification doesn’t mean every platform supports it immediately. Several ecosystems are still sitting on Matter 1.2 or 1.3 in practice, well behind what the spec currently allows. Worth checking a platform’s actual implemented version, not just whether it says “Matter compatible” somewhere in its marketing.
Thread, Separately
Thread is the low-power mesh network many Matter devices run over, and it has its own version churn worth knowing about. As of January 2026, new Thread border routers can only be certified against Thread 1.4, and Matter’s own spec now requires border routers and network infrastructure managers to be Thread 1.4 certified from version 1.4.2 onward. If you’re speccing hardware for a client, check which Thread version it actually supports rather than assuming Thread compatibility is a single fixed thing.
Matter’s version history moves fast enough that a “best sources” list like this goes stale within months. Every week I cover what’s actually changed across Matter, Thread and the wider smart home world, for homeowners and for the people installing these systems professionally.