Matter has been a unifying standard for the smart home, but it hasn't saved users from the complexity it promised to fix. The Connectivity Standards Alliance has done great work, and Matter brings disparate ecosystems into Apple Home, yet everything feels spread out even with better cross-platform compatibility.

The problem isn't interconnection but that manufacturers believe simple controls are enough. A Govee smart light toggles in Apple Home, but special scenes remain locked in the Govee app. Nanoleaf similarly gates advanced features. This mentality forces users to juggle eight-plus vendor apps plus Siri and Shortcuts. Every function not in the Home app may as well not exist.

Non-HomeKit Secure Video cameras like SwitchBot's require Home Assistant bridges that prove unreliable and exclude Apple's new AI features. Mike Wuerthele also found a HomeKit lock where Home Key failed despite basic toggles working. Matter and Thread lack transparency: no good mapping or troubleshooting tools, vague notifications, and the common fix is rebooting the entire Thread network. Needing so many apps for a single home is not good for the user.