Matter is the alliance between multiple smart home gatekeepers like Amazon, Apple, and Google to provide a protocol that works across software ecosystems. The new initiative was announced almost three years ago and consumers are finally starting to see options they can purchase.

I’ve been testing the new Matter Smart Plug Mini from Meross for a few weeks now and if this is how Matter works from other companies, I’m all in on the future of cross-platform smart home support.

Design

The Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini isn’t reinventing the wheel here. Honestly, you’d have a hard time picking it out from the rest of the mini-lineup. The real changes are all internal with the new hardware and firmware to support all the separate smart home ecosystems.

Otherwise, the Matter Smart Plug Mini is a single outlet connection with WiFi-enabled smart home support. The Matter logo is printed on the front to let you know it supports the new goodies and the left side houses an LED-lit manual power button.

Connecting to your home

I’ve successfully connected the Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini to both Apple’s and Google’s Home apps. The setup is pretty much the same as you would do any Apple Home product. You scan the QR code and essentially follow the instructions. One prerequisite for both seems to be you have to have a hub for this to work. For me, that meant a HomePod and Google Nest Mini speaker.

This QR setup is now also how you initially set up the Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini in Google’s Home app as well. The key difference in both apps is now when you want to share access to a different protocol like Apple, you have to allow access in a new menu option for Matter support.

Once this access is granted you’ll be given a new QR code to scan from within the app you originally used to integrate the Meross Matter device. I’ve tried this in both directions and it just works from either Google to Apple or Apple to Google. Each gives access and allows the second app to set up the Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini as a new device.

Conclusion

As I mentioned in the opening, I feel like this is the future of smart home interoperability we’ve been promised coming to fruition. Meross made a new generation of a previous device that simply works across smart home ecosystems with minimal input from the user.

Even better, the new Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini is still cost-effective. You can snag a single for just $18 or a two-pack for only $35. This only adds a few dollars premium on the existing WiFi models from Meross. So, what are you waiting on? Hit the links below.

• Purchase the two-pack Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini from Meross
• Purchase the single Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini from Amazon
• Purchase the two-pack Meross Matter Smart Plug Mini from Amazon