The Google Nest Thermostat gets free Matter compatibility upgrade

The Google Nest Thermostat will now support the Matter standard, as announced this week on the 18th April 2023. This new free update will be added to the 2020 version of the Google Nest Thermostat, making it the first smart thermostat to support and come with Matter compatibility.

The announcement comes from an updated post on the Google Nest Community page which said: “We’re rolling out Matter compatibility for our newest Nest Thermostat released in 2020. This means you can now adjust the temperature and change your thermostat’s mode with multiple Matter-certified smart home platforms and apps… Matter compatibility will be rolling out over the next few weeks, starting April 18.”

For those who are new to Matter, it’s an open standard for smart home technology. Matter gives your smart home massive upgrades as it’s a new way for Matter-enabled smart home devices to communicate with each other, regardless of their platform or ecosystems. Supported by Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings and more, Matter connects all these devices together, so if you own both an Amazon Echo Show 15 and an Apple HomePod, these can work together in harmony, thanks to Matter compatibility.

In 2022, Google announced that its Nest & Home devices would join the Matter party, including the Nest Mini, Nest Hub (1st and 2nd gen), the Nest Hub Max, Nest Audio, Nest Wifi Pro, Google Home Mini and the original Google Home speaker. For the eagle eyed among you, you’ll notice that the Google Nest Thermostat was not among this original list.

But as of April 2023, the Google Nest Thermostat is now compatible with the Matter standard and can connect to your home network over WiFi or Thread. The update will happen automatically to existing Google Nest Thermostats, so if you have this set-up in your home, you should expect to see Matter added to your thermostat’s settings page within the next few weeks.

So, what does this update mean for the Google Nest Thermostat? Added Matter compatibility means you can change the temperature, fan and mode of your Google Nest Thermostat with Matter-compatible apps and devices outside of the Google ecosystem. For example, you can easily update and customise the Google Nest Thermostat with Alexa voice control, the Apple Home app or whatever Matter-compatible app is at your fingertips. Thanks to this update, the Google Nest Thermostat can also interact with Matter devices to make your smart home more connected and run more seamlessly.

The Matter standard is being added to the 2020 release of the Google Nest Thermostat which is only available in the US. As of writing, the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Thermostat E (Google’s thermostat options currently available in the UK and Europe) don’t have this update, but according to The Verge, Google is still exploring bringing Matter support to these devices.