The DIRIGERA smart home hub and new app will arrive in October 2022.

Smart home fans have been waiting patiently for the launch of the Matter protocol which has the opportunity to be a true game-changer for the market.

And IKEA is throwing its hat into the ring with a new hub that’s Matter ready along with a new controller app.

IKEA Announces the New DIRIGERA Hub

In a post on the Ikea Newsroom, the Swedish home retailing giant has announced the DIRIGERA hub and revamped IKEA Home Smart app.

DIRIGERA is a substantial upgrade from the company’s current TRÅDFRI hub. The Matter-compatible hub is designed to handle more product segments while being able to onboard more products than the older version.

Along with the hub, IKEA at the same time will launch a new companion app. With the hub and app, users will be able to onboard all compatible products and steer each one individually or by a customized group.

You can create different scenes with preset functionality and more with the app.

Both the smart home hub and app will arrive in October 2022.

Proof That Matter Will Be Worth Waiting For

The Matter standard has seen a bumpy rollout. Back in March 2022, the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the group behind the standard, announced that Matter would officially arrive sometime in the fall of 2022. It was at one time expected in the summer instead.

If you’re not aware of what Matter is, you definitely should if you’re interested in smart home products.

Developed by big names in tech like Google, Amazon, and Apple, Matter is a single standard that allows all compatible controllers and products to work together. So instead of worrying about compatibility, all Matter products will operate seamlessly.

To find out more about the protocol, read our comprehensive look at what Matter is.

The Smart Home Market Is Getting Even Better

Matter is going to be a big deal for the smart home space. If everything lines up correctly, the era of worrying about compatibility with products and hubs will be a thing of the past. IKEA jumping into the ring with its own Matter-compatible hub shows that the company expects the protocol to take off.

And Matter will make it even easier for more users to see what they can do with the wide variety of available products.