Homebridge 2.0 brings Matter support to help build the future of smart home devices
After years in beta, Homebridge 2.0 supports even more devices on Apple Home, as well as other Matter platforms. Here are the new features.
Homebridge was launched in 2015 with the simple goal of connecting unsupported devices to Apple Home. With plugins, this locally managed server would allow many devices such as Dyson fans or Ring cameras to work within the Apple Home app.
In 2018, AppleInsider has created a helpful tutorial on how you can create your own HomeKit Secure Video compatible camera. It was a time when supported models were rare.
Homebridge is an open source Node.js project that you can run on a Mac or even a Raspberry Pi. With this update, its functionality is greatly expanded beyond just Apple Home.
Homebridge 2.0 is not just an Apple Home Bridge, but a Matter Bridge. Devices added via the Homebridge plugin can work in Apple Home or, thanks to Matter, in Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Home Assistant and Samsung SmartThings.
For Apple users in particular, Matter support was necessary. New device categories, like vacuum cleaners, are not native Apple Home categories, but added via Matter.
If Homebridge continued to only support Apple Home, vacuum cleaners and other categories would not work as expected. We are currently waiting for Apple to add many new Matter categories, such as home appliances, cameras, etc.
Existing Homebridge users are not yet required to update. This is an optional upgrade path and users can download the new files from the Homebridge website or Github repository.