Amazon announces Frustration Free Setup for Matter devices.

Amazon announced the availability of Frustration Free Setup for Matter Wifi and Thread capable devices last year. Today, we are making available the documentation for how to ensure features like Frustration-Free Setup that work great with Alexa are enabled in your Matter device here. Matter is a home automation connectivity standard that allows smart home devices to work with each other across different smart home systems. Frustration Free Setup allows customers to set up Alexa-enabled Matter devices in their homes easily, and offers device makers an opportunity to go to market with a unique and differentiated offering for their customers.

“Because it is interoperable, reliable and secure, Matter breaks down barriers to entry to the smart home for millions of customers,” says Ted Zhang, Vice President of Sengled, one of the largest manufacturers of smart-lighting devices in the United States.  “By enabling customers to set up smart home devices in a matter of seconds, Frustration Free Setup breaks down those barriers even further.”

The first specification release of the Matter protocol will operate on Wi-Fi and Thread network layers. Smart-home device makers and developers can build Frustration Free Setup enabled-Matter Wifi devices effective immediately. We made sure that all of the functionality a device would need to implement Frustration-Free Setup was included in the first version of the Matter specification so that device makers would not need to put an additional custom code or SDKs into their devices. Developers can review Frustration free setup documentation, onboard devices, and integrate manufacturing for Matter Wifi devices now and for Thread devices later in 2022. 

Amazon launched the Frustration Free Setup  experience in 2018. Frustration Free Setup  helps customers to simplify their device setup experience. With FFS, eligible customers can simply unbox the device and power it on, following which the device gets connected onto their network automatically.  Frustration Free Setup is used on a majority of Amazon devices to simplify setup for millions of Echo, Fire TV, & eero devices and is available on over 50 brands sold on Amazon.com today.

Matter is a new interoperability protocol with standard data models that ensure smart devices can work across different systems. With Matter, connected device customers have a reduced complexity in purchase decisions as Matter devices can work with multiple smart hubs and voice assistants. Customers can easily add their Matter devices to their existing ecosystem by entering a simple setup code. 

Frustration Free Setup makes this process even simpler by allowing customers to onboard their devices in a few seconds, without the need to enter network passwords, Matter setup codes or account linking. 

We are launching our support of Matter devices with Wifi devices on 1/5/2022. Many of the world’s leading smart home brands such as eWeLink, Ledvance, Sengled, TP-Link, Tuya, and Lifx are already collaborating with Amazon to enable this technology onto their Matter devices. 

“Integrating Frustration Free Setup  with our Alexa-enabled devices was a very simple process,” says Zhang. “We had great support from Amazon throughout the entire journey.”

Frustration Free Setup’s developer portal is a one stop shop for developers to access instructions, technical documentation, software, and data specifications. Please visit this developer portal to begin the implementation of Frustration Free Setup for your Matter Wifi devices. The process is simple, and includes five simple steps:

• Review Documentation & Instructions - Developers can get access to the Frustration Free Setup documentation & instructions on the developer portal.
• Onboard your device - Onboard your Matter device on the developer console and integrate the device keys and test certificates provided
• Device Authentication Feeds - Developers can setup device authentication feeds also known as control logs using the developer portal. Device authentication feeds enable a secure data communication channel for device barcode and authentication data between the device and Amazon Cloud. Device authentication feeds are necessary to ensure devices are authenticated and registered to the customer.
• Software Build - Developers can configure and deploy software builds on their devices to integrate with Matter SDK and Frustration Free Setup’s beacon messaging requirements. 
• Complete Certification - Developers can get access to Frustration Free Setup - Matter Wifi test packages for self-testing. They can also submit devices for Amazon’s certification process using the developer portal. Certification for Matter devices will begin Q1 2022.

“For many of our customers, setting up a smart home device with Frustration Free setup can be as simple as powering on the device,” said Zhang. “Making FFS with Matter devices is a no-brainer for Sengled.”

Amazon is developing Frustration Free Setup for Thread devices currently and it is slated to release later this year. Developers can sign up for early access for Frustration Free Setup for thread devices here.