The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) is releasing an update to its smart home connectivity standard. Matter 1.2 adds nine new device types, including robot vacuums, washing machines, refrigerators and dishwashers. New certification and testing tools and core improvements to the specification and SDK are also rolling out in this major new release for the standard, which debuted a little over a year ago for things like door locks and light switch controls. In theory, Matter-compliant devices will be able to be controlled by smart home platforms like Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings and Google Home.

The Verge calls it “a crucial moment for the success of the industry-backed coalition that counts 675 companies among its members,” since “this is where it moves from the relatively small categories to the real moneymakers: large appliances.” Fans, room air conditioners, air purifiers, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and air quality sensors were also added to the mix.

The CSA says in an announcement it’s had “over 24,600 downloads of the spec, 1,214 certifications, nearly 24 percent  growth in the number of companies who have joined the Matter Working Group” and added a new Alliance Interoperability Test Facility.

Along with this a global ecosystem of “up to hundreds of millions of homes ready to connect new Matter devices” has also been created, CSA says, noting Matter products span brands and categories, from home to mobile.

One of the biggest challenges to smart home functionality has been interoperability: “confirming this device will talk to that gadget,” PCMag writes, explaining that Matter aims to solve that problem.

“For instance, if you bought a Matter-capable robot vacuum, you could potentially use the Google Home app (as opposed to the robot vacuum’s app) to see and control basic functions like remote start and progress notifications, along with cleaning modes (think dry vacuum versus wet mopping),” but the device app may still be necessary “for other features like zone controls — at least for now,” PCMag says, noting that “ future Matter updates could fill in those gaps.”

Looking to 2024, Matter will “continue to expand its footprint across the smart home, across the IoT ecosystem, and in the minds of consumers,” CSA says, promising two new updates next year. The company is also looking to expand its presence among developers, with the Matter 1.2 SDK available for new platforms, and a Matter Test Harness that is now available open source, making it easier to contribute to tools and bug fixes.