I have been using Philips Hue smart lights for almost ten years. The company's colorful lights, dimmer switches, and motion sensors are among the most reliable, responsive smart devices in my home. Hue's stuff is expensive, but thanks to the bridge and the Zigbee mesh network, the lights, remote controls and sensors don't have to rely on congested WiFi channels to communicate. Hue also works with every platform. I've had Hue bulbs work with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, IFTTT and more, often at the same time, and it's been rock solid. I then migrated my Hue Bridge to Matter. Now my lights respond slowly to voice commands. They often disconnect from my smart home platforms. I can't add new lights to Apple Home. I had to remove and re-add each individual bulb and sensor six times while troubleshooting these issues. And I can't get them to work on two platforms at once, let alone three or four. In other words, I have the same problems with Hue as I do with any Matter device. Hue approached Matter about as closely as it could without avoiding it: it committed early but acted cautiously. It didn't make any major structural changes, like getting rid of the bridge or abandoning Zigbee for Thread — a wise move in retrospect, given the current problems with Thread. It's hard not to conclude that the problem with Hue's current implementation of Matter is that it implements Matter. At this point, outside of a few specific scenarios, you won't see any benefit from upgrading your Hue system to Matter. Based on my experiences, it will probably make everything worse. In addition to good products, Hue's strength lies in its broad interoperability and reliable connectivity, anchored by its own bridge. But it's also damn expensive. Image: Signify So, why does Hue need Matter? This question surprised me. Unlike the other local, reliable smart lighting system in my home, the Lutron Caseta smart switches, Philips Hue has been an outspoken champion of the Matter standard since day one. The new chairman of the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the organization behind Matter, comes from Hue. Matter is now the default installation option when you connect your Hue Bridge to Apple Home via the Hue app and will soon be the default for the other platforms as well. But Hue was already reliable and easy to use. It already works locally and is compatible with any platform. Assuming Matter works as intended, what does Matter do for Hue? Hue says: “As Matter simplifies the way smart home products communicate, you can experience better performance with some cloud-based integrations becoming compatible with Matter.” For platforms like Google Home and Alexa that today connect to Hue via cloud integrations, upgrading your Hue system to Matter allows those platforms to control your Hue system locally, making your Hue system (in theory, but not in in my experience) responds better to voice commands and automations from those platforms. (Apple Home's HomeKit integration with Hue is already local.) And as other smart home devices support Matter, they become compatible with more platforms and those integrations can become local as well. You probably won't see any benefit from upgrading your Hue system, and it could actually make things worse. In other words, most of the perceived benefits of Matter on Hue will come from other devices getting Matter. And you'll see these benefits – when they happen – regardless of whether your Hue system is connected through Matter or through the existing integrations. However, there are one or two reasons why you might benefit from upgrading to Matter. For everyone else, my advice is to hang in there. However, if you're determined, check out my blog on setting up your Hue Bridge with Matter. Hue's new cameras and contact sensors count towards the device limit on your Hue Bridge. Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Reasons to connect your Hue Bridge to Matter You need more than 50 Hue devices The Hue Bridge is limited to about 50 devices. While it sounds like a lot, it's easy to top it off if you use motion sensors, remote controls and smart lights in a few rooms, and maybe some outdoor lighting – not to mention the new contact sensors and cameras. Previously, only Apple HomeKit allowed multiple bridges; if you used other platforms you were limited to the maximum allowed on one bridge. With Matter you can connect multiple bridges to platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home. You have non-Hue Zigbee lights on your bridge that you want to bring to Apple Home. The Hue Bridge allows you to connect third-party Zigbee bulbs, including Osram, Cree, Innr and Ikea's Tradfri bulbs. These bulbs are much cheaper than Hue and can be useful to round out...