Matter Update for Wall Display IFA 2026

Shelly Wall Display becomes a Matter controller and a Matter device — a first for a smart home wall panel  

September 3, 2026

___________________________________________________________________ 

In Matter, a controller is what admits new devices to the home and operates them — the job an Apple TV, a Nest Hub or a SmartThings hub does today. A device is what gets admitted. Until now a wall panel was one or the other: either a controller you added things to, or an accessory something else added.  

With firmware 2.8.0, the Shelly Wall Display is both at the same time. It is a Matter controller for every brand in the house, and it is a Matter device that hands its own relays, dimmer and thermostat to whatever ecosystem the household already runs. No bridge in between, no side to choose. 

Adding a device takes a code   

The user enters the device’s Matter setup code on the Wall Display. That’s the whole procedure.  

Getting the new device onto Wi-Fi can happen either way round. The familiar route is to connect it to the network first, then add it to the panel. The shorter route is to add it to the Wall Display first and let the panel push it onto the network over Bluetooth — no extra steps for the user at all.  

Lights, covers, blinds and shades, thermostats, fans, plugs and sensors are supported, from any Matter manufacturer. 

This also counts for the Wall Display’s room thermostat: If it’s enabled, the panel is added to the other system as a thermostat: it constantly shows the room temperature so that the user sees if they need to turn on the AC or start the heater. To make it even more comfortable, it is possible to set a new target temperature in half-degree steps – either on the Display directly or via app. 

If other systems are used, they also see a set schedule and allow the user to change the schedule via any used platform. 

The panel keeps control of its own hardware. A relay that the room thermostat is driving is not offered to another system as a switch at all: it belongs to the thermostat, and nothing outside can override it. If the thermostat reads the same Blu H&T as the panel, the temperature is published once, on the thermostat, instead of twice; point the thermostat at a different sensor and the separate reading returns by itself. 

Everything lands on the same home screen  

Added devices appear as tiles beside the Shelly devices already on the panel. No separate menu, no separate app. Lights switch, dim and change colour or colour temperature exactly where the user expects. Temperature, humidity, occupancy, air quality and power consumption arrive live on their own tiles, each labelled with the manufacturer’s name and a matching icon. 

A controller you can actually program  

This is where the Wall Display parts company with every other Matter controller on the market. Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa and SmartThings let the user pick from the automations their maker built. The Wall Display lets them write their own.  

Added Matter devices behave like ordinary Shelly components, with the same names and the same units: switch, light, cover, temperature; brightness in percent, temperatures in degrees. An automation for a Matter bulb is written exactly like one for a Shelly relay, and scripts reach Matter devices the same way they reach Shelly hardware. Devices report their changes instead of waiting to be polled, so automations react immediately. Local scenes, automations and scripting run on the panel itself and are included with every Wall Display at no charge.  

And the panel joins the systems you already run 

In Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings, Home Assistant or any other Matter system, the Wall Display shows up as real hardware: its relay outputs as switches, a fitted dimmer power supply as a dimmable light with brightness control, a paired Shelly Blu H&T as temperature and humidity sensors. The panel can belong to several systems at once, and can be removed from one without disturbing the others.  

If the room thermostat is enabled, the panel is added as a thermostat too. It reports room temperature continuously — so the user can see from the app whether the AC needs to come on — and the target temperature can be set in half-degree steps, on the display or from any connected platform. Schedules are visible and editable from any of them.  

The panel keeps control of its own hardware  

A relay driven by the room thermostat is never offered to an outside system as a switch. It belongs to the thermostat, and nothing external can override it. If the thermostat reads the same Blu H&T as the panel, the temperature is published once — on the thermostat — instead of twice. Point the thermostat at a different sensor and the separate reading comes back on its own. 

Built for a home, not a single panel  

Matter devices added on one Wall Display can be shared with the other Wall Displays in the home, through an authorised code-based pairing that stays open for three minutes. Either side can end the sharing at any time. The shared tile then works on every panel, with live status and full control — so a home with several displays is a home where every Matter device is reachable from every room.  

Sharing also reaches backwards. First-generation Wall Displays (X1 and X2) will not commission Matter devices themselves, but they can use devices added on a newer panel. That brings Matter control to hardware built before Matter existed. 

Local first, cloud for those who want it 

Everything above runs locally, on the panel, at no cost: control of every added Matter device on screen, local scenes, automations and scripting. For users on Shelly Premium, the same Matter devices can also be managed from the Shelly App from anywhere, keep historical data, and take part in cloud-based scenes spanning the whole account. These capabilities follow later in September.  

Matter devices can therefore be operated locally, through the cloud, or both — whichever the household prefers. 

Security beyond the setup code  

Every Matter device carries a certificate proving it is what it claims to be — and those certificates can be withdrawn, for instance when the keys behind a whole product line have leaked. The Wall Display holds the register of withdrawn certificates published by the Connectivity Standards Alliance and checks every device against it during setup. If a certificate has been withdrawn, the user is told before commissioning completes and decides whether to continue or stop. A device added through the local API is refused outright, because no one is present to make that call.  

The register is only as current as the last firmware update, so regular updating is recommended.  

The panel also fetches its own device credentials from Shelly rather than receiving them on the production line — a one-time step in the settings. Until it is done, the Wall Display does not offer itself to other systems at all. 

Built on the open Matter stack 

Matter runs on the open-source Matter stack, built directly into the panel. No Google Play Services and no third-party hub are required. Commissioning, control and automation of Matter devices all happen on the local network, on the panel itself, with the cloud available for the users who want remote app access, history and cross-home scenes.  

“A wall panel should be the place the home comes together, not one more device waiting for a hub to tell it what to do. Making the Wall Display a Matter controller and a Matter device at the same time means it can bring every brand in the house onto one screen, and still hand its own relays, dimmer and thermostat to whatever ecosystem the household already lives in. You stop choosing sides.”  

— Dimitar Dimitrov, CEO, Shelly  

Availability  

Matter support arrives with Wall Display firmware 2.8.0 as a free over-the-air update.  

Full Matter support — controller and device: Wall Display X1i, X2i, XL, U1, S1, S2 and XT.  

Matter device control only: first-generation Wall Display and Wall Display X2. These models use Matter devices shared from a newer panel and do not act as Matter devices themselves.  

Thread devices continue to require their own Thread Border Router. A Thread device made available through a compatible hub can be added to the Wall Display using the Matter setup code that hub provides.  

Shelly App control, historical data and cloud scenes for Matter devices follow for Premium users later in September.