Is Matter Compatibility Finally Coming to Narwal?
Of all the companies that are producing high end Robot vacuums, Narwal are seemingly one of the last holdouts when it comes to Matter integration. That may be set to change, however, with a recent update to the product page for one of their flagship models, the Narwal Flow.
The Flow is available in two form factors, one with removable water containers for clean and dirty water, with the other designed to be plumbed into your water system, making it relatively maintenance free. This model is one of two recent products by the company, with the other being their Freo Z10 Ultra.
Previously, if you were lucky enough to visit them at their booths at CES or more recently IFA in Berlin, you might have gotten a more or less non-committal response in to the question of Matter compatibility, but it now seems they’ve gone on to offer a slightly more solid timeframe for an update. The page for the Narwal Flow now states that Matter integration is going to become available in November, so just over two months away at worst.
What’s important to note, especially for exiting owners of other Narwal models, is that only the Flow has any mention of a Matter update. Even the Freo Z10 Ultra doesn’t seem to mention any impending Matter compatibility. It’s entirely possible that other models will eventually gain support, but it’s also worth taking into account as to whether this update will specifically offer Matter 1.4 support.
in the case of robot vacuums, this iteration of Matter offers not only on/off control, but provides Apple Home access to the rooms set up in the Narwal app, thus allowing Apple Home to clean specific rooms. This, along with control over cleaning strength, and whether to Vac, Mop, Mop & Vac, or Mop then Vac, aims to offer a better overall experience, although the offered features seem to vary from brand to brand.
One final point is that whilst Narwal has stated a release month for the update, so far there’s no mention of any Narwal products on the CSA (Connectivity Standards Alliance) website, which is a bit odd. I guess we’ll know soon enough, but in the meantime, you can check out our videos below on how you can typically add your robot vac to Apple Home, and a review of the new Robot vacuums from SwitchBot, the K11+, and the S20.
You can purchase the Narwal Flow from Amazon.com for US$1299.99 (with coupon).
