// 9TO5GOOGLE — MOBILE & WEB
Hunter is killing Google Home, Alexa controls for its smart ceiling fans
Hunter, a major brand for ceiling fans in the US, is pulling the plug on its Google Home and Amazon Alexa bridge for controlling “HunterSMART” models in just a few weeks.
Effective January 1, 2027, Hunter will pull support for the cloud-reliant “HunterSMART” connection used for Google Home and Amazon Alexa controls. Hunter’s app and the included remote will continue to work, but connections to smart home ecosystems will not.
Beginning January 1, 2027, the legacy cloud-to-cloud connections used for app linking between the HunterSMART™ mobile apps and Google Home and/or Amazon Alexa will no longer be supported.
After this date, Google home and Alexa functionality that relies on this legacy cloud connection will no longer work for HunterSMART fans, including voice commands, scenes, and automations.
This bridge is going away in favor of a Matter connection, with Hunter having been upgrading select models to be Matter-compatible over the past year. But this is only available to “eligible” models, not everyone who was already using Hunter’s existing bridge. A list of compatible models is available on Hunter’s website, with firmware updates rolling out via the HunterSMART app.
Some models, such as the one I reviewed a few years ago, require updated hardware. Besides that, the one I have can’t even be re-connected to Wi-Fi to check for an update as Hunter’s Android app consistently crashes during the setup process.
Once the fan has been updated, it won’t be available via the existing link and will instead require re-pairing via your smart home app of choice, whether that’s Google Home or another.
…Hunter is transitioning eligible HunterSMART™ products to Matter, an industry standard designed to support broader smart-home compatibility.
If your fan is eligible for Matter-compatibility, you will be able to continue using all smart functionality within the Google Home and/or Alexa ecosystems after completing the applicable Matter migration & setup.
Once your HunterSMART fan is Matter-enabled, connecting your fan to Google and Alexa will work differently than it does today. Instead of linking your HunterSMART account to Google Home or Alexa, you will need to setup your Matter-enabled fan directly into these compatible ecosystems using the Matter setup available via the Google Home and/or Alexa apps. Matter-enabled devices do not use the legacy cloud linking service for smart controls that is being discontinued.