A free Matter software update for the Aqara M2 smart home hub has been delayed until January 2023. A statement sent to The Verge and HomeKit Authority says that the maker of affordable smart home devices needs more time to ensure the customer experience was right.

“We have a small delay of rolling out the OTA firmware update for the Hub M2 to support Matter, and the latest estimate is to begin rolling out the update for general users in January, 2023,” says Aqara spokesperson Michell Li.

The update will make over 40 of Aqara’s existing Zigbee devices Matter compatible and was originally scheduled to roll out sometime in December 2022. While the short delay may be disappointing, it may not be a bad thing — our own early review of the Matter smart home network saw mixed results regarding connectivity and setup, so a bit more time in the oven couldn’t hurt.

Otherwise, Aqara’s shift to Matter seems relatively on track. “In spite of the M2 OTA update delay, the overall Matter timeline remains roughly the same as previously communicated,” says Li. “The OTA update for other Aqara hubs will roll out after M2. For the first Thread devices, the Door and Window Sensor P2 and the Motion and Light Sensor P2 [are] expected to be released in early 2023, while the M3 Hub is planned after the two sensors.” The M3 is a new multi-protocol hub that can serve as both a Thread border router and Matter controller.

Update December 29th, 5:04AM ET: Added official statement from Aqara with new details about its Matter timeline.