FRITZ! Lab Beta Turns the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro into a Matter Bridge
AVM has released a new FRITZ! Lab beta for the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro that adds Matter support ahead of the official FRITZ!OS 8.50 release. This is the first FRITZ!Box model to gain Matter bridge functionality directly through the router itself, rather than requiring a separate FRITZ!Smart Gateway.
I reviewed the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro back in August 2025 and flagged the lack of native Matter support as one of its more notable shortcomings. AVM had said Matter support was coming for some time before that review went live, so it is good to see the feature finally arriving, even if it is only in beta form for now.
What the FRITZ! Lab Beta Adds
The FRITZ! Lab is AVM’s beta channel, where new features are tested on real hardware before they reach a full FRITZ!OS release. Anyone who wants early access can download the beta directly from fritz.com and install it on a supported router.
For the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro, this particular Lab build brings three things: Matter bridge support, allowing FRITZ! Smart Home devices to be exposed to other Matter controllers; configurable DNS filters, which were previously only available in the FRITZ! Lab build for the FRITZ!Box 7690; and automatic prioritisation, also carried over from the 7690 Lab build.
These DNS filtering and prioritisation features are not new to the FRITZ! platform as a whole, but this is the first time they have been made available for the 5690 Pro specifically.
How the Matter Bridge Works
With this update, the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro joins the FRITZ!Smart Gateway as a way to bring FRITZ! Smart Home devices into a Matter network. Any FRITZ! device registered with the router, such as the FRITZ!Smart Thermo 302 radiator valve, along with compatible third party smart home devices already paired with the box, can be made visible to Matter controllers from other ecosystems.
In practice, this means devices connected to a FRITZ!Box can now be controlled through Apple Home, Google Home or Amazon Alexa, alongside the existing FRITZ!App Smart Home and any automations already set up on the router. The router does not stop being the primary hub. It simply adds Matter as an additional way of talking to those other platforms.
What Matter Actually Does
Matter is an open smart home standard developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, designed to let devices from different manufacturers work with a single controller regardless of brand. It has three main components: a controller, often built into a smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo; the smart home devices themselves; and a bridge for devices that use a wireless standard Matter does not talk to directly, such as Zigbee or DECT ULE.
This last point is where the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro comes in. Since FRITZ! Smart Home devices communicate over DECT ULE, HAN-FUN or Zigbee rather than Matter’s native protocols, the router has to act as a bridge to translate between the two. AVM already offered this bridging function through the standalone FRITZ!Smart Gateway. The FRITZ! Lab update extends the same capability to the 5690 Pro itself, so a separate gateway is no longer required for households whose smart home devices already sit on the router.
One advantage of Matter worth noting is that it runs locally over the home network rather than through the cloud, so controlling devices does not depend on a manufacturer’s own servers being online. An internet connection is still needed if you want to use voice control through Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant, since that part of the process runs through the relevant voice platform.
Setting It Up
AVM has published separate guides for connecting the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro to a Matter network through each of the three major platforms: the Amazon Alexa app, the Apple Home app and the Google Home app. The process in each case involves adding the FRITZ!Box as a Matter bridge within the respective platform’s app, after which any FRITZ! Smart Home devices already registered with the box become available to control there.
Full instructions for each platform, along with a general explainer on how Matter and the FRITZ! ecosystem fit together, are available on the Matter with FRITZ! page on fritz.com.
Availability
The FRITZ! Lab beta for the FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro is available now as a free download from fritz.com. As with any beta firmware, it is worth backing up your router configuration before installing it, since Lab builds are pre-release software and have not been through the same testing as a full FRITZ!OS release.
The FRITZ!Box 5690 Pro itself is not officially sold in the UK. It typically sells for around 300 euros through Amazon.de, while UK retailers and Amazon UK list it at between roughly £340 and £370, depending on stock and import costs at the time. Matter support arriving through the FRITZ! Lab does not change that pricing, but it does close a gap I highlighted in my original review, where the 5690 Pro’s lack of Matter support was one of the few notable weaknesses compared with rivals already offering it.
The full Matter bridge functionality is expected to roll out more widely once it graduates from FRITZ! Lab to a stable FRITZ!OS 8.50 release.
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.
In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing.
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