Thread Group to Fix Smart Home Protocol’s Biggest Problem

Matter was supposed to finally solve the many problems caused by competing smart home ecosystems, but that effort fell short for various reasons. Key among them was that the Thread mesh networking protocol underlying Matter created a different network for the devices in each smart home ecosystem, inhibiting the interoperability promised by these standards.

Well, no more: Today, the Thread Group announced that it will finally allow Thread border routers and devices in different smart home ecosystems—Amazon, Apple, Google, and others—to interoperate using a new credential sharing feature that will, in effect, create a single, larger Thread mesh network.

“The Thread Group’s 2024 roadmap includes six new features and enhancements to enable developers and product makers to build for this new open, interoperable era,” The Thread Group writes in its announcement post. “Informed by Thread Group members’ real-world challenges and experience, these new features will make Thread devices more interoperable, reliable, and flexible for the many different ways businesses, developers, and users build their connected experiences.”

Credential sharing is the marquee new feature: In addition to solving the interoperability issue that has hampered Matter adoption and enthusiasm, it will also result in a simpler setup experience for customers and improved reliability for all connected devices. But there are other new features coming to Thread this year too, including improved Internet connectivity for devices through Thread border routers, Thread over infrastructure improvements that utilize existing Wi-Fi and Ethernet, network diagnostics built on new network configuration and status data broadcasting, secure commissioning for commercial building scenarios with large installs, and a variety of performance and reliability maintenance updates.

Aside from why Thread didn’t feature credential sharing in the first place, the question now is when we can expect this update to appear in existing Matter hardware and networks. And the answer to that depends on the companies that implement Matter and Thread in their smart home products and services. In other words, your mileage will vary.