Thread For Smart Phones

Goodbye Hubs! How Thread-Enabled Smartphones Simplify Smart Homes

www.electromaker.io

For example, Thread allows users to control devices like window blinds or unlock doors directly from their phones. A demo showcased at electronica 2024 illustrated this concept, where a smartphone connected seamlessly to a door lock using the Thread protocol. By removing the dependency on a hub, this technology opens up new possibilities for both developers and end users. What’s more, many existing smart home devices are backward-compatible with Thread. Through firmware updates, products such as window blinds and door locks can adopt this protocol, ensuring users don’t need to replace their current hardware to benefit from hub-free control. Additionally, its low-latency design and self-healing capabilities ensure a reliable and efficient smart home experience. For developers, Nordic Semiconductor offers extensive support for integrating Thread into new and existing designs. Explore their Thread product portfolio to get started. One of Thread’s standout features is its ability to enable direct communication between smartphones and smart home devices without the need for a hub. Discover how Thread protocol enables direct smartphone-to-device control, eliminating the need for a hub in smart home setups. Discover something cool for your next hardware project. Allow our very own in-house electronics engineer extraordinaire teach you something new. Watch our weekly YouTube show hosted by Ian Buckley. Listen to the Electromaker Show on the go! ... The Thread protocol is transforming how we interact with smart home devices, enabling direct communication between smartphones and devices like door locks and window blinds—all without the need for a hub.

Thread Radio in Smartphones: What It Means for Smart Homes

7labs.io

Apple has confirmed that the iPhone 15 Pro will support Thread, a new low-power, secure networking protocol that is designed to be used in smart home devices. This is a major step forward for the smart home, as it will make it possible to create a more connected and integrated experience with devices that work together seamlessly. But eventually, as Thread technology becomes more common in smartphones, the market may evolve to a point where Thread device manufacturers can ship their products without the need for Bluetooth LE as a backup. This evolution could pave the way for a more robust and streamlined Smart Home Ecosystem. All posts on 7labs, including this one, are compliant with our Content Disclosure policy. ... Do you want to get notified when a new post is added to 7labs? This has sparked curiosity about the potential capabilities of a smartphone equipped with Thread Radio. For those unfamiliar with Thread, it is an IP-based networking protocol, similar to Wi-Fi, but specifically designed for smart home and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Here, we aim to list the possible use cases of a smartphone with Thread radio built-in, and discuss the feasibility of each possibility. A Thread Border Router is a device that connects a Thread network to an IP network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, enabling Thread devices to have internet connectivity and communicate with devices outside the Thread network.

Thread Direct looks to solve Matter’s biggest setup headache ...

www.theverge.com

Current devices with Thread radios include many iPhones and newer Pixel phones. Thread is one of the networking technologies used with the smart home interoperability standard Matter. A low-powered, low-latency mesh networking protocol, Thread provides a way for devices to talk to each other locally in your home, while Matter defines how they talk to each other. “You could pair them using a Thread-enabled phone.” · With Thread Direct, a mobile device could communicate directly with a Thread device during setup, allowing users to commission a product and add it to their smart home app. While they will still need a Thread Border Router for full functionality — including remote access and automations — that could be added later. The approach is similar to how Apple’s HomeKit worked pre-Matter, where Bluetooth devices could be set up and controlled locally with an iPhone, but required a Home hub for remote access and automations. The new feature will let phones with Thread radios onboard devices without needing a border router. ... See All by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy is a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News. Thread Direct is intended to address that gap. Matter is a smart home interoperability standard that provides a common language for connected devices to communicate locally in your home without relying on a cloud connection.

Apple has added Thread to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone Pro Max ...

www.theverge.com

The HomePod Mini was Apple’s first product to support Thread; it acts as a Thread border router. Photo by Jennifer Tuohy / The Verge · Interestingly, details surfaced yesterday around the possibility that Google will allow Android phones to become Thread border routers. Mishaal Rahman spotted that Google is working on a Thread network stack for Android that could allow Android devices such as Pixel smartphones and tablets to be Thread border routers — as long as they already have a Thread radio in them (sorry, Pixel Tablet). Apple has added support for the Thread smart home protocol — a key part of the Matter standard — to its flagship smartphones. And it looks like Google might do the same for its Pixel phones. ... Apple didn’t mention Thread connectivity during its iPhone lunch event, but this screenshot shows that along with Wi-Fi 6e support, support for Thread is coming to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Apple’s newest flagship iPhones now support Thread, the main protocol for the smart home standard Matter. And it looks like Google might do the same for its Pixel phones. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the first smartphones with Thread.

Android 15 will let you control your Matter smart home devices ...

www.androidauthority.com

Android 15 is adding a Thread network stack that, on some phones, will enable communicating with compatible smart home devices via Thread. Android’s Thread network stack has been in the works since last year and has actually been backported to Android 14 already, specifically so Google TV devices running Android TV OS 14 can utilize it. However, Android smartphones won’t support the Thread network stack until the forthcoming Android 15 release, meaning we’ll only start seeing Android phones with Thread network support after Android 15’s release. Enabling Thread network support on a phone running Android 15 will allow that device to directly communicate with other Thread network devices, without the need for a separate Thread border router (like a Google TV device) to facilitate the communication. This could speed up certain smart home actions or even enable them to be run locally. Thread is a low-power mesh networking protocol that’s specifically designed for smart home devices. Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are the only mobile devices with a Thread radio right now, but they could be joined soon by some Android devices. Building a smart home is supposed to make our lives easier, but managing smart home devices can be a chore, especially when you mix and match devices from different brands. That’s because many smart home devices only work with proprietary apps from their manufacturer.

Thread (network protocol) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thread is an IPv6-based, low-power mesh networking technology for Internet of things (IoT) products. It is built on the IEEE 802.15.4 radio standard and uses 6LoWPAN to carry IPv6 packets over low-power, low-bandwidth links. Often used as a transport for the home-automation connectivity standard Matter (the combination being known as Matter over Thread), the protocol has seen increased use for connecting low-power and battery-operated smart-home devices. It operates at the component level (the Thread Certified Component mark for silicon, stacks and modules) and at the product level (Built on Thread). Every component used in a shipping product must be certified, and finished products must be tested at an approved laboratory; certification is required to ship a product that claims Thread support. Support from Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung has propelled Thread across product categories including lighting, smart locks, thermostats, sensors and border routers. Thread is aimed at low-power, intermittently connected devices rather than high-bandwidth ones. Typical products include water-leak detectors, motion sensors, smart locks, smart shades, thermostats and smart bulbs—devices that transmit small amounts of data occasionally and often run on batteries. Thread border routers can be standalone devices, or its functionality can be built into complementary devices such as smart home hubs, routers, smart speakers, and televisions. Most Thread border routers also act as Matter controllers, and a home may operate several border routers at once. Thread is one of the three core connectivity technologies underpinning Matter, alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (the latter used mainly for onboarding). The Thread Group also certifies components and finished products for conformance and interoperability. The Thread specification is published at no cost but its use is governed by an end-user license agreement, and building or shipping Thread products requires Thread Group membership.