// THE VERGE — MOBILE & WEB
Thread Direct looks to solve Matter’s biggest setup headache
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
The new feature will let phones with Thread radios onboard devices without needing a border router.
The new feature will let phones with Thread radios onboard devices without needing a border router.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
The smart home networking protocol Thread is adding a new way to onboard devices without a Thread border router. The feature, called Thread Direct, is designed to let users set up Thread-powered devices — such as smart plugs and smart locks — using only a phone or mobile device equipped with a Thread radio. Current devices with Thread radios include many iPhones, newer Pixel phones, and the latest Samsung flagships.
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. Matter is supported by all the major platforms, including Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Home Assistant.
Today, using Thread devices typically requires a compatible Thread border router — a device such as an Apple TV, an Eero Wi-Fi router, a Google Nest Hub, or several versions of Amazon’s Echo smart displays. These are always-on devices that bridge a Thread network to other networks and the internet. While many smart homes already include a border router, many do not, creating a frustrating setup barrier. This is something I called out when Matter first launched in 2022 and is still an issue today.