Eve already offers the world’s largest portfolio of accessories that support HomeKit over Thread – and it’s a family that continues to grow, with our Bluetooth-based devices soon to be enhanced with Thread technology. That’s because Thread not only makes your smart home more responsive and robust – it’s also one of the pillars of the smart home of the future: Matter. Read on to learn all you need to know about Thread.
HomeKit over Thread
Welcome to the smart home of the future – today.
Say hello to Thread.
Thread technology is specifically developed for smart home applications to improve connectivity between accessories. Now, HomeKit products can communicate not only using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, but also using Thread.
The big difference with this technology is that Thread creates a mesh network. Within this, lights, thermostats, outlets, sensors, and more can also talk to each other free of the constraint of having to go through a central hub, such as a bridge. That’s because a Thread network doesn’t need one. If a single accessory fails, the data packets are simply relayed to the next in the mesh. In short: The network becomes more robust with every additional Thread accessory.
The benefits for you.
No bridge
Thread accessories don’t need a proprietary bridge to communicate with each other – they simply need a Border Router, which for HomeKit over Thread is HomePod mini or the new Apple TV 4K.
Always in reach
If one of your accessories is beyond the actual reach of your Border Router, a mains-powered accessory placed somewhere in the middle that’s always on, such as Eve Energy, can connect it to the Thread network.
Robust, self-healing network
If one node (or accessory in your Thread network) fails, the next one fills in. Thread scales up easily and actually becomes more robust with every new accessory, unlike Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks which become more unreliable and challenging to manage with a high number of accessories connected.
Ultra-responsive
Thread was designed specifically to enable both mains-powered and battery-operated accessories to be extremely responsive regardless of network size and density
Longer battery life
Batteries last much longer thanks to Thread’s extremely low power consumption.
Future-proof
Besides Wi-Fi, Thread is a pillar of the new Matter standard – so you really are future-proof with Eve accessories.
Entirely automatic.
Thread isn’t going to make Bluetooth redundant any time soon, as Bluetooth is required for HomeKit over Thread. This means you can continue to enjoy using your Eve products – no matter the generation – all with the additional benefit that as soon as you add HomePod mini or the new Apple TV 4K to your home, your Thread-enabled Eve accessories will also be able to communicate over Thread.
And the best bit: This all happens automatically without you needing to configure anything. This blogpost gives an extensive overview on how the components of a Thread network play together and introduces the Eve app’s Thread network monitor.
Eve is ready.
All you need to do to add Thread support to your smart home accessories is update their firmware. The only thing you need to be sure of is that your accessories are Thread-enabled in terms of their hardware – in other words, that they have the correct chip. The good news is that many Eve accessories on sale today are equipped with the latest generation Eve Core chipsets.
Good to know
These Eve accessories support Thread
These Thread accessories can route data packets in a Thread network
Viewing your thread network structure in the Eve app
