Product Features HomeKit | Thread

HomeKit Over Thread With HomePod mini and Eve

Nov 11, 2020 - by Dr. Markus Fest - Comments
 
 

A smart home without any limitations: discover how HomePod mini, Eve and Thread bring your smart home to the next level.

 

HomePod mini is Apple’s new powerful smart speaker and most affordable home hub yet, with built-in Siri intelligence that provides quick and easy access to smart home accessories. That's not only great news for conveniently controlling your connected home, but also for reliability: HomePod mini adds mesh networking functionality to HomeKit, built on Thread. This cutting-edge technology was developed specifically for a responsive, robust, and secure smart home. A Bluetooth-equipped HomeKit accessory can now optionally offer Thread connectivity, making it even more powerful.

 

 

Eve is All Systems Go.

Many Eve accessories on sale today are equipped with the latest generation Eve Core chipsets, which can support Thread. Thread-enabled firmware updates will become available this month for current Eve Door & Window and European Eve Energy models. We expect to be able to offer free firmware updates for the current generation of Eve Aqua and Eve Thermo soon and we’re working on bringing Thread technology to more Eve accessories going forward.

 

Discover here if your Eve accessory supports Thread

 

 

Bluetooth Remains. Thread Enhances. 

Bluetooth is required for HomeKit over Thread, so Bluetooth remains available and your accessories continue to work as they always have. Now, as soon as you add HomePod mini to your home, your Thread-enabled Eve accessories will also be able to communicate over Thread. This happens automatically without you needing to configure anything, and it brings some immediate benefits:

 

Thread is based on the universally deployed Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) standard, making it extremely robust. A Thread network does not rely on a central hub, such as a bridge, so there’s no single point of failure. And Thread has the ability to self-heal – if one node (or accessory in your Thread network) becomes unavailable, the data packets will select an alternate route automatically and the network simply continues to work. And while Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks tend to become somewhat unreliable and challenging to manage with a large number of accessories connected, a Thread network will scale up easily and actually become more robust with every new accessoy.

 
 

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth coverage of your home can be extended by adding repeaters and additional dedicated hardware such as home hubs or Eve Extend to increase the range of HomeKit-enabled Bluetooth accessories. A Thread network expands pretty much automatically as you add more accessories. As an example, if your Eve Aqua is beyond the reach of your HomePod mini, an Eve Energy somewhere in the middle could connect the Eve Aqua to the Thread network. This is the power of Thread´s mesh networking: it is completely automatic, fully interoperable, and involves zero configuration.

 

Thread also paves the way for many future improvements. Among them: HomeKit-enabled accessories will be able to talk to each other over IPv6, thereby opening up a host of new applications especially for battery powered accessories. Thread has extremely low power consumption, so we’re expecting to see a considerable increase in battery life over the next years. On top of all this, Thread – alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – is a pillar of the upcoming Matter standard, which is another reason why you’re future-proof with Eve.

 

 

The Future Is HomePod Mini – Not Bridges.

HomePod mini is your key to enable your HomeKit accessories to communicate over Thread. Apart from that, you don’t need anything else: no proprietary bridges or gateways, and no starter kits. With HomePod mini and Thread-equipped Eve accessories, enjoy the smart home of the future – today. 

573 Comments
Hallo Frank! Die aktuelle Version des Eve Water Guard hat leider nicht das benötigte Chipset, also mein. Viele Grüße, Volker
Reply
Nov 17, 2020
Henkjan
Hi Volker,

This is great stuff 👍🏻
Very happy to see Eve is going to support this.

Question: for devices that dont support thread.
Will the homepod mini still act like a Bluetooth extender for the Apple TV?

Br henkjan
Reply
Nov 13, 2020
Hello Henkjan!
HomePod mini will do the same job as the HomePod here, so yes. Best regards, Volker
Reply
Nov 13, 2020
Hi Volker,

Right, that is clear thanks.

One more:

When some eve devices support thread and some do not in a setup, will the ones that do support thread forward messages to devices that do not? Of course, assuming there is a homepod mini

Br henkjan
Reply
Nov 14, 2020
Hello Henkjan! Thread meshing only happens with accessories that support Thread. Best regards, Volker
Reply
Nov 15, 2020
Hans
Welcher Sinn hat nun Eve Extend wenn man Homepod Mini mit Thread im Einsatz hat?
Kann man die in Kombination nutzen?
Reply
Nov 12, 2020
Hallo Hans!
Die beiden arbeiten prima zusammen. Eve Extend ist weiter sinnvoll für entfernte Eve-Geräte, die Thread nicht unterstützen. Das tun ja nur die mit dem neuen Chipset, siehe Liste der unterstützen Geräte. Viele Grüße, Volker
Reply
Nov 13, 2020
Stefan
Und mit den alten HomePods wird das nicht gehen?
Reply
Nov 11, 2020
Hallo Stefan! Nur der neue HomePod mini kann als HomeKit Thread Border Router fungieren, der alte HomePod nicht. Viele Grüße, Volker
Reply
Nov 12, 2020
Hi Volker, lässt sich das umgehen, wenn man einen großen HomePod sowie HomeKit und Thread-fähige Router wie z.B. eero Pro hat? Vielen Dank, Felix
Reply
Mar 22, 2021
Hallo Felix! Der eero Pro bietet zwar Thread, aber leider nicht die Funktion Thread Border Router für HomeKit. Es ginge, wenn der Eero-Hersteller die Funktion 'aufbohrt', da müsstest Du aber die betreffenden Zuständigen fragen. Viele Grüße, Volker
Reply
Mar 22, 2021
Barti
Amazing news! Very happy to hear that.

Which other accessories are you planning to update - only the newest revisions of the Bluetooth ones stated on the "identify your accessory" page as having a Thread radio? Or are you also working to update the other ones (older BT and wi-fi)?
Reply
Nov 11, 2020
Hello Barti!
It depends on the chip in the accessory. Only the ones stated in the page https://www.evehome.com/de/identify-your-eve-accessory can get a firmware update for Thread. Best regards, Volker
Reply
Nov 12, 2020
So if I understand correctly, the US Eve Light Switches will eventually receive an update to support Thread?
Reply
Oct 31, 2021
Hello Jonathan! The current generation of Eve Light Switch (US) is not ready for Thread. We will be releasing new hardware generations of many Eve devices with Thread support within the next months, but unfortunately can't give any further details on when this will be the case for Eve Light Switch (US) at this time.
Here's a list of all the currently available Thread-enabled Eve accessories:
https://www.evehome.com/de/identify-your-eve-accessory
Best regards, Volker
Reply
Oct 31, 2021
Tom Heslop
Will this only work with HomePod Mini, will it not work with the original HomePod?
Reply
Nov 11, 2020
Hello Tom!
Only the new HomePod mini can act as a HomeKit Thread Border Router, the HomePod can't. Best regards, Volker.
Reply
Nov 12, 2020
Serge Rosenthaler
Wird Thread auch mit eero Routern funktionieren? Diese unterstützen HomeKit for Routers und Thread kann aktiviert werden.
Reply
Nov 11, 2020
Hallo Serge!
Leider unterstützt Eero diese spezielle Version von HomeKit und Thread nicht. Sie arbeiten aber daran.
Die offizielle Bezeichnung für HomeKit und Thread ist HAP over Thread. Wobei HAP Homekit Accessory Protocol bedeutet. Viele Grüße, Volker
Reply
Nov 12, 2020
Hallo Serge! Die Frage müssen Sie bitte Eero stellen, wir wissen natürlich nur um unsere Geräte. Viele Grüße, Volker
Reply
Nov 13, 2020
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