Why Are There So Few Matter over Thread Accessories?

Matter is a universal smart home standard, and Thread is a low-power mesh networking protocol designed for smart home devices. Together, they promise seamless, reliable connectivity. But the reality hasn’t quite lived up to that promise.

While the adoption of Matter has gone remarkably well considering the lofty goal of creating one unifying smart home standard, it could be argued that Matter over Thread—the subset of Matter devices that communicate using the new Thread hardware protocol—has not.

The Thread devices and sensors I’ve tried have been reliable, but there are so few of them that we have to wonder… why? What’s holding back the adoption of this superior protocol?

The Border Router Requirement Is Too Complicated

Wi-Fi devices are easy: everyone has Wi-Fi. Zigbee and Z-Wave are obvious, too; anyone buying them knows you need a Zigbee or Z-Wave hub.

But Matter over Thread requires a Thread Border Router—a device that moves messages between your existing home network (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) and the Thread network. That’s not so obvious.

The idea was presumably that Thread Border Routers would become so ubiquitous that you wouldn’t need to think about whether you have one or not. You probably do have one, even if you didn’t know it. Plenty of smart home hubs include that functionality, but to the average consumer, it’s still not obvious enough. And that makes it harder to sell and support when something goes wrong.

It doesn’t help that Matter is protocol-agnostic and can run on Wi-Fi, Thread, or Ethernet. You buy a Matter product expecting it to work seamlessly, but instead, some Border Routers create brand lock-in—exactly what Matter was designed to avoid.

As an iPhone and technology writer for over a decade, I was horrified to find I needed to buy an Apple-branded speaker or Apple TV just to use Thread accessories with my iPhone. As much as I love my iPhone, my home already has Sonos speakers I’m very happy with, Google TV dongles for media playback, and a Google Home Hub—because, let’s face it, Google’s voice assistant is far better than Siri. But now I have a single HomePod mini in the hallway, doing nothing but routing Thread accessories.

There is progress being made: the Matter 1.4 specification means different Border Routers should soon be able to talk to each other, but that’s at least a year away from implementation in consumer devices. And with a Thread radio now available directly within the iPhone, you can control Thread accessories without a Border Router.

But is that a good thing? It might only serve to confuse consumers more. After all, without that Border Router, they won’t be able to check on sensors remotely or set up any meaningful automation. At that point, it’s little more than a glorified Bluetooth connection.

Zigbee Is Easier (With a Matter Bridge)

Zigbee has been around for years and achieved widespread adoption with products like Philips Hue. In contrast, Thread is still unfamiliar, even to tech-savvy users.

Thread can be described as an evolution of Zigbee, using the same radio frequencies and hardware, but fixing issues like accessories pairing with only a single controller. Thread is technically superior and eliminates the single point of failure that a Zigbee hub represents—but how common is that failure for most households?

In my experience with the Aqara Hub M3—a brilliant multifunction smart hub that acts as a Matter controller, Thread Border Router, and Zigbee bridge—adding Zigbee devices is actually easier than using Thread.

Like Matter, the Aqara Zigbee accessories use QR codes for pairing, so adding a device can be as simple as scanning a code. But because I’ve already added the Aqara Hub as a bridge to HomeKit, any Zigbee accessory I add to Aqara Home also appears in HomeKit.

Contrast that with a Thread accessory. If you want to add it to both Aqara and Apple Home, you first need to add it to one system, then put the device back into pairing mode to generate a fresh QR code, then scan that in the other system. I’m sure there’s a great security reason for all that, but as an end consumer, it’s frustrating. If I want a new door or window sensor, I’m far more likely to look at Aqara Zigbee than Matter over Thread—and that's ignoring the cost, because Zigbee is often much cheaper than Thread. 

Why do Thread devices need an additional pairing step? Surely once your home’s Matter controllers are authenticated with each other, any accessories added to one system should be available on the other.

It’s Expensive

Before Matter, smart home products were either Apple-compatible, or compatible with everything else (Google, Alexa, SmartThings). That’s because Apple’s certification process was more complex and expensive.

Thread was initially used only for Apple HomeKit (you can still find HomeKit over Thread devices being sold) before being adopted by Matter. As a result, it inherited all the complexities of the Apple HomeKit certification process.

In the end, we get better products, but for manufacturers, it’s a complex and expensive process that stifles innovation from smaller companies. Becoming a member of the CSA, testing devices, and obtaining the required certifications for Matter costs upwards of $12,000 annually. That’s true for all Matter devices, but Thread adds additional hardware and software complexity, further raising costs.

For manufacturers like Govee, which already have established Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-based systems, adding a Thread radio is an expensive proposition with no immediate benefit. So while they lead the charge in smart lighting that supports Matter—it's only Matter over Wi-Fi, not Matter over Thread.

Consumers often see these higher costs reflected in price tags for Thread-based devices compared to their Wi-Fi or Zigbee counterparts.

So Why Aren’t There More Thread Devices?

The slow adoption of Thread comes down to two factors: design choices in the system and the usual chicken-and-egg problem. Few people are using Thread, so manufacturers are hesitant to invest more in the technology. But demand won’t grow without a push from manufacturers. 

If you can afford the price difference and have a smart hub with an integrated Thread Border Router, Thread is ultimately superior to Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth. You just don’t have a huge selection of products to choose from.