If there’s something you want done around the house – turn the lights down and the music up, open the front door for a delivery, get alerted if a stranger is prowling around your porch – there’s probably a gadget available to do it. 

But sometimes, these smart devices aren’t as good at working together as they should be. They can be challenging to set up, or they may require you to add additional gear to your Wi-Fi network. 

This is about to change in a big way, thanks to two industry-wide standards, Matter and Thread, developed by Google and more than a hundred other leading technology companies. Matter will make devices across major smart home systems work better together, and Thread will improve the connections between them.

Matter is a set of protocols that guarantees your smart home device will be able to communicate with many other smart devices, even if they aren’t made by the same company. As long as your new smart lock or thermostat carries the Matter logo, you’ll be able to connect it to Matter-compatible platforms, apps, and assistants. And you’ll be able to add most devices to your home network, Google Home, and your favourite apps, with just a few taps on your phone. Many Nest devices – like the new Nest Wifi Pro and Nest Hub Max¹ – can act as a hub for connecting all your Matter devices, so you don’t need any other special equipment.²

“You can think of it as a kind of universal translator,” says Jonathan Hui, vice president of technology for Thread Group and principal software engineer at Google. “With Matter, many of your smart home devices are now speaking the same language.” 

Matter smart devices will work alongside all of your other Works with Google Home devices, so you can set up Google Home  or Assistant routines to combine the devices in helpful ways.³ This means less time choosing and setting up devices, and more time exploring features and enjoying your smart home.⁴

Matter supported devices connect to each other locally over your home network using Wi-Fi or Thread devices, making your devices more responsive, reliable, and secure. (While older products may not be compatible with Matter, they’ll continue to work as they always have.)

Thread is a new networking protocol that makes Matter work better by making it easier and faster to connect smart devices to your home. It works alongside your home Wi-Fi network, while also extending your network’s reach and making it more reliable.

Thread is built into many new smart bulbs, locks, sensors, and other smart home devices. It compliments your Wi-Fi network by creating a mesh network in which each new device you add connects to the nearest one, giving you more coverage and making the entire network more robust. If one device fails, another can step in to maintain the signal, allowing the network to heal itself. 

This lets devices respond more quickly to commands such as “Turn on the lights.” It also means they require less power to operate – making it ideal for battery-powered devices like smoke detectors, door locks, and motion sensors that can run for years without needing a new battery.⁴

Thread devices join your home network and connect to the internet through a Thread border router. Just as a Wi-Fi router can join Wi-Fi and Ethernet devices into a single network, a Thread border router allows Thread devices to become part of your network. Thread border routers are already built into Nest Wifi Pro, the second-gen Nest Hub, and Nest Hub Max. 

Matter and Thread take away much of the confusion and frustration of smart home technology, extending the benefits to new users. 

“I bought my ageing parents a smart speaker last year but they rarely use it,” says Sujata Neidig, vice president of marketing for Thread Group and marketing director at NXP Semiconductors. “They need a more intuitive home so they can continue to live independently, but without the frustration, cost, and confusion of setting up smart home compatibility. They need things to just work. That’s what Matter and Thread do.”