How Matter & Thread Make Your Home More Helpful

If there’s something you want done around the house – turn the lights down and the music up, open the garage door, or get alerted if a stranger is prowling around your porch – there’s probably a product that can do it.

But sometimes, these smart devices don’t work well together. They can be challenging to set up, or they may require you to add additional gear to your

That’s beginning to change, thanks to two industry-wide standards: Matter and Thread. Developed by Google and more than a hundred other leading technology companies, Matter makes devices work together across major

“I bought my aging parents a

Matter is a common language that allows smart home devices to communicate with each other, even if they aren’t made by the same company. As long as your new smart lock or

“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 devices work alongside your other Works with Google Home devices, so you can create automations in

Thread is a way for Matter devices to communicate with one another faster, and from farther away. It complements your

Thread creates a

This lets smart devices respond more quickly to commands such as “Turn on the lights.” It also means they require less power to operate – letting things like smoke detectors, door locks, and motion sensors run for years without needing a new battery.

Thread devices join your home network and connect to the internet through a Thread border router. Just as a

So what can you do with Matter and Thread in your own home? The possibilities are endless. Thousands of Matter-enabled devices are already available, and more are rolling out all the time. Just look for the Matter logo.