Inside the tech of Thread

The HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K support it… but what is Thread?

- Alex Cox

YOU WILL LEARN

Why Thread could be the tech which brings your smart home together at last – and could potentially unify the Internet of Things.

More info

No Thread border router handy? Just want to get down and dirty with full control of your Thread devices? You can build your own, with a browser-based interface, using nothing but a Raspberry Pi and a little ingenuity. You’ll find all the details you need at openthread.io.

The Thread smart home comms protocol operates via a widely known and understood standard

Thread is a tech designed to solve a problem. The Internet of Things, as it grows, is starting to creak at the seams. It’s packed with protocols that just aren’t up to scratch, communication methods which rely on archaic technology, nodes which have poor security. And given that everything on the IoT needs to be individually addressable to be effective, the quickly diminishing pool of potential IPv4 addresses may soon cause serious problems not just the IoT but the internet at large. If your smart home devices are to keep running long into the future, they need a more modern protocol. Admittedly, the solution to N competing standards is absolutely not N+1 competing standards – but Thread is a little different, and it doesn’t necessarily leave those older devices out in the cold.