The building blocks of your Thread network

Thread technology has been designed specifically for smart home applications. In a Thread network your lights, thermostats, outlets, sensors, and more all talk to each other without needing to go through a central node such as a bridge. If a single accessory fails, the data packets are simply relayed to the next in the mesh network. This makes your smart home more responsive and robust, plus it increases its reach.

In short, Thread is the answer if you’re thinking about setting up and expanding your smart home. Read on to learn how easy it is to bring the benefits of Thread into your smart home.

Get started by getting the following:

Border Router

To connect everything together in your Thread network, you’ll need what’s known as a Border Router. Once connected to your home network, this device relays information between your Thread network and your local home network. There are currently two devices that serve as a Border Router, enabling your HomeKit accessories to communicate over Thread: HomePod mini and the new Apple TV 4K.

Thread-enabled accessories

A Thread network really comes into its own once you have at least two Thread-enabled accessories as they can then talk to each other. There are two types of Thread devices – Full Thread Devices (FTDs) and Minimal Thread Devices (MTDs) – and they each perform a different role: FTDs act as router nodes, relaying data packets from other Thread devices. Mains-powered accessories such as Eve Energy, Eve Light Switch (EU) or Eve Water Guard can perform this role. Your Thread network should feature at least one router node (FTD), and it becomes more robust with every additional one you add.

MTDs are endpoints – battery powered Thread devices which include accessories such as Eve Aqua, Eve Door & Window, Eve Motion, Eve Room, Eve Thermo or Eve Weather. Learn more about Thread network roles here.

Get ready to enjoy Thread.

As soon as you add HomePod mini or the new Apple TV 4K to your home, all Thread-enabled HomeKit accessories will be able to communicate via Thread automatically – including those Thread-enabled accessories you already have, but which previously only communicated via Bluetooth. See which of your existing Eve accessories are already Thread-enabled here.

Get ready to enjoy Thread.

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Get ready to enjoy Thread.

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Enhance & extend.

It’s incredible, but there really is nothing more to it! Open your Eve app and take a look at the Thread Network view under Settings. There you can see precisely how your Thread devices are talking to each other in your Thread network. With these insights, you can easily see how to enhance the performance of your Thread network by placing your nodes in a better spot or adding a node to connect to devices that are beyond reach.