Samsung SmartThings finally adds support for joining existing Thread networks
We’re one step closer to a smart home that can manage Thread border routers from different manufacturers. Samsung SmartThings now supports “two-way Thread network unification,” its fancy way of saying Thread credentials sharing. This means that now, if you add a Samsung device that’s a Thread border router to your home, it can join an existing Thread network from other ecosystems, rather than setting up its own.
The capability, which is part of the Thread 1.4 spec released last year, will launch on select SmartThings hubs — including the Aeotec Smart Home Hub and the Aeotec Smart Home Hub 2. More hubs will follow, according to the company.
A new “Manage Thread Network” menu in the SmartThings app Hub interface will allow you to connect a compatible hub to an existing Thread network using a QR code, one-time passcode, or your mobile OS credential locker. It will also allow you to add a third-party border router to an existing SmartThings hub’s Thread network via a QR code or OTP.
A Thread border router is a gateway for Thread devices. Thread is a wireless smart home protocol designed for low-power devices such as door locks, lights, and sensors, which is used by the Matter smart home standard. Border routers are required to connect local Thread devices to other networks and to the internet. The tech can be built into devices like streaming boxes, smart speakers, and Wi-Fi routers, which means it’s easy to amass several in a smart home.
Having multiple Thread border routers can improve the range of Thread devices you’re using, as well as the reliability of the self-healing mesh network. If one border router goes down, another can pick up the traffic.
When Matter launched in 2022, there was no standard way for a Thread border router from one manufacturer, such as an Apple TV, to connect with Thread border routers from another, like an Eero Wi-Fi router. This often resulted in each setting up separate Thread networks, preventing devices on them from talking to each other.
Initially, border router manufacturers — including Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung — said they would work together to come up with solutions to this problem, but they mostly didn’t. While Apple and Google implemented Thread network credentials sharing using their mobile OSes, via iCloud Keychain and Google Play services, this is largely ecosystem-specific. A standardized method for sharing credentials was still needed.
What is Matter
Matter is a smart home interoperability standard designed to provide a common language for connected devices to communicate locally in your home without relying on a cloud connection. It is built to be secure and private, easy to set up, and widely compatible.
Developed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung, and others, Matter is an open-sourced, IP-based connectivity software layer for smart home devices. It works over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and Thread.
Thread is a low-power, wireless mesh protocol. It operates on the same 2.4GHz spectrum as Zigbee and is designed for low-power devices, such as sensors, light bulbs, plugs, and shades. IP-based, Thread devices can communicate directly with each other, the internet, and with other networks using a Thread Border Router.
Today, Matter supports most of the main device types in the home, including lighting, thermostats, locks, robot vacuums, refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers, ovens, smoke alarms, air quality monitors, EV chargers, and more.
A smart home gadget with the Matter logo can be set up and used with any Matter-compatible ecosystem via a Matter controller and controlled by more than one ecosystem with a feature called multi-admin.
Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Apple Home, Home Assistant, Ikea, and Aqara are among the well-known smart home companies supporting Matter, along with hundreds of device manufacturers.
Finally, last year, Thread Group, the organization that oversees the protocol, took matters into its own hands and mandated “credentials sharing” in its 1.4 spec release. This is a standardized way for Thread devices and border routers to join an existing Thread network.
Now, SmartThings has adopted Thread 1.4, and Apple has it in its latest iOS 26 update for Apple TV and HomePods (which are Thread border routers). Although Apple has not launched an interface for credentials sharing and it’s not clear if the feature is live yet. However, neither Amazon nor Google yet supports 1.4, though both say they are working on it.
Google Home Thread border routers — including the Google TV streamer, Nest Hubs, and Nest Wifi — may connect to existing networks through Google’s mobile OS credentials sharing. But Amazon’s Echo devices that support Thread can only connect to Amazon or Eero-created networks. Its Echo devices are on Thread 1.3, but the company says it plans to enable Thread 1.4 next year and will support credentials sharing. Eero, the Wi-Fi router company owned by Amazon, has some 1.4 features enabled, but doesn’t currently support merging with existing Thread networks.
So three years in and we’re, like, three-quarters of the way there. Sort of. Great job, guys.