Ikea’s Smart Home Vision Faces Challenges: Here’s What’s Holding It Back

Ikea’s latest Matter-over-Thread lineup aimed to demonstrate that creating a smart home could be affordable, accessible, and dependable. This eagerly awaited collection, featuring sensors, remotes, smart plugs, air-quality monitors, and smart bulbs, offers a comprehensive toolkit for smart home enthusiasts, with prices starting as low as $6. However, the reality is that these devices aren’t quite ready for prime time.

When I first unboxed the Ikea devices in January, I encountered numerous issues trying to connect them to my primary platform, Apple Home. It quickly became clear that I wasn’t alone in this struggle. Online forums were buzzing with users reporting similar onboarding and connectivity problems across various smart home platforms, including Google Home and Ikea’s own Dirigera hub. A YouTuber documented his painful experience attempting to onboard to Apple Home, which was tough to watch.

While waiting for Ikea to address these issues, I resorted to some unconventional troubleshooting. The only (admittedly strange) solution that worked for me was to bypass my main Home Hub, an Ethernet-connected Apple TV, and instead use a HomePod. This allowed me to successfully onboard an Ikea Bilresa button and a Grillplats smart plug that had previously failed to connect. (Shoutout to the YouTuber for this tip.)

Why Apple would prefer I not use my powerful, hardwired Home Hub remains a mystery. Unfortunately, this workaround didn’t last long. When I attempted to add a Myggspray motion sensor, it failed to connect. However, when I tried linking the same sensor to Google Home using an Android device, it connected on the first attempt. While my network setup is complex, this suggests that the issues stem from Apple, not my configuration.

Ikea claimed that “the products work seamlessly” for most users but acknowledged that “some users” were facing challenges. They published a troubleshooting page, and forums quickly filled with advice ranging from simple tips like “restart your phone” to the baffling suggestion of “just leave it alone for a few days, and then it will work,” to more technical fixes like enabling IPv6 on your router (since Thread and Matter operate over IPv6).

One dedicated reviewer, A Smarter House, meticulously tested various proposed fixes across multiple platforms. His thorough analysis revealed that the issues are not singular but vary depending on the platform in use.

In recent weeks, Ikea has rolled out several updates to its Dirigera hub aimed at enhancing Matter-over-Thread stability and has refreshed its troubleshooting page with additional solutions. Initially, Ikea pointed to “users’ varying and sometimes complicated home networking setups,” which can be hard to replicate in a lab. While individual network configurations can indeed be problematic, the widespread nature of these issues suggests a deeper problem with the core promise of Matter.

The promise of Matter was to ensure compatibility across all ecosystems, from Apple Home to Amazon Alexa and beyond. The industry was closely monitoring Ikea’s rollout, as it was the first large-scale test of Matter devices designed to be affordable and user-friendly.

However, it has become evident that Apple, Google, and Amazon are now more focused on their own interests. The collaborative spirit that characterized the early development of Matter has stalled, leading to a competitive landscape where each platform is out for itself.

While Matter is intended to be an interoperability standard, achieving that interoperability with Matter devices remains a challenge. Instead of being a straightforward plug-and-play solution for manufacturers, there is still a significant burden on each manufacturer to ensure their devices function correctly with each platform before launch. This is essentially the same issue that existed prior to Matter’s introduction.

Now, manufacturers have a supposed playbook to follow, but the reality is more complicated. I suspect that the way platforms interact with devices is a significant factor in these ongoing issues—something manufacturers cannot control.

Thread is a low-power, IP-based wireless protocol designed for smart home devices. It operates as a self-healing mesh network, promising low latency and using Thread Border Routers to connect to other networks and the internet. Matter-over-Thread devices utilize Matter as the application layer, providing a common language for compatibility across various smart home platforms.

This complexity was hinted at by the Thread Group, the organization overseeing the Thread protocol, when I inquired about the issues users were facing with Ikea’s Matter devices. Ann Olivo, VP of marketing for Thread Group, noted that a seamless onboarding experience requires coordination among multiple components within the smart home ecosystem, including mobile apps, application protocols, network protocols, platform software, and hardware design. While Thread offers a solid foundation at the network layer, optimizing the overall experience necessitates ongoing collaboration across all these interconnected elements.

That said, Thread isn’t without its faults. The protocol can be frustratingly complex, and there are still too few troubleshooting options available. Thread Border Routers can be a significant source of issues; having too many, too few, or the wrong ones can lead to onboarding and connectivity problems. This is compounded by the fact that multiple TBRs from different manufacturers often fail to work together, resulting in homes with several incompatible Thread Border Routers—like Apple TVs, Eero routers, Echos, and Google TV streamers—that don’t always cooperate.

Additionally, Ikea may have hindered its own efforts by releasing its smart bulbs weeks after the remotes and sensors, which are still not widely available. The sensors are battery-powered, while the bulbs require mains power. Since Thread relies on mains-powered devices to route signals, if you only have battery-powered devices, that could explain why some devices are dropping off the network.

In 2024, the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which oversees Matter, established an interoperability lab to assist manufacturers in testing their devices across all platforms. It’s unclear whether Ikea utilized this resource or simply took the promise of platform interoperability at face value, but either way, the company now faces a significant challenge.

Ikea is working to enhance reliability through software updates to its Dirigera hub, focusing on improving Thread network performance and Matter onboarding stability. These updates include optimizing network communication and implementing better cleanup of network settings after configuration changes, as well as addressing connectivity disruptions that could hinder device onboarding. David Granath, range manager at Ikea, mentioned that outdated IPv6 network addresses could persist after configuration changes, such as disabling IPv6 on the WiFi router.

You don’t necessarily need Ikea’s hub or app to onboard Matter devices; you should be able to use your platform’s app directly. However, the new Thread reset function in Ikea’s Home Smart app, which aims to rebuild the local Thread mesh if devices or border routers are out of sync, did help resolve some of my issues. Additionally, a Thread network check tool (available on iOS) that displays your Thread network and the border routers involved is also beneficial.

Over the past week, I collaborated with Ikea and utilized these new tools to troubleshoot my setup, resetting and re-adding several devices, including a new Bilresa button Ikea provided.

I successfully connected the new button to Apple Home on my first attempt, which was a small victory. I also managed to add the Timmerflotte temperature sensor to the Dirigera hub and had my first successful experience using Ikea devices with multi-admin functionality, allowing me to share the Grillplats smart plug from Apple Home with Google Home.

However, I still faced challenges with an existing Kajplats lightbulb and Myggspray motion sensor, which failed to connect to Apple Home, giving me the familiar “Unable to Add Accessory: Operation timed out” message after several minutes of trying. Fortunately, I was able to set both devices up in Google Home.

While Ikea’s efforts have led to some improvements, connecting devices remains a mixed bag. Even if they resolve the issues—showing signs of progress—their struggles highlight a fundamental flaw in Matter’s promise that devices can be built once and seamlessly integrated across platforms.

Until the major players prioritize true interoperability, every manufacturer risks finding themselves in a situation similar to Ikea’s, scrambling for solutions amid a sea of challenges. Users who don’t seek help from forums or video guides may simply return their devices and move on, leaving the smart home experience stuck in the early-adopter phase that Matter was meant to transcend.

While it’s evident that there are ways to onboard these devices and maintain connections, the current experience is subpar—not due to the failure of any single company, but because of a collective shortcoming. This is troubling news for Matter. Ultimately, the issue isn’t about assigning blame; it’s about the fact that Matter promised a seamless experience, and that promise has yet to be fulfilled.