Can anyone explain the difference between Thread and Matter?
1. Matter is the standard by which all of these devices communicate, like a language and set of agreements on how to communicate.
2. Threads is a radio protocol like WiFi and Bluetooth.
Instead of lightbulbs and locks and switches connecting to a Wifi router and then computers and phones having to communicate with them through the router, which often causes problems with bad configurations or network traffic, Matter devices use Threads to communicate directly from the phone to the lightbulb/lock/switch without going through a router or the internet.
Threads devices can create a mesh network of their own. A lightbulb connects to a lock which connects to a switch and they’re all aware of one another.
If the connection is poor between two devices, they can take a different route, say a light switch hopping to a thermostat which is close to an Apple TV which then connects to the light bulb on the other side of the house.
They can all communicate in the Matter standard using Threads radios in each but there are other ways devices can communicate in Matter, through Bluetooth, Wifi or another protocol called Zigbee. Threads is the Matter standard’s preferred radio because it’s more power efficient, self configures and self heals if one device in between goes offline.
