Apple's Latest Macs and iPads Have Hidden Smart Home Thread Radio

[welearnednothing]

If I'm not mistaken, a Thread Border Router is only required to communicate with devices outside of the Thread network. E.g. you're at the store and want to turn on a Thread light bulb - that request would come in over wifi to your Thread Border Router which passes the command to the Thread network. Or currently with your non-Thread devices, even at home, they have to first communicate to the Thread Border Router over your home wifi which then passes the command over the Thread network.

But Thread enabled devices should be able to communicate directly to one another without going through the Thread Border Router. Thus on your Thread enabled iPhone or iPad, you could directly control Thread devices without the need for a Border Router. Thread itself doesn't require any bridges or hubs. Eliminating this single point of failure within the network was one of Thread's design goals.

So if Apple enables this (I'm guessing we'll hear about it next week if it is going to happen), then your Thread enabled iOS device could skip the wifi and border router altogether and send low latency commands to other Thread devices directly, speeding things up significantly. This along with faster, on device Siri requests would be a huge boost for smart home quality of life.

 

[scottlitch]

If I'm not mistaken, a Thread Border Router is only required to communicate with devices outside of the Thread network. E.g. you're at the store and want to turn on a Thread light bulb - that request would come in over wifi to your Thread Border Router which passes the command to the Thread network. Or currently with your non-Thread devices, even at home, they have to first communicate to the Thread Border Router over your home wifi which then passes the command over the Thread network.

But Thread enabled devices should be able to communicate directly to one another without going through the Thread Border Router. Thus on your Thread enabled iPhone or iPad, you could directly control Thread devices without the need for a Border Router. Thread itself doesn't require any bridges or hubs. Eliminating this single point of failure within the network was one of Thread's design goals.

So if Apple enables this (I'm guessing we'll hear about it next week if it is going to happen), then your Thread enabled iOS device could skip the wifi and border router altogether and send low latency commands to other Thread devices directly, speeding things up significantly. This along with faster, on device Siri requests would be a huge boost for smart home quality of life.

Exactly!

 

[bodhisattva]

Nah, the lightbulbs are pacifists. The toaster, however, is clearly not trustworthy.

Once WWDC comes and the AI announcement hits, we shall all see it is all truly an "Order 66." Then the true use of this hidden radio shall be revealed as the devices unite against us!!!!

 

[NT1440]

Once WWDC comes and the AI announcement hits, we shall all see it is all truly an "Order 66." Then the true use of this hidden radio shall be revealed as the devices unite against us!!!!

It may get activated, it may not.

For years the chips in iPhones technically supported FM/AM radio, it just was never implemented.

The thread radio may just come from the chip and never get used. Personally I suspect Apple has a much larger plan for their ecosystem overall and down the road we’ll see a bunch of hardware decisions made years become the minimum requirements for things we’re not going to see for another decade. This may tie into that eventually….or it’s just part of the chip they sourced 🤷‍♂️

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

I would think that it would be activated simply to help aid in Thread network communications, even if there were no controls or functionality to access or use for anything specific.

 

[x13gamer]

Let's hope these get unlocked with a software update at some point, and we have more reliable networking for HomeKit stuff!

Get ready to pay for the privilege. In 2006 when 802.11"n" ship was unlocked and allowed to use "n" was unlocked on my MBP, I had to pay $1.99 to get it unlocked. everyone on this forum claimed it was an accounting issued and its only $1.99, to this day its still bull 💩.

802.11n Question

Thats correct, it does have something to do with accounting laws in the US. From what I understand, if they gave the enabler away free after advertising and selling the original product as "G" then they would be in violation of the law. Apple is not chargin a lousy $2.00 to make money off this...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[ApAx]

According to Apple's support article, Siri just uses Apple Music Radio for this, which is Internet- and not FM-based -- i.e., not what the poster was asking for. (Incidentally, when I try, it just offers to open iHeart, so not much different.)

Ooh thanks for that clarification. With a lot of severe weather and power outages here lately I won’t rely on that feature for weather alerts like I was thinking. I don’t have mobile service at home so keeping up with tornadoes has been tricky once power is out and the warnings go off.

 

[Slix]

Get ready to pay for the privilege. In 2006 when 802.11"n" ship was unlocked and allowed to use "n" was unlocked on my MBP, I had to pay $1.99 to get it unlocked. everyone on this forum claimed it was an accounting issued and its only $1.99, to this day its still bull 💩.

802.11n Question

Thats correct, it does have something to do with accounting laws in the US. From what I understand, if they gave the enabler away free after advertising and selling the original product as "G" then they would be in violation of the law. Apple is not chargin a lousy $2.00 to make money off this...

forums.macrumors.com

This is the first I've heard of that. Did it eventually get given away for free? There's gotta be a ton of MacBooks that didn't ever pay, right?

Either way, I doubt they'd make users pay for that feature now. We got the temperature and humidity sensor upgrade for free on HomePod Minis not too long ago that were hidden in hardware for a while.

 

[JosephAW]

Don’t hold your breath, for years the chip inside the iPhone supported FM radio and Apple never enable it.
If they wanna enable a radio, finish setting up phone to phone walkie talkie radio feature that they talked about years ago so when there’s no cellular network you can still talk to another phone within the 4 watt range.
Right now there are apps that do that using Bluetooth but it’s very limited.

 

[Jamie0003]

It may get activated, it may not.

For years the chips in iPhones technically supported FM/AM radio, it just was never implemented.

The thread radio may just come from the chip and never get used. Personally I suspect Apple has a much larger plan for their ecosystem overall and down the road we’ll see a bunch of hardware decisions made years become the minimum requirements for things we’re not going to see for another decade. This may tie into that eventually….or it’s just part of the chip they sourced 🤷‍♂️

The weird thing is though, it launched on the iPhone last year and was advertised. Why only the iPhone?

 

[Jamie0003]

Get ready to pay for the privilege. In 2006 when 802.11"n" ship was unlocked and allowed to use "n" was unlocked on my MBP, I had to pay $1.99 to get it unlocked. everyone on this forum claimed it was an accounting issued and its only $1.99, to this day its still bull 💩.

802.11n Question

Thats correct, it does have something to do with accounting laws in the US. From what I understand, if they gave the enabler away free after advertising and selling the original product as "G" then they would be in violation of the law. Apple is not chargin a lousy $2.00 to make money off this...

forums.macrumors.com

Never happened with the HomePods hidden temperature and humidity sensor

 

[Jamie0003]

Interesting - Does Apple usually talk about HomeKit and such at WWDC?

Yep, for all of 2 minutes. It’s miserable

 

[Jamie0003]

Pretty sure they brought back that functionality

They did not

 

[svish]

Maybe a future software update will be unlocking this.

 

[goobot]

They did not

My iPad Pro m4 running the newest iOS

 

[Schnort]

Get ready to pay for the privilege. In 2006 when 802.11"n" ship was unlocked and allowed to use "n" was unlocked on my MBP, I had to pay $1.99 to get it unlocked. everyone on this forum claimed it was an accounting issued and its only $1.99, to this day its still bull 💩.

802.11n Question

Thats correct, it does have something to do with accounting laws in the US. From what I understand, if they gave the enabler away free after advertising and selling the original product as "G" then they would be in violation of the law. Apple is not chargin a lousy $2.00 to make money off this...

forums.macrumors.com

The "accounting issue" is they had to pay a royalty to the supplier of the chip to enable the functionality and they passed that cost on to you.

There's no law that says you have to charge for new/different functionality after you purchase something.

 

[Jamie0003]

My iPad Pro m4 running the newest iOS

Not on the new home architecture:

Set up your HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, or iPad as a home hub - Apple Support

Set up a home hub to control your smart home accessories while you're away from home, share control of your accessories with others, and automate your accessories to do what you want, when you want.

support.apple.com

 

[california_kid]

So you all are saying Apple might be moving to a "your iPhone has the hardware built in, but you need to pay $50/month to unlock it? Sort of like a certain EV maker?

 

[NT1440]

So you all are saying Apple might be moving to a "your iPhone has the hardware built in, but you need to pay $50/month to unlock it? Sort of like a certain EV maker?

No…they’ll flip the switch when the platform is ready for it.


Apple would destroy their customer satisfaction if they started pulling **** like that. Especially for a feature nobody outwardly cares about

 

[Jamie0003]

No…they’ll flip the switch when the platform is ready for it.


Apple would destroy their customer satisfaction if they started pulling **** like that. Especially for a feature nobody outwardly cares about

It’s already supported on the iPhone though?

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

It’s already supported on the iPhone though?

They've announced officially that the iPhone 15 Pro has a Thread radio in it, however it isn't actually used for anything at the moment.

I have a feeling we'll hear more on this at WWDC on Monday.

 

[goobot]

Not on the new home architecture:

Set up your HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, or iPad as a home hub - Apple Support

Set up a home hub to control your smart home accessories while you're away from home, share control of your accessories with others, and automate your accessories to do what you want, when you want.

support.apple.com

Ah that makes sense

 

[Jamie0003]

They've announced officially that the iPhone 15 Pro has a Thread radio in it, however it isn't actually used for anything at the moment.

I have a feeling we'll hear more on this at WWDC on Monday.

Again though, why announce it on the iPhone and then not do anything with it? Better yet, why didn’t they announce it on any of these other devices? It’s really strange

 

[purplerainpurplerain]

So you all are saying Apple might be moving to a "your iPhone has the hardware built in, but you need to pay $50/month to unlock it? Sort of like a certain EV maker?

Apple isn’t desperate like car companies 🤣