IKEA tried to build a smart home for everyone, and that’s why it hasn’t succeeded so far

New IKEA Products of the material above the thread It was supposed to prove that the smart home could be cheap, accessible, and reliable. The upcoming line – which includes Sensors, Remote controlssmart plugs, Air quality monitoring devicesand Smart bulbs – It contains everything you need to build a smart home, with prices starting from $6. It’s an exciting idea, but it’s still not ready for prime time.

When I first got Ikea appliances in January, I had… Lots of problems Connect them to my main platform, Apple Home. It turns out I wasn’t alone. Reddit Forums and User reviews It was full of reports of setup and connection issues. Many people were struggling to connect devices to every smart home platform — from Apple Home to Google Home, and even Ikea’s own platform Live axis. YouTuber Shane Watley He documented his experience trying to join Apple Home In real time, it’s very painful to watch.

While I waited for IKEA to figure out what happened, I tried more creative solutions to fix what was wrong in my home. The only (weird) fix I found was to force the Apple Home to not use the main Home Hub, which is an Ethernet-connected Apple TV. Instead, I had it use the HomePod, and was able to install an Ikea Bilresa button and a Grillplats smart plug that repeatedly failed to connect. (Hat tip to Follow this idea.)

Why Apple would prefer not to use the clunky, wired Home Hub is anyone’s guess. However, it didn’t last long. When I tried to add the Myggspray motion sensor as well, it failed. I then tried connecting the same Myggspray to Google Home using an Android phone, and it joined on the first try. Knowing that I have Complex networkbut this suggests Apple is causing issues, not my setup.

While IKEA said the “products run smoothly” for most customers, they are I confess Problems that “some users” were experiencing. A. was published Troubleshooting pageSoon, online forums were filled with tips on plugging in gadgets. These range from the simple “reboot your phone” to “just leave it alone for a few days, then it will work” to the more complex “dive into your internet router’s network settings and enable IPv6” (topic and topic) Run over IPv6).

One of our intrepid smart home reviewers, Smarter homecarefully combed through all the suggested fixes and tried as many fixes as possible on as many platforms as possible. this Excellent deep dive by YouTubers and bloggers Goes through the issues and what he tried to do. His conclusion: There’s not just one problem, it’s multiple, and the problems vary depending on the platform you’re using.

Over the past few weeks, IKEA has been launching its products Several updates to its Dirigera hub to improve the stability of the above-theme material and update the troubleshooting page with more potential fixes. IKEA initially indicated “Users’ diverse and sometimes complex home network settings,” Something that is difficult to replicate in the laboratory. To be sure, individual network settings are often an issue. But the wide-ranging nature of these issues points to something larger: a problem with the fundamental promise of the material.

Problems at the heart of the matter

With Matter came the promise of compatibility with every ecosystem, from Apple Home and Amazon Alexa to Home Assistant and Google Home. The industry has been watching IKEA’s rollout closely. This was the first time Matter devices had been tested at the scale for which the standard was designed – Inexpensive devices for many people that just might work.

But what has become clear since then Exciting article launch It is that Apple, Google, and Amazon are now fully focused on pursuing their own agendas. That spirit of cooperation It identified the early development of the standard I stopped, and it’s Every platform for itself In the race for users.

Matter is considered an interoperability standard, but interoperability with Matter devices is still largely elusive. Rather than being a plug-and-play solution for manufacturers — build a Matter device, and it will work with just about any platform — there remains a significant burden on each manufacturer to make sure their devices work properly with each platform before release. It’s basically the same problem they faced before launching Matter.

Only now do manufacturers have a playbook to follow that is supposed to make their devices work for everyone – easy, right? Apparently not. My theory is that it’s how platforms interact with hardware that causes many of these issues, something manufacturers have no control over.

This was pointed out to some extent by Thread Group, the organization that runs the Thread protocol, when it asked for comment on the issues users were seeing with Ikea’s Matter devices. “A seamless onboarding experience depends on the coordination of multiple components and layers within the smart home ecosystem, including the mobile app, application protocol, network protocol, platform software, and hardware design,” Anne Olivo, vice president of marketing at Thread Group, told me via email. “While Thread provides a strong, secure foundation at the network layer, improving the end-to-end experience requires constant collaboration across all of these interconnected components.”

This does not mean that the issue is blameless here. The protocol is Frustratingly obtuseand there are still very few troubleshooting solutions. Thread boundary vectors The main pain point remains. Too many, not enough, or the wrong number can cause setup and connection issues. The latter is due to the problem of multiple TBRs from different companies It still doesn’t work together. In practice, this means that many homes now have multiple Thread Border routers — Apple TVs, Eero routers, Echos, and Google TV Streamers — that don’t always cooperate.

Additionally, IKEA may have shot itself in the foot by releasing them Smart bulbs line Weeks after the advent of remote controls and sensors (they’re still not widely available). The latter is battery operated, and the former is electrically operated. The subject is a low power mesh network Which rely on electrical repeaters to direct signals. If you purchased battery-powered buttons and sensors but don’t have mains-operated devices, this could be the reason you’re seeing devices disconnecting from the grid.

What does IKEA do about it?

In 2024, the Communication Standards Alliance (the organization behind Matter) had to create a site Interoperability Lab To help manufacturers test their devices across all platforms. It’s not clear whether Ikea took advantage of this or took the promise of the platform’s interoperability at face value. But either way, there’s now a big mess to clean up.

The company is striving to improve reliability through software updates to its Dirigera core, with a focus on improving Thread network performance and Matter onboarding stability. This includes improving network connections and implementing “better cleaning of network settings after configuration changes, and fixes for disconnections that could cause the device setup process to fail,” according to David Granath, IKEA’s range manager, who leads the development of its smart home products. “In addition, we encountered an issue where old IPv6 network addresses could persist after configuration changes, such as turning off IPv6 on a WiFi router.”

You don’t need a hub or the Ikea app to connect Matter devices — you He should You are only able to use your platform’s application. But the new Thread Reset function in Ikea’s Home Smart app, which the company says “helps rebuild the local Thread network if devices or border routers are out of sync,” helped solve some of my issues. In addition, the Thread Network Scanner (iOS only) that displays your thread network and the border routers it is part of is also useful. (There are a few other apps that offer this as well.)

Over the past week, I’ve been working with Ikea and these new tools to troubleshoot setup issues, and tried resetting and re-adding several devices, as well as the new Bilresa button that Ikea sent.

I got the new button connected to Apple Home on the first try, and yes – I was thrilled. I was also finally able to add a Timmerflotte temperature sensor to the Dirigera hub, my first successful attempt at using Ikea’s multi-management devices (which let you share devices across platforms), and adding the Smart Plug Grillplates from Apple Home to Google Home.

However, my existing Kajplats lamp and Myggspray motion sensor are still unable to connect to the Apple Home — giving me the now-familiar “Unable to add accessory: The operation has timed out” alert after about three minutes of trying to connect. But I was able to set up both in Google Home.

IKEA’s efforts may have improved things, but connecting devices is still unsuccessful or missing. Even if it solves the problems — and appears to be moving in the right direction — IKEA’s stumble exposes a fundamental problem with Matter’s promise that you can build a device once and trust the platforms to handle the rest.

Until the major players prioritize interoperability, every manufacturer risks becoming where IKEA is now, struggling to find solutions in a sea of ​​problems. Users who don’t turn to places like Reddit and YouTube for help will simply return to their tools and move on. The smart home will remain stuck in the early adoption phase that Mater was supposed to leave behind.

While it is clear there They are ways To integrate these devices and keep them connected, the current experience is poor — not because any one company failed, but because they all failed. This is not good news for the material. In the end, what or who is at fault is not what really matters; The point is that the material promised it would just work, but it didn’t.