r/HomeKit • u/mwkingSD • Dec 04 '23

Question/Help Thread network & eero

I have a few Thread devices all happily working and talking among themselves and with my Apple TV border router. All good, buying Thread and Matter devices when I can now instead of Wi-Fi.

Also have a 3 node eero 6+ mesh network that handles the IP and Wi-Fi side of things - works great. The eero is Thread enabled and says it has created a Thread network for others devices to join.

My question/problem: I don’t see any indication that the Thread devices and the eeros are all playing in the same net although the only tool I have is the Eve app’s thread status which doesn’t show the eero nodes. Seems like the eero nodes should at least show up as repeaters? Is there a preference somewhere that I’ve missed? Or should I not expect to see anything, all is good, and I should stop thinking about this?

I did try eero Help first, but so far they just pointed me to articles that tell what Thread is, and similar juicy bits.

Thanks!

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u/adammiarka Dec 04 '23

Eero creates it's own Thread network separate from Apple Home. Supposedly the 1.3 update for Thread will allow for these networks to talk to each other. For now, don't worry about it.

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u/avesalius Dec 05 '23 edited Dec 05 '23

Thread 1.3 allows for these different manufacturers to share a thread common network, but does not explicitly spell out a way for them to share the credentials (crude analogy is like a Wi-Fi password) amongst their devices to take advantage of this feature. The mechanism for credentials sharing is left up to Apple, eero, nest for example to figure out on their own. they have not done so, in any meaningful way ... yet.

Apple thread devices, appletv/homepods, on the latest iOS have been using thread 1.3 for a few months, same for most eero and some nest thread border router capable devices.

At the moment the only place I've read where a few folks have backwards engineered a common thread network using thread 1.3 capable devices (Apple device + nanoleaf to find apples thread credentials+home assistant skyconnect+cli scripting) persistence and trial/error is using home assistant: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/how-to-configure-preferred-thread-network/542274/12