[carderne]

What “hub” thing do I need to use this? I use an iPhone but really just want to use some physical remote switches.

I currently use Home Assistant but want to shift to something more “mass market” as I’m bored of being family tech support.

[fundatus]

You could get an IKEA Dirigera, but one of the upsides of Matter is that you do not need the manufacturers hub anymore. So an Apple Homepod or a Home Assistant instance with a Thread stick will do as well! (Or any other Matter hub for that matter of course)

[thedougd]

You're looking for a Thread border gateway. Lots of stuff already has it. Someone mentioned AppleTV and HomePod mini. Newer Google Nest speakers/displays have it as well.

But you can do it with just Home Assistant and a Thread radio: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/thread#turning-ho...

Personally, I pair my wifi and Thread matter devices to my Apple Home, as each Apple TV behaves as a redundant, ethernet connected gateway. I then do a secondary pairing to Home Assistant and Google Home. Local control and it works very well.

[carderne]

Is it absolutely necessary to have a base/gateway? This Verge article[0] seems to imply not, but it's not at all clear to me what I lose.

If I just want a smart switch that controls a smart light, can I do that without a hub? Can I use my phone to control that light/switch in a pinch? I'm not averse to spending $100 or whatever, but it's just more _stuff_ that I'd rather not think about.

[0] "Apple now lets you add Matter devices to Apple Home without a hub" https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/18/24246581/ios18-matter-sma...

[ssl-3]

It's not strictly necessary to have separate a hub/controller, no: After all, a Matter controller is just a small computer-widget that sits on a network and talks with IP packets.

A pocket supercomputer, such as an iPhone, theoretically works just as well: It's a small computer-widget that sits on a network, right? It just happens to run on batteries and be carried around in your pocket.

It's just software at that point.

At the end of the day: The Matter devices are paired with the controller, similar to how Bluetooth devices are also typically paired with a main brain-box. (Except: A Matter device can be paired with many controllers concurrently, whereas a lot of Bluetooth devices can only be paired with one at a time.)

The network connection doesn't have to be permanent: It can work when controller is present on the network, and it will [perhaps obviously] cease to work when the controller is absent.

So if Apple has software that runs within an iPhone and acts as a Matter controller, then: Sure, no additional hardware is needed to wiggle the state of a Matter light bulb using your iPhone.

(And if that kind of local control is all you ever care about for controlling stuff then... that's good enough.)

[kps]

For some degree of future-proofing you'll definitely want a device with a Thread radio.

(I've done paid work on Matter so I'll avoid giving possibly-tainted opinions on any particular vendor's products.)

[insane_dreamer]

Can't Matter devices connect directly to Apple HomeKit? So if you have a HomePod (or even a MiniPod though I'm not sure) it should connect all these Ikea devices too.

[petepete]

I use an IKEA Dirigera, which speaks both Zigbee and Matter.

[k33l0r]

An Apple TV or HomePod mini, if you want to stay within the Apple ecosystem…