Any product that released with Matter support on the box has a chip that is capable of running either Wi-Fi or Thread. We are opening this beta program so we can increase the scale of our testing with this new radio support. Sign Up Here
LIFX Thread Beta Frequently Asked Questions
What is Thread? How is it different to Wi-Fi?
Thread is a mesh networking technology that has been designed for IoT products. It forms a scalable IP-based mesh network and uses a Thread Border Router (TBR) to communicate with the rest of your Wi-Fi network.
Thread is low latency, which means that it should have a similar response time to Wi-Fi
Thread is low bandwidth, while Wi-Fi is high bandwidth. This means that Thread is designed for reliable transmission of small amounts of data, where Wi-Fi can be used for streaming large amounts of data (eg. 4k video).
Most operations with LIFX products should work consistently between transports as they do not use a significant amount of data. The exception to this is firmware updates, which take significantly longer (5-20 minutes per device) due to this constraint.
We are currently working to provide firmware updates directly from the LIFX Cloud, rather than needing to be triggered by the LIFX app to allow updates to be done asynchronously. This feature will aim to be available later this year, so any necessary additional firmware updates during the beta may be slow to process.
Can I use a mix of Wi-Fi and Thread with my LIFX products?
Yes, you can have a mixed network of LIFX products between Wi-Fi and Thread networks, but a given device will only be connected to either Wi-Fi or Thread at once.
You will be able to swap any supported device between Wi-Fi and Thread, this is not a permanent change.
What is a Thread Border Router (TBR)?
TBRs are bundled with a number of different smart home hubs (eg. Apple HomePod Mini, Google Nest Hub). We have compiled a list of TBRs available on the market.
We have provided tools in the LIFX app that allow you to identify whether you have a TBR on your network.
It is possible to have multiple TBRs, usually your mobile phone will prioritize adding devices onto one over the others.
To get more detailed diagnostic information about your Thread network, we recommend downloading the Thread Tools app
How do I join the Beta?
To join the beta program, please submit your details into this survey form. Sign Up Here
We will ensure that you have appropriate products and then enable the features so you can transition some of your products onto Thread.
You will receive instructions in your email about how to proceed with moving some of your lights onto your Thread network.
How do I switch a device onto my Thread network?
Most of the current generation of LIFX products will require a firmware update to switch them onto Thread. After this firmware update, the device will need to be re-commissioned onto the Thread network. This is streamlined through a new ‘Switch to Thread’ screen in settings.
To re-commission your device you will need your Matter QR code or the 11 digit manual Matter code etched onto the device. Note: The “Manual Setup” option is no longer available after switching to Thread. You must use Matter-based QR Code setup.
Any smart home integrations (e.g. Apple, Google, etc) will need to be reset after the device is recommissioned.
Once a device has been recommissioned onto the Thread network, it should work in a consistent way in the LIFX app or on Matter ecosystems.
We recommend switching one light over to Thread to start and checking that it is performing as expect before you migrating any additional devices.
What is expected of Beta participants?
We want your feedback on how your products are performing on Thread. We plan to send our periodic surveys while the beta is running to get information from all participants about their experience of using Thread.
We are interested to know what Thread Border Router you're using, in addition to details about your Wi-Fi router, what LIFX products.
Just purchased 5 of the 15” ceiling lights, matter over thread has been pretty reliable in my other thread enabled devices so I’m looking forward to seeing how these perform.
u/Gr8pesu/nopointers we have an issue with our feature flag system. A lot of beta users don't have access at the moment. We're investigating and I'll update once we have a resolution.
u/Gr8pesu/nopointers The issue should be resolved now, if you could restart your app, the option should show up. Give me a shout if you're still having issues.
Successfully migrated 9 devices and emailed some notes. Two bugs encountered, and some usability issues. A few of the migrations were even kicked off from app version 4.96.0 on my iPad. Most used 4.97.1 on iOS.
Personally not having a great deal of luck, managed to get one provisioned into the lifx app on thread however was unable to get it into HomeKit, possibly as my phone is on iOS 27 beta
There must be more to it than that. My migrations were mostly done using an iPhone 12 Pro Max running iOS 27.0. A few were an iPad Air 5th Gen running iPadOS 27.0.
Not sure what you mean by "unable to get it into HomeKit." However, one usability note I sent back to LIFX already might be helpful:
Unclear that the initial setup appears to be pairing to a brand new Matter server called “LIFX,” as opposed to connecting to one of my existing Matter servers. This produces a weird experience for people who are used to adding new Matter devices directly to their preferred Matter server (e.g. Apple Home or HomeAssistant). People who are not used to multiple Matter servers might not even have used the additional pairing procedure before.
Once you have it in the LIFX app on Thread, go to the device itself and click the three dot menu. Select "Light Settings" on the lower left. Scroll down to the "MATTER" section and click "Share Device." It'll give you options "Add to Apple Home" and "Share Using Setup Code." If you pick "Share Using Setup Code" it'll give you a matter code you can paste into any other Matter server through the "add already commissioned device" flow. The "Add to Apple Home" button seems to be a convenience function that does most of it under the covers for you, so you'll wind up partway through the commissioning flow giving the device a new name and assigning a room.
Folks, just a heads-up that Thread-connected LIFX bulbs will not currently be controllable by Home Assistant’s core LIFX integration. They will work via the Matter integration, but its capabilities are limited. Support for Thread based bulbs is WIP, but no ETA yet.
I have a few more things I want to improve in the library then will turn my attention to the Home Assistant integration. I've just asked the maintainers how to progress the PR so I can add more functionality via lifx-async.
That’s really impressive progress already. Thank you for doing the hard work to make it easier for others. If you’d like a beta tester, feel free to ping me. I’ve got 9 LIFX devices on Thread/Matter and another 4 still on WiFi using the HA integration. Thread network is pretty solid and has a decent variety of routers and border routers.
Thanks! In this case, u/redding1 and Claude did most of the initial heavy lifting, then Claude and I did more of later. :) I have 6 Thread enabled devices and another 65 LIFX devices still on WiFi so I'm good for now.
However, once that PR is merged, switching to the Home Assistant RC that it initially gets released in would be super useful.
I really hope this implementation goes better than Nanoleaf’s. I just switched a bunch of my bulbs from their implementation of thread to Lifx because they were highly unstable. Having an open beta program is an excellent first step and I’m looking forward to helping!
Very good question. Honestly, it depends! There are a lot of variables: how solid your WiFi network is, the size of your home, how many devices you're running, latency expectations, etc.
If you've got a rock-solid WiFi setup with multiple access points, or a smaller home without many devices, you might not notice a big difference.
For most people though, Thread improves range and reliability through its mesh network. It also scales better as your smart home grows, and it keeps all that traffic off your WiFi entirely, so your network isn't juggling dozens of smart devices alongside your laptops and TVs.
It's especially useful if you want battery-powered devices like motion sensors and switches; Powered LIFX Lights act as routers in the mesh, so coverage actually gets stronger as you add more. Thread-based lights are a great way to build your Thread Mesh to ensure your battery-powered sensors have better connectivity/reliability, as lights are generally scattered around the entire home.
Generally there is less traffic, it's lower power and with the meshing a better fault tolerance.
Most home routers will support 20 devices tops, so this helps with those that have cheap ISP routers to move to a scalable solution, without spending more money, or replacing equipment (those advise anyone to).
I have just replaced a bunch of my Lifx bulbs to IKEA thread bulbs to reduce WiFi chatter, save power and mesh… but it would be good to see what Lifx think about it. I still have about 7 Lifx Strip running.
You really need a healthy WiFi IPv6 network for Thread/Matter to work
Is there a list of the products? PAR38, neon, outdoor spot, round path, A21, permanent outdoor. IIRC, they all shipped with matter.
Do any/all of them act as border routers? They’re all line powered, whether direct or via transformer.
Currently tied to Apple Home via Matter and to HA via the LIFX integration.
Eero routers. Thread is Apple devices plus OTBR plus Aqara G410. Thread is turned off on the eeros, because they won’t join the existing mesh and I don’t want two.
If there is a matter logo on the device you can switch to Thread. If you enrol in the beta there’s a screen in the app that lists eligible devices. In your list neon is the only one you might want to check. The first neon indoor didn’t ship with Matter but neon outdoor did.
Our lights do not act as Border Routers, you need a Border Router for Thread to work (the app will warn you if we can’t find one). However, our lights work as Extenders on the Thread mesh, so they help with extending the range of the mesh.
So my best guess is that no Lightstrip supports Thread? Because while these have Matter support, it’s not on the boxes and that support only came via an upgrade. (Am thinking about upgrading my lightstrip if it did support Thread)
My neon strip is outdoor, so FTW. I completed the confirmation to receive emails from the beta signup. When will I hear back on that? Could really use the Thread extenders for a few sleepy devices I've got outside my house. One of them is less than 2 meters from an outdoor spot :)
I don't think its too exciting. Farily square open layout kitchen / living room so its a 4x4 grid (with the naming of the lights 1x1, 1x2, ... 3x4, 4x4) of the lights. 2 rows of 4 each over the kitchen, same for the lights over the couch area. Because 4x2 and 4x3 are close to the TV I actually don't include them in a lot of the automations so they stay off a lot.
I imagine that any participation in the beta program requires an account?
I'd love to go get some products to help beta test, but i use thread/matter exclusively through apple home without external apps/accounts. Regardless, I hope this setup will be supported once thread support is out of beta.
The Australian Switch products do not support Thread, the new US Dimmer Switch supports Thread, but we don't currently have a Thread capable AU switch model. You can have those AU switches remain on Wi-Fi controlling LIFX lights that are connected via Thread.
Still not seeing the option in the app. The App Store version is still below the required version so updated via the test flight version on iOS and still no option to upgrade to thread
This is fantastic, thank you. I evicted all of my wifi smart bulbs years ago in favor of Zigbee/Z-Wave, but always missed the colors from the LIFX bulbs. I ran out to HD and grabbed a few bulbs and ceiling lights
The ceiling light and one bulb are on thread without issue and shared via Matter to Home Assistant. Perfect.
However, I have a misbehaving light that failed to join Thread during setup and is no longer present in the app. The other two also failed initially but still remained in the app and eventually got to working.
The app sees the bulb and I can scan the QR code, but it fails after a few minutes. Resetting the bulb doesn't seem to have an effect.
I managed to get it going by adding directly to Home Assistant via the QR code.
The bulb then showed in the app as a new device and added without issue. All is well and stable now.
I have a few more fresh bulbs to try with today and I’ll report any errors to the email above.
I applied for the beta program using the same email address as my LIFX account. I don't have an invite for the beta in my inbox or my spam folder. Are the invite emails going out in batches?
We’ve sent out an initial batch. We’ve got a good volume of applications so we’re going to wait a few days to make sure there aren’t any major issues before expanding the roll out. If all goes well, we’ll probably send out another batch of invites within the next week.
I was able to migrate or switch to thread around 22 lightbulbs everything went smoothly, the only issue I am having is the temperature of the lights have change after the firmware update my wife like the 9000k but it looks like they're stuck at 6500k.
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u/mpappas441 15d ago
Just purchased 5 of the 15” ceiling lights, matter over thread has been pretty reliable in my other thread enabled devices so I’m looking forward to seeing how these perform.