Note: I ran this by mods before posting - thank you u / TheSurfShack for approval! Hi everyone, The purpose of this post is to help with some of the research we are doing on considering a Thread enabled smart switch (which hopefully would work with HomeKit). _ _ _ _ ** Quick precedent ** We are a smart home company ([Inovelli](https://inovelli.com/)) that have been around for over 5 years and have sold a lot of switches, plugs, sockets and more on the Z-Wave market. More precisely, we connect with hubs such as SmartThings, Hubitat, Home Assistant, etc. Over the years, we've received feedback to look at HomeKit compatibility, and because of our size (we're only 5), we decide to stick to what we've done best (ie, Z-Wave). With the market changing (Z-Wave becoming harder to find, with Matter also being announced as an exponentially growing industry), we decided to create a ZigBee version of our switch, which would connect directly to the bridge. Philips Hue as well as Amazon Echo (some models) and in doing so, I received a lot of feedback to create a Thread version so that the switches can be used for Google Home and HomeKit. Project theme: [https://community.inovelli.com/t/zigbee-2-1-switch-on-off-dimmer-project-new-horizon-blue-series/8234](https://community.inovelli.com/t/zigbee-2-1-switch-on-off-dimmer-project-new-horizon-blue-series/8234) _ _ _ _ That being said , each project requires a lot of research and development and therefore I hope to get some answers to justify the creation of a Thread enabled switch. The good news is that the ZigBee switches we already create run on the same chipset as Thread, so the only change needed would be a firmware change (ie, from ZigBee to Thread). ** Questions for everyone ** 1. What do you think about smart switches? Do you prefer smart bulbs? Are there good enough switches that are HomeKit enabled? 2. Our switches are pretty crazy when it comes to what you can do (ie: notifications on the LED bar that change color depending on events such as: the LED bar flashes purple if the garage is open after 17:00, flashes red if is bad weather etc., Smart Bulb Mode = the switch can be used to control the smart bulbs and do not cut off their power, Scene Control = double / triple tap the switch to activate the scenes, Power Monitoring etc.) - is something of are HomeKit users interested? NOTE: I'm not completely sure of the limitations on what can and can't be done in HomeKit, because of course I haven't used it since I haven't been to this market (and I own an Android - I know ... booo ... I own a MacBook Pro though, so I hope that makes up for it) 3. Since Matter was announced as a new protocol and Apple is part of the project, people are paying attention to this and stick to new products until that project is officially on the market or would you agree to purchase protected products in the future (for example: wire switches that can be firmware upgraded to Matter)? If this becomes internal (I checked and our manufacturer has engineers who can write firmware for Thread), the next step would be to post in our community and I would like to have more feedback there as well. Thanks again for the mods for approval and I look forward to hearing from everyone! Eric Founder | Relevant links: * [https://inovelli.com/](https://inovelli.com/) * Protocol of matter = [https://buildwithmatter.com/](https://buildwithmatter.com/) * Thread Protocol = [https://www.threadgroup.org/](https://www.threadgroup.org/) * Videos about our switches (to get an idea of ​​what they are): [Next Gen Switches](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrIWxG7WsY) | [Fan/Light Switch](https://youtu.be/oRNldsEB3DI)