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I went to upgrade my Home to Matter today only to find that the iPad is no longer supported as a Hub. I don't have any need for the main functions of either Homepod or Apple TV so I have no devices to act as a home hub save this one iPad.

One clue for me is the Home app on my phone and iPad say that a "supported third-party border router" is another option. I've tried Googling this without any luck and I don't think I've got a grasp on how these work.

Does anyone know if any third-party routers actually exist?

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  • Welcome to Ask Different. What are you trying to do here? Do you have actual accessories you want to use? Is this a shopping question?
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 27 at 14:18
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    Hey Mike, thanks for replying. Yes, basically a shopping question :) I'm a HomeKit user already, and use my iPad as a hub for out-of-home access to things like my security system. The iPad isn't supported with the new Home architecture, stopping me upgrading to the new, more reliable system. I'm wondering what my options are if I don't really need a Homepod or AppleTV given that Matter seems to be the way things are moving.
    – Jamie Keene
    Apr 27 at 14:30
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    Good news and bad news for you - we allow software recommendations by design, but the help center explicitly discourages shopping where you're looking for price. In this case, it might not get closed since you want to know about the tech. I would suggest you edit in something very specific and practical. Do you want a lock? A video system? making it concrete will help people focus on practical answers and not just vote to close as "needs details" or "unclear" since it's very hard for us to know what you do and don't know. Showing your research also helps us meet you where you got stuck.
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 27 at 14:42
  • I've removed the chit chat TIA and shown how I would document research with a very specific search. Now people might say - hit #3 is what you need to read or maybe that lets you research and make an answer?
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 27 at 14:46

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A very nice list of bridges that support Matter (and Thread) are listed in the mid section of this article:

As you can see - this is changing fast, and may be the reason that the original HomePod was scuttled so fast and Apple didn't revamp the larger HomePod till just recently. The IOT space has been very fragmented, very fragile (products dropped and not supported, companies going bankrupt and getting acquired / sunset) and interoperability / who owns it / who patches it / who gets data from it is not simple at all.

I can't recommend any of these yet - but have high hopes thread will help with connectivity and Matter with interoperability, but it's all to be seen if any of it is worth the hassle. You may have to go with the specific accessories you need if you don't want to spring for a HomePod mini - at this point I would get a device that supports both Thread and Matter and whose privacy / patching / data collection policies make you comfortable with them in your home.

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