Ikea looks to be further ramping up its Matter smart home efforts with a brand new device leaking.
The Ikea Bilresa Dual Button, spotted by the guys over at homewithapple, looks all set to be the Scandinavian furniture giant’s first Matter-over-Thread smart switch.
Ikea does, of course, have a few smart switch and smart button options already – with brilliant names like Rodret, Somrig and Strybar – but none with the Matter and Thread skills of the Bilresa, which would mean that not only could it be used to control your Ikea smart home kit, but also anything Matter compatible too, without the need for a native Ikea hub.
So you could have it turn on and off Hue, Nanoleaf or Govee lights, have it open Eve smart shades, or even get it to kick your Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra into action.
Basically, anything you have connected to your Matter smart home system – whether you’re using HomeKit, Alexa, SmartThings, Google Home or something more niche like Homey or Home Assistant – should, in theory, be controllable by the leaked Ikea Dual Button, no matter what Matter controller you use.
Ikea has really been making a go of it in the past few months on the smart home front, after initially dipping its toes into the smart home world a few years back with its Trådfri platform.
Ikea’s Dirigera smart home hub went live almost three years ago now – forcing a long overdue retirement for the ageing Trådfri Gateway – and was revamped last year for cross-brand compatibility with a Matter infused update.
However, the Dirigera isn’t a Matter controller, nor does it have Thread border router capabilities; it’s merely a Matter bridge
The Swedish meatball specialist also looks set to launch the Matter-over-Thread Timmerflotte temperature and humidity sensor soon too, after it was spotted at the FCC.
So, either Ikea is going to rely on customers using other brand’s Matter controllers and Thread Border Routers, such as an Apple TV, Echo Hub or Homey Pro, or it has a new controller in the works to control all of these new devices that are popping up.
My guess… it’ll be the latter.
We’ll keep you posted.
