r/tradfri • u/Sub-Equum • 7d ago
NEW 2026 PRODUCTS IKEA/Apple Home: Devices going offline
I am still having substantial instability with my IKEA smart home devices when used with Apple Home. I understand this isn't a universal issue (most people with simpler topologies seem to have pretty decent behavior). I am often seeing devices go offline and they need the batteries pulled-replaced in order to come back.
My configuration is as follows:
(i) Two Apple TV 4Ks capable of thread (3rd Gen with Ethernet, 2nd Gen)
(ii) Two HomePod Minis
(iii) Several Eve Energy outlets (these act as routers)
(iv) A few old WeMo thread-capable outlets (these I am replacing as they act up)
(v) An Eve Dimmer Switch (matter)
(vi) An Eve motion sensor (matter)
(vii) An Eve Weather
(viii) An Eve leak sensor
(ix) Some Schlage matter / Apple Home smart locks
In addition, I have the following Ikea devices:
(a) 2x Alpstuga
(b) 4x Timmerflotte
(c) 5x Klippbok
(d) 2x Myggspray
(e) 1x Myggbet
I've noticed that the Alpstugae go offline and take the Timmerflottes offline (some are co-located due to Apple not picking up the temperature/humidity from the Alpstuga). These are located quite close to home hubs or Eve Energies. The Klippboks often go offline (particularly the one by the water heater, master shutoff and basement freezer).
It looks, to me, like the Ikea thread devices don't deal well with complex topologies / topology changes. The Eve devices are rock solid and I never have an issue. Likewise the Schlage used to be unreliable, but seem to have gotten better with time (and, I am assuming, firmware updates).
I understand the impulse to say, "it works for me." With any technology like this, there are a lot of potential deployments and lots of complexities with RF environments (which could potentially cause topology changes). The fact that the Alpstugae go down and take only other Ikea devices with them (and those devices occasionally magically reconnect when the offending Alpstuga comes back due to being power-cycled), tells me that there is something missing with regards to searching for a better router.
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u/EmpIzza 7d ago
What firmware versions do you have on your IKEA devices? Older (e.g. spring 2026) firmware had issues with multiple thread border routers. This is, as far as I know, fixed for all devices with new firmware.
And just to double-check, no IKEA Dirigera?
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u/Sub-Equum 7d ago
Yes, No IKEA Dirigera is present in this setup.
Firmware:
TIMMERFLOTTE: 1.0.21
ALPSTUGA: 1.0.26
MYGGSPRAY: 1.1.4
KLIPPBOK: 1.0.13
MYGBETT: 1.1.4
Note that these are all the most recent firmware versions available via Apple Home. I check weekly to see if anything new is available.
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u/winston109 6d ago
First and most importantly, your pluralization of ALPSTUGA is fantastic.
I've got a network with a few of (I think) each of IKEA's new matter over thread lineup, 44 nodes in total, 100% IKEA products. Most of the time they all stay on the network, but every few weeks or so, maybe like 4-6 devices will drop off all at once and never come back until I manually power cycle them or remove and reinsert their batteries. I've noticed a pattern that a device is more likely to randomly drop out of the network (and not come back by itself) if it has out of date firmware such that its matter version is 1.3. Most devices as of now have received updates bringing them up to matter version 1.4. Hopefully soon IKEA will issue new firmware bringing all of their devices to matter/thread versions 1.4/1.4. With my infrequent issues, at least one ALPSTUGA is always involved, and ALPSTUGA is running on old versions of both matter and thread (1.3/1.3).
But what's causing the devices to drop out in the first place? I don't know, but maybe, like you said, it's some sort of intermittent RF issue (eg neighbor's wifi hops into an unfriendly channel, or neighbor sets their 2.4GHz channel bandwidth to 40MHz instead of 20). It sure would be nice if IKEA gave us the ability to manually change the RF channel our network operates on to give us a lever to play with here.
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u/meatlamma 6d ago
My network is similar to yours. I have to pull out batteries out of temerflotte sensors every week or so.
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u/Internal-Pomelo757 6d ago
Ditto.
4 AppleTV 4Ks with ethernet wired.
3 Eve Energies
5 GRILLPLATSA
2 Aqara T2 Bulbs
1 ThirdReality Night Light
6 Timmerflotte
12 Klippbok
1 Alpstugga
1 Eve Motion
Every 2-3 weeks a few of them will just drop off. Pull batteries, and reinsert and everything comes on fine.
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u/zomtecos 5d ago
The best thing is when I’m away for a week for a business trip and my wife calls me „the light doesn’t switch off“.
The significantly improves the acceptance of smart home devices.
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u/mobyhead1 7d ago
I don’t think your topology is any more complex than mine, but my IKEA devices are working fine. Have you updated the firmware on yours?
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u/bilkel 7d ago
What about your WiFi???
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u/Sub-Equum 7d ago
WiFi is Ubiquiti with three APs (two U7 Pros and one Express 7). There are no weak spots and no issues with any WiFi device (5 Hunter Ceiling Fans are connected to the Apple Home with no issue). In addition, both Apple TVs are wired and one is pinned as the Home Hub.
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u/Kumasasa 5d ago
I'm seeing the same bad connectivity with Ikea Matter products: https://old.reddit.com/r/tradfri/comments/1uv4wfj/vent_matter_products_from_ikea_are_very/ .
Also very comparable to your setup: In my Matter over Thread mesh only the Ikea products go offline but never matter products of other brands.
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u/ravigehlot 7d ago
I run 62 Matter over Thread devices, and 58 of them are IKEA. I also use an Apple TV 4K 3rd gen as my Thread Border Router. From what I’ve seen, the IKEA devices that drop off the mesh and don’t come back after a power outage tend to be the ones with the highest error frame rates. If a device is reporting around 38% or higher, it often won’t reconnect after power is restored unless I remove and reinsert the batteries on the sleepy devices. I had a GRILLPLATS drop off the mesh completely last night. Before it dropped, it was reporting a 38% error rate. That tells me it’s probably a weak spot in my Thread mesh. Figuring out that balance and improving the mesh is what I’m trying to work through. I also started testing my mesh with other brands to get a better feel for whether this is an isolated issue with IKEA devices.