Thread 1.4 Becomes the Only Certified Standard, Bringing Credential Sharing
From January 2026 Thread 1.4 is mandatory for new border-router certification, and credential sharing finally lets devices from different vendors join one mesh instead of separate islands.
Thread 1.4 became the Thread Group's only certified standard from the start of 2026, and it is now mandatory for any new border router seeking certification. The headline change is credential sharing, which allows devices from different manufacturers to join the same mesh network rather than each vendor's hub forming a private one.
The practical effect is the end of a problem that made early Thread deployments frustrating. Under Thread 1.3, released in 2022, a household running hubs from more than one ecosystem ended up with parallel meshes that could not relay for one another, so a light bought for one platform was often invisible to the other. Credential sharing means a single accessory can be reachable from multiple controllers on one network.
For anyone specifying hardware this year, the certification date is the detail that matters. A border router certified before the cutoff is not required to implement credential sharing, so the fragmented behaviour persists in devices already installed. Buying into Thread now means checking the certification level of the router rather than trusting that a 2026 purchase implies 2026 behaviour, and treating any existing hub as a candidate for replacement rather than assuming a firmware update will deliver the fix.
Source: Bitdefender HotForSecurity