Smart Homes Made Simple.

Smart homes are supposed to make life easier. Getting one set up? Not so much.

Hi, I’m Ben. When I got a smart home hub from my housing developer, I had no clue where to begin. So, I did what most people would do. Dive headfirst into Google (ChatGPT wasn’t a thing yet). The more I researched, the more confused I became.

Building an open smart home, one flexible enough to mix devices from different brands and protocols, sounds simple in theory. In practice, devices that should work together often don’t.

Compatibility, or rather the lack of it, was the biggest headache (Matter devices didn’t exist back then). My Google Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen), for instance, couldn’t communicate with my Apple Home ecosystem.

Along the way, I had so many questions:

• Which ecosystem is best for me — Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, SmartThings, or something else?
• Can I mix devices from different brands?
• What’s the difference between Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, and Thread protocols?
• Why is one of them named after something you’d find in a sewing kit?
• Where do I even start — lights, plugs, security?

I started Mesh with a beginner’s guide I wished I had. It grew from there.

Welcome to Mesh.