Why you need a smart home hub
When you use the remote, you are controlling your shade directly.
When you use a smart home system, something different is happening. Your shade becomes part of your home, alongside your lights, thermostat, and other devices. It can appear in your smart home app, respond to voice commands, and run automatically as part of scenes or schedules.
To make that possible, your shade needs a way to communicate with your home.
That communication does not happen through your phone alone. Instead, it happens through a device in your home that is always on and always connected. This device is called a smart home hub.
The hub acts as the bridge between your shade and your smart home system. It allows your shade to stay connected, respond quickly, and continue working even when your phone is not nearby. To use features like automations or Eco Mode, your home needs at least one compatible hub that supports both Matter and Thread.
What “Matter” and “Thread” mean here
Mado shades use two technologies to connect to your smart home.
Matter is what allows your shade to work across different platforms like Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and SmartThings.
Thread is the wireless network your shade uses to communicate inside your home. It is designed to be fast, reliable, and low power.
Like any wireless system, distance matters. For reliable day-to-day control, your shade should be within range of a Thread-enabled device in your home, such as your hub or another Thread device. In most homes, this means placing your shade within about 20 feet of a compatible device, or having additional Thread devices nearby to extend coverage.
For everything to work correctly, your smart home hub needs to support both Matter and Thread.
Supported smart home hubs
The devices below are known to work as hubs that support Matter and Thread for Mado shades.
How to read this table:
Supports Matter → The device can communicate using the Matter standard
Works with Mado → The device supports both Matter and Thread and can connect to your shade
Years available → When the product has been sold new (approximate retail availability)
Apple
Model | Supports Matter | Works with Mado | Years available |
Apple HomePod mini | ✅ | ✅ | 2020–present |
Apple HomePod (2nd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2023–present |
Apple HomePod (1st gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2018–2021 |
Apple TV 4K (2nd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2021–present |
Apple TV 4K (3rd gen, Wi-Fi + Ethernet) | ✅ | ✅ | 2022–present |
Apple TV 4K (3rd gen, Wi-Fi only) | ✅ | ❌ | 2022–present |
Apple TV 4K (1st gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2017–2021 |
Apple TV HD | ❌ | ❌ | 2015–present |
Amazon
Model | Supports Matter | Works with Mado | Years available |
Amazon Echo (4th gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2020–present |
Amazon Echo (3rd gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2019–2023 |
Echo Studio (1st gen, updated) | ✅ | ✅ | 2019–present |
Echo Studio (2nd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2024–present |
Echo Plus (2nd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2018–2021 |
Echo Plus (1st gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2017–2018 |
Echo Hub | ✅ | ✅ | 2023–present |
Echo Show 8 (3rd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2023–present |
Echo Show 8 (1st & 2nd gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2019–2023 |
Echo Show 10 (3rd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2021–present |
Echo Show 10 (earlier gens) | ❌ | ❌ | 2017–2019 |
Echo Show 15 (2nd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2024–present |
Echo Show 15 (1st gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2022–2024 |
Echo Show 21 | ✅ | ✅ | 2024–present |
eero Pro 6E | ✅ | ✅ | 2022–present |
eero Pro 6 | ✅ | ✅ | 2020–present |
eero 6+ | ✅ | ✅ | 2021–present |
eero 6 | ✅ | ✅ | 2020–present |
eero Max 7 | ✅ | ✅ | 2023–present |
eero Pro | ✅ | ✅ | 2019–present |
eero Beacon | ✅ | ✅ | 2019–present |
eero PoE 6 / PoE Gateway | ✅ | ✅ | 2023–present |
eero (1st gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2016–2019 |
Model | Supports Matter | Works with Mado | Years available |
Nest Hub (2nd gen) | ✅ | ✅ | 2021–present |
Nest Hub (1st gen) | ❌ | ❌ | 2018–2021 |
Nest Hub Max | ✅ | ✅ | 2019–present |
Nest Wifi Pro | ✅ | ✅ | 2022–present |
Nest Wifi (non-Pro) | ❌ | ❌ | 2019–2022 |
Google TV Streamer (4K) | ✅ | ✅ | 2024–present |
Chromecast w/ Google TV | ❌ | ❌ | 2020–2024 |
Samsung
Model | Supports Matter | Works with Mado | Years available |
SmartThings Hub v3 | ✅ | ✅ | 2018–present |
SmartThings Station | ✅ | ✅ | 2023–present |
Aeotec Smart Home Hub | ✅ | ✅ | 2021–present |
Aeotec Smart Home Hub 2 | ✅ | ✅ | 2024–present |
Select Samsung Smart TVs (2023+) | ✅ | ✅ | 2023–present |
Older Samsung Smart TVs | ❌ | ❌ | pre-2023 |
A quick way to tell
If your device is listed with a ✅ under Works with Mado, you’re ready to connect your shade.
If it’s not listed or shows ❌, your shade will still work with the remote, but you’ll need a compatible hub to use smart home features.
If you still need help
Tap the chat icon in the lower right. We’re a small but mighty team and will respond as quickly as possible.