Many of the most popular smart home gadgets work fine with multiple protocols, but not always – for example, Amazon's Echo speakers directly support Zigbee, but not Z-wave.
Delve deeper into smart jargon and you’ll see loads of names for wireless communication protocols (essentially the way your devices can chat with each other) alongside Bluetooth and wifi – in particular, Zigbee, Z-Wave and Thread. Many of the most popular smart home gadgets work fine with multiple protocols, but not always – for example, Amazon's Echo speakers directly support Zigbee, but not Z-wave. This slightly confusing situation is partly what makes creating a frictionless smart home so difficult.