Does hub firmware 52.11 enable device updates for 3rd party devices? I thought I read somewhere it did, I was hoping to see some of my IKEA bulbs get firmware updates but it don’t see any evidence of updates and I don’t believe they are on the latest firmware. My.smartthings.com shows version 23087631 of e27 white spectrum bulb , but I think the version should be
White spectrum bulb E14/E27/GU10 (2.3.095)
Can we tell if the hub supports firmware updates, and if so for which brands?
We always had over the air (OTA) Zigbee firmware updates, but only for device manufacturers who sent those updates to SmartThings, of which there are not very many. (And IKEA is not one.) we still don’t have third-party Zwave updates.
What you probably saw was a new feature which causes Zigbee devices which have a firmware update available to show up in the SmartThings app with a little blue U-turn arrow on them. It’s the icon that’s new, not the functionality.
I have just checked what software versions my IKEA appliances have and they are all out of date. I guess I have to get a Tradfri gateway to make update.
Can’t see much point in introducing the new update symbol if they’re not planning to push firmware. I hope it’s a sign of things to come (but know it’s a long shot)
The options before if I recall correctly were disabled or automatic, the addition is just the manual option to update on individual basis.
I believe it’s in preparation for Matter OTA updates where you’ll be able to apply updates not verified by SmartThings:
By the way, has there been any addition to the supported upgradeable devices? So far only some Eve devices can be upgraded, which is still great news for Android users since there’s no Eve app yet.
If you can afford it, at this point I would definitely consider getting the IKEA Dirigera hub instead of the Tradfri.
The Dirigera has been announced to eventually get Matter Bridge capability, which will give you a lot more options in the future. For example, you would be able to pair some IKEA devices (although not all models) to the Dirigera, and then bring them over to SmartThings that way so they are simultaneously connected to both platforms. That would make any future firmware updates a lot easier.
The feature hasn’t been delivered yet, and there’s no specific promised timeline, but I do think the Dirigera is a better hub for multiple reasons right now.
But of course, it’s up to you, particularly since Matter support still hasn’t been released. 
Looks like they actually released the Matter bridge functionality in beta a few days ago.
Is there a list anywhere of manufacturers who do supply firmware updates through Smartthings? Would be useful to know and could influence purchasing decisions.
So you are saying that I can connect all ikea devices to the Dirigera hub and then connect it to Smarthings hub? And devices connected to Dirigera will look same as devices connected directly to ST?
The beta Matter bridge function is only for lights at the moment so I guess that means no buttons / remotes / sensors.
It won’t be the same as having them connected directly via Zigbee to the SmartThings hub, for starters you won’t be able to use custom drivers because there are no custom light drivers for Matter.
ikea has just started to roll out this functionality and it is done on a model by model basis, so we don’t yet know which devices will be supported long term.
As @mocelet noted, right now the ikea Beta only includes lights. No buttons, no speakers, no air purifiers.
it will likely never be exactly the same features as what the device has in its own app or what the device has when directly connected to SmartThings. It’s up to each device manufacturer which features they choose to implement for each model. And Matter itself doesn’t support all features. For example, right now scenes created in the device’s own app are not shared via Matter.
what you should get once IKEA provides a Matter bridge is full functionality in IKEA’s own app, including firmware updates, plus basic functionality in the SmartThings app, such as on/off/dim, all without requiring any custom code. But only for the specific models IKEA has released bridging support for.
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Whether that will be useful to you or not will depend on the specific details of each use case and which models/features IKEA chooses to support.
But since the comment was specifically about buying a Tradfri hub solely for the purpose of being able to update firmware, and since updating firmware that way would require removing each device from ST, adding it to Tradfri, updating the firmware, removing it from Tradfri, adding it back to ST, then rebuilding any affected routines—and since you would have to go through that each time for each device any time you needed a firmware update—it seemed worth considering a Dirigera hub instead since any devices that could be connected via Matter bridge could then be on both platforms simultaneously and so get their firmware updates way easier. Choice is good. 