Add Philips Hue devices using Matter, not working

[Jannick]

Hi everyone!

Today the new update for the Philips Hue bridge was released, version 1.60. This version introduced support for Matter. I just tried to add the Philips Hue bridge to Homey using the Matter beta in the Homey Pro 2023.

Sadly this resulted in an error message saying: “Kan geen verbinding maken. Er is een time-out opgetreden. Controleer of het apparaat is ingeschakeld en zich in bereik van je (Thread)-router bevindt.”.

I really want to have this integration because the integration build by Athom for Philips Hue is lacking in speed because of it polling the bridge instead of getting changes (like button presses) real-time from the Hue Bridge.

Is there a way we can get this to work?

Thank you!

[Peter_Kawa]

Afaik you still need a 3rd party thread border router, until it’s added to Homey firmware.

[Jannick]

I have a Apple TV 4K 2023 and two Google Home Hubs (Gen 2). Is there a way to get it to work using those?

[robertklep]

Hue devices don’t use Thread, they use Zigbee (that hasn’t changed). The Hue update enables accessing those devices over Matter, instead of over the Hue Bridge’s proprietary protocol.

I don’t see why Homey wouldn’t be able to access the Hue Bridge over Matter now, but given that Homey’s Matter support is still in beta, it’s likely that there’s some bugs that need to be fixed.

[Hans_Eisink]

My Hue Bridge is also updated to version 1.60 and is perfoming well with my homey. Is it not so that Hue Bridge can now support Matter devices. Try to acces your Hue devices with the Homey app Hue with the bridge.

[robertklep]

@Hans_Eisink

My Hue Bridge is also updated to version 1.60 and is perfoming well with my homey. Is it not so that Hue Bridge can now support Matter devices.

I would expect both: the Hue bridge being able to use devices from other Matter bridges, and other Matter controllers (like Homey) being able to use Hue devices over Matter.

But perhaps it’s only limited to the first, I don’t know (I don’t use Hue).

Try to acces your Hue devices with the Homey app Hue with the bridge.

That’s exactly that OP is trying to avoid.

[Hans_Eisink]

Thanks for your reply. I didn’t read it carefully enough.

[Peter_Kawa]

This seems a good guide:

How to see if Hue devices are controlled using Matter?

Try to get your Hue lights working when you have Removed the Philips Hue App for Homey | Homey You should try adding the Hue lights using the process described in https://support.homey.app/hc/en-us/articles/9075551662108-Matter-Beta-for-Homey-Pro-Early-2023- How To Use Matter To pair a Matter device: Open the Homey app and select Devices in the tab bar below. Tap the + symbol in the top right corner and tap on the Homey logo. Tap the Matter tile to start pairing a Matter device to Homey …

[Simon_Vinzens]

also not working here.

But I was able to add hue bridge with matter in Apple Home.

[Jannick]

Can somebody confirm this works? I don’t really like to remove the Philips Hue app. I use it in a lot of flows to turn lights on and off.

[Jannick]

Yes, adding the bridge to Apple Home is not an issue. Adding it to Homey sadly does not.

[Simon_Vinzens]

So when removing the Hue App its working with Matter?

[JaccoStraaijer]

In my case it works!
Lights work now via Matter. Switches however are not supported yet by homey (as indicated in the How to documentation of Athom):

When adding a matter device in Homey, automatically the hue bridge appeared in the add device screen. After selecting it requested the paring code.

Pairing codes for Matter-compatible accessories can be requested in the Hue app by tapping the plus button in the Settings → Smart Home screen.

[Peter_Kawa]

@Jannick

I don’t really like to remove the Philips Hue app. I use it in a lot of flows to turn lights on and off.

Offtopic, but when you need to fix a bunch of flows, there’s a great script which can replace ‘old’ with ‘new’ devices of the same type in one go: [HOW-TO][Pro][Cloud] - Tool to FIX (advanced) flows after removing and re-adding devices

@JaccoStraaijer
Hi Jacco,
Is it an idea to create an “Howto add Hue Matter devices to Pro 2023” topic, for anyone struggling with this?

[RickardDehlin]

@Jannick

Yes, adding the bridge to Apple Home is not an issue. Adding it to Homey sadly does not.

After you have added a Matter device to the first Matter Controller you need to share the Matter code from your new controller, not from the Matter device.

So you should find Hue Bridge in Apple Home and from there activate pairing mode, that should give you the Matter pairing code. Then open your Homey app and add e new device, Homey, Matter, enter your Matter pairing code from Apple Home.

[JaccoStraaijer]

I will try to delete and re-add the matter nodes this weekend to make a how to. That will be playing around a little.

[Simon_Vinzens]

this would be great… no luck here to pair hue via matter to homey. also not with the pairing via the home app. infinit timeout there

[JaccoStraaijer]

You can try this already:

How to see if Hue devices are controlled using Matter?

Try this: Does the homey app have access to your camera? If so: First go to the HUE app. Select settings → smart home → other apps. Then you get in the matter menu of hue. Select the button to get a code and copy it: [IMG_4858] Then go to homey app and add a matter device as you did. At the scan code screen push the scan code button and in the following screen select more options: [IMG_4856] The following screen appears: [IMG_4857] Select the bridge bringing you to a screen requesti…

[robertklep]

You don’t have a “special” network setup, like using VLAN’s, double NAT, separate IoT network, etc?

[Undertaker]

I can confirm this. All Hue bulbs and the outdoor motion detectors are recognised. The dimmer switch and the Hue button still give error messages.
(Off topic) The devices of the Switchbot Hub 2 are also recognised via Matter.