as Hue is now supporting Matter I’ve played around with it today. Unfortunately, I am a little bit lost. Maybe somebody can provide some guidance.
I’ve activated Matter in the Hue app
I see the code to couple the Hue bridge in the app, but what now?
In my Homey Pro 23 I am using the Hue app and all my Hue devices are working fine, but I would assume not using Matter as I did not change anything in the Homey configuration.
What do I need to do that Homey talks to my Hue bridge using Matter?
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 Pro. It is not necessary to install apps for Matter devices, Homey Pro will figure out the capabilities of the device without installing any apps.
Once you tap on the Matter tile, the pairing process will start. Follow the steps on screen to pair the device. Make sure your mobile device is in Bluetooth range of the device you are trying to pair, as the first few steps of the process require a Bluetooth connection between your mobile device and the Matter device. The Homey App should be updated to version 7.1or higher, and your mobile device should be running iOS 16.5 (or higher) or Android 8 (or higher). It is not possible to pair Matter devices via the Web App since native iOS or Android pairing is used to onboard the device onto the Thread network (using Bluetooth).
If pairing is successful, the Matter device will be connected to your Homey, and you can use it as any other device.
If it works without Hue App on your Homey, you are using Matter successfully.
Thank you for the quick reply. Clicking on the plus button I do not see a Matter tile. That explains where I am stuck. Homey seems to search for devices, bit nothing is found. The app version is 7.4.0, Samsung S21 with Android 13.
I will test tomorrow without checking the Hue app installed.
For me it’s not working. I’ve deleted the Hue app, clicked on the pus button to add a new device, and I see that Homey finds Hue devices. I am not selecting this, but clicking on “Homey” and the choose “Matter”. In the popup window I choose “connect” and then there is only a “scan code” button". Clicking on this button brings me directly to the error message “connectino failed”. I can retry, which brings me back to the “scan code” popup window.
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:
thanks for the answer. The issue here is that I do not get to the window to enter the code. When I push “scan code” the described error message is shown. I am not able to scan a code using the camero nor can I click on “more options”.
Through the app it uses the api I guess, through matter a direct connection on the LAN between HUE brisge and Homey. For light bulbs no app is needed as they are handled by Homey itself.
Yes, tried that. I am under the assumption that there is something wrong with the Android app. The Homey app is not opening the pop-up window and normally it should ask for access to the camera as I cannot remember to have used the camera before in conjunction with the Homey app. I tried to explicitely grant access to the camera in the app authorizations, but I wasn’t able to find a corresponding entry. Additional to that I am stuck independently from Hue as I cannot add any Matter device. I guess I will pick this up again with the next Homey app update.
What I am wondering is what is the function of the HUE bridge (and other bridges) after you add it via matter to homey. The bulbs are then directly visible in homey.
Are the lamps then controlled directly via Homey or is there still a connection to the HUE-bridge first. And do the MATTER lamps in homey also join the mesh network, or does that still depend on the HUE-bridge. Do the matter lamps also use the existing routers, or do they also have to be added via matter.
The only thing that has changed is the way Homey communicates with the bridges. Before it was using the proprietary Hue protocol, now it’s using the Matter protocol. That’s it.
In addition to that I think the original Homey Hue app communicates throught the official HUE cloud integration to the bridge (so over internet). Matter communicates over LAN with the bridge and adding HUE lamps to Homey as a zigbee devce let’s Zigbee control lamps directly.
In my opinion now the first option (over internet) is least favorable unless you would like the switches to work (as matter currently does not support them YET). However without internet connection, no connection and it is slooowwwwwww…
then Matter: direct connection to the bridge from Homey, responsive and the original HUE functionality like scenes and e.g. for now Ambilight+HUE for Philipps TV’s are available throught the HUE app. Downside: it indeed builds it’s own zigbee network which is obviously a downside compared to having one zigbee network in your home (in terms of stability and interference)
Then direct zigbee connection from Homey to Hue devices: I do not know if all devices are supported via zigbee, but assuming they are, from a zigbee network point of view the favorable solution. However you do not have the hue functionality that comes with the bridge and hue app at hand.
It is up to everybody’s personal preference to decide which connection suit him best.
@robertklep@Dijker: this is my short analysis on the different possibilities. Anything I missed according to you?
It is not necessary to install apps for Matter devices, Homey Pro will figure out the capabilities of the device without installing any apps.
if you add all Zigbee devices to one controller… Then you build one strong mesh network.