Adding Matter Device on Yellow Gives "Matter is currently unavailable" Error

Howdy!

I’m trying to use the Matter support for my Home Assistant Yellow for the first time, and I cannot even begin to try to enroll Matter devices.

When I go to Settings > Devices & Services > Devices > Add Device > Add Matter device, I am greeted with a spinning loading wheel, and the toast notification stating Matter is currently unavailable.

Troubleshooting steps taken:

  • Ensured that HA was fully up-to-date within stable releases
  • Removed the Matter server and add-on, rebooted, re-added Matter services, and rebooted again
  • Restarted Android phone
  • Cleared cache for HA companion app
  • Have NOT tried wiping the HAY box completely

Version information:

  • Home Assistant 2023.4.0 running on HassOS 9.5
  • Running on a Home Assistant Yellow PoE
  • Using Home Assistant companion app 2023.3.0-full on Android 13 (Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra)
  • Matter Server running 4.2.0

[Work-around]

Got a response in the Home Assistant Discord with the answer:

the error you have is because of a chicken and the egg issue.
it seems that google requires a home hub in the network at least once to activate the matter support.

I had gotten a Google Hub Mini Gen 2, and took the following steps:

  • I factory reset and set-up the hub normally; adding it to the same network as my Yellow
  • I added one of my Nanoleaf Essentials Matter bulbs to my Google Home account
  • I verified the first bulb was working, then I unplugged the Google Home
  • I then took a different bulb (same model), factory-reset it, and added it using Home Assistant using the pairing code instead of the QR code

It appears that it’s connected, working, and even color control works! It’s a dirty workaround to get Google to behave, but I believe the Google Hub is no longer required from this point.

Some pointers:

  • I have no idea if the Google Hub needs to stay within your Google Home instance in perpetuity
  • The enrollment process in HA can be very flakey. It may fail to pair the first, second, or even third time
    • You may need to try troubleshooting steps, such as powercycling the bulb, factory resetting the bulb, restarting your phone, restarting the Yellow, or praying to a higher power
  • My phone, bulb, and Yellow were all in the same room, relatively close to eachother
  • It took a considerable amount of time for the bulbs to pair. It took roughly 3 minutes for it to connect and pair. Just leave the app alone as it tries to enroll the matter device
  • I did have an issue with some bulbs after updating to HA 2023.4.1 from 2023.4.0. Unsure if rolling-back to the install backup of 2023.4.0 fixed it, or the reboot of my Wi-Fi router did.
  • I even unplugged all other Thread devices as a troubleshooting step. I believe this may have been partially responsible for my success with the last 3 bulbs.