Can't add new Matter devices using HA with Apple TV as TBR

Configuration Matter/Thread
1

Hello,

I am trying to add new Matter devices to Home Assistant with my Apple TV 4K 2022 as Thread Border Router but I always get an error saying "Thread Border Router required on your network" or something like that.

It's important to mention that if I add the devices to Apple Home first, then I can add it to Home Assistant using the pairing code from Apple Home. But I can't use the Home Assistant app for comissioning.

Home Assistant doesn't have a Thread dongle but I'm under the impression that if the Apple TV's Thread network is set to "Preferred network" then I should be able to comission new devices into HA without first going through Apple Home?

I have sent credentials to Home Assistant in the HA companion app and I have set my Apple TV network as the preferred network. There are no other available networks.

However, right this moment I have not clicked the three dots on the preferred network and chosen "Use router for Android + iOS credentials" because when I did that the last three times it made an error appear every time I try to commission a new device, something like "Thread network credentials does not match with any of the active thread networks around".

Any help to solve this is greatly appreciated!

Edit: I should add that there is only one entry under Companion app > Debugging > Thread and I cannot remove it. If I try to remove it nothing happens and it never goes away.

2

The HA Companion App can only be used to commission devices onto the HA OTBR based Thread network. I don't know the details as to why, but it could be that the Companion App is not authorized to commission devices onto an Apple based Thread network.

3

Oh, I thought it would be possible. I thought that was the reason for why you have to transfer credentials to HA etc. Are you sure you're not supposed to be able to use the companion app to comission devices onto a Thread network that isn't OTBR?

4

The normal method is to use Apple Home to commission a Matter device onto the Apple Thread network, and then "share" the device to HA Matter Server by following this procedure.

Yes (at least 99.99%) :slight_smile: