Hi,
I’m new Home Assistant and need some advice trying to get Nanoleaf Thread/Matter lights moved over to HA.
I have multiple Apple Thread Border Routers (four HomePod Minis and two Apple TVs) and all are added successfully to HA. However, none of them is set as the preferred Thread Border Router in HA.
Before I move forward, I’m wondering if I should add the TBR that’s my preferred TBR in HomeKit and runs my current Thread network or if that will mess things up and it’s better to add a different one. Meaning, can two home control platforms (Home Assistant and HomeKit) both access the same primary Thread Border Router at the same time?
I assume after I set a preferred TBR in HA, I then just add the Nanoleaf lights as Matter devices? Is that preferable to adding via the HomeKit Controller?
Thanks in advance. 
Thread border routers are just routers on your network. Similar to your Wi-Fi router, it just passes packets back and forth between subnets; any device on your network can use it.
Home Assistant displays Thread networks that it detects have access to your LAN via a border router. You only need to select a preferred thread network (not TBR) in HA if you plan on commissioning new Matter-overThread devices with the HA mobile companion app.
Since you have Apple TBRs and an iPhone, you can commission new [Matter] devices using the Apple Home app, which is is actually easier than using the HA app because uou don’t need to deal with preferred networks or credentials datasets. Once the device is in Apple Home, you can get a sharing code to add it to HA [Matter].
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Thanks so, so much for the info. It really helped! There was another lengthy reply that disappeared and I wanted to profusely thank that person because it was exactly what I needed to get going.
@peterxian, that is super helpful info on the TBR vs Thread network. That explains what happed and why all my TBRs are included in the preferred network. Also, I find it interesting that one has to use the iPhone/iPad app to pass along the credentials - the web interface (even on an Apple device) won’t suffice.
Also, adding the Matter device was SO much easier - and slicker, than I had expected. I thought I’d have to do some kludgy stuff like when you add a HomeKit Connect device but it was super easy. I didn’t even have to find the end of the LED strips to put the devices into pairing mode - it was all passed along via HomeKit. I was instantly notified by HomeKit that the device was also added to HA and it’s kept full control in HomeKit (including HomeKey support for my Aqara U200). Very nice surprise. 
Thanks again!