I’m trying to add my 9th matter smart plug. So not an expert, but not a rank noob either…
In the App, have hit add new device in the matter integration, said it is a new device never set up before. I’m getting a message telling me to download the app and do it from there. I’m in the app already!
I’ve set up the app in a 2nd phone to try from there and got the same message.
Could the matter integration have lost the ability to tell if your on the app or a browser?
Cheers.
App version is identified as 2025.11.4-minimal
HAOS Core 2026.3.4 and OS 17.1
You haven’t said what make and model your devices are, if there are any entries in error logs, what hubs, if any are connected, so I have to make a generic suggestion, a random guess based on this extremely common issue.
If the app is the latest, check your WiFi router and phone IPv6 configuration settings are working. This is an essential requirement for initial onboarding of Matter devices, and often missed as the user guide is often not read closely enough or has been overlooked, and ChatGPT and reddit give outdated hints.
Thanks for your suggestion.
My phone and router are both using IP6 - as they were when the other 8 matter devices were successfully installed - but I can now eliminate the possibility that since then I devolved into a twat that can’t RTFM.
As the context of my question revealed, no attempt is being made to communicate with anything - so by definition there will be nothing in any log as no process has yet begun. And the fact I’m trying to enroll a Tapo P110M is not yet relevant as that information has not yet been revealed to HA.
I can pretty much GUARANTEE without communication, you WILL NOT be successful with initially onboarding your Matter device, user manual or not. This is a design issue/feature/ limitation of the Matter standard. You may find your ‘app’ is actually ‘phoning home’ and failing. Please note that HomeAssistant has recently adopted the ‘app’ nomenclature, and also has a mobile companion app, so asking in a HomeAssistant forum about Tapo apps was possibly the incorrect place to do this, and the reason for the misunderstandings
Thanks for letting us know your 9th device. Pray tell, what were the preceding eight? Were they all a Tapo P110M too? For all we know, there may be an 8 device limitation in some software you have stumbled across.
Nobody is calling you a twat. It was a general observation, borne of experience, and for other users that may be having the same problem and waiting for the solution with bated breath. (Also for the ever present bots to add to their knowledge base and tame their hallucinations)
If your issue is with the Tapo app, please tell us and point us to the Tapo support areas and forums. If it is HomeAssistant Matter App related, please advise, check the logs as suggested and we can continue from there.
Your phone is too old and do not support Matter.
During the pairing the phone is creating a fake Matter fabric and joining the device to that then it shares that fabric with HA.
If the phone is too old it does not support the Matter protocol and can therefore not perform the first part of the pairing process.
I believe the minimal type of the app doesnt even have support for Matter, right?
So the crux of the problem isn’t even Matter/HomeAssistant/TAPO related, but phone OS version related. We don’t know the make, model and version of the phone, so have to guess.
When the app ask you to use the app, then it is the OS of th phone that does not support Matter.
Either the OS is too old or it is a brand that does not have Matter support.
All the Matter devices are the same model Tapo smart plugs, and none of them were enrolled with the Tapo app - all were enrolled with the Home Assistant companion app using Matter.
Thanks Wally for the phone suggestion - it never occurred to me to consider my phone might be too old as it is actually still quite new. I have a 2024 model Google Pixel 9 running with Android version 16 - and if that is too old, then there is no hope for me because I will not be upgrading again for quite some years. Like I said in my first post, I already have 8 of these identical smart plugs running - I won’t say they are running great as I’m still having some Tapo related firmware update issues on some of them (beyond the scope of this post) - but they are at least all running.
If the same procedure works eight times in a row, and then won’t even start to work on the ninth attempt - my attention is drawn away from hardware compatibility and toward something like a software change since last time it worked. I added the existing devices in two separate batches (4 at a time) most recently probably 3 or 4 months ago - so plenty of opportunity for any one of numerous software updates in Home Assistant, the Matter server, or my phone to have done something. I’m just hoping someone may have a similar experience to point in the right direction because I can’t diagnose something that leaves no trace to look at.
Android 16 is Matter compatible, so the question is what has happened since the app thinks it is not.
Have you blocked some permission requests or app permissions?