We’ve had a HAOS installation in place for several years. It’s running out of a VM on an ESXi server, has multiple USB devices passed through to it, does Z-Wave and Zigbee like a champ, pulls data over radio from three different RTL-based SDRs, and generally handles home automation tasks beautifully.
Except for Matter. I absolutely cannot get Matter to work, and have no idea what it is that I might be doing wrong. I’m now at the end of two weeks of fighting with it, and from of all of the documentation (official and otherwise) that I’ve read, cannot grasp what the problem(s) might be. By all measures, it should be working - but it’s not.
Configuration is as follows: Home Assistant OS, Core 2026.9.1, Supervisor 2026.09.0, Operating System 18.2, Frontend 20260826.6, Companion app 2026.9.0 (2026.2874). A Sonoff Dongle Plus MG24 running OpenThread firmware (flashed via the HAOS Sonoff Dongle Flasher app) version 2.4.4 is acting as the Thread border router, and the OTBR app is at version 3.1.2. Z-Wave and Zigbee adapters are a Sonoff PZG23 and 3.0 USB Dongle Plus, respectively. The Matter Server app as well as the Matter and Thread integrations are installed and apparently working. Everything across the system should be considered up-to-date and current as of the time of writing.
Here’s what happens when I attempt to add a device via QR code using the companion app:
Every single time, that’s all I get regardless of the device that is attempting to be commissioned. The app goes through both the ‘Contacting’ and ‘Setting Up’ phases, then errors out with this exact message. The logs have literally nothing in them - even when set to debug level - that indicates what the problem might be.
For reference, that screenshot was taken after again attempting to commission a freshly factory-reset Ikea Kajplats light bulb, model no. 106.114.96 with an E12 base. There are three other devices that have produced similar results: a pair of Ikea Timmerflotte temperature / humidity sensors (model no. 506.189.57) and an LG 65UT80 TV. I realise that the Timmerflotte sensors are known to be touchy, and having the TV added to Matter is a near-zero-priority consideration so have only used it as a test device with no intention of putting it into production in the future. The light bulb definitely needs to be functional in HA, though, because one of the roles it’s intended to fulfill is establishing the Matter RF mesh outside of the server closet - and the Timmerflottes will eventually need to route through it once it’s working. FWIW, placing the light bulb into Zigbee mode causes it to join the Zigbee mesh without issue and be controllable as expected via HA, so it is believed to be functional.
The nearest Ikea to us is three hours away in another State, so returning the devices (which were purchased in-store) and trying replacement items isn’t really a practical proposition. There’s no reason at this time to suspect that they’re not working correctly, however. Mentioning this because we’re in a fairly rural location, so obtaining other devices to potentially test with involves mail order and wondering which of their delivery targets Amazon will fail to meet this time.
I no longer have any Android devices, so can’t test if this may be an issue with the iOS Companion App. However, there is no reason to believe that it is at this time.
Being new to both Matter and Thread, it’s entirely possible that I’m missing something basic in configuration which is causing the issues that I’m seeing. The problem, though, is that the lack of information in the logs has me a) baffled since HA and its components are usually really good at logging their activity, and b) left in the dark as to where to go with troubleshooting at this point since I am inexperienced with Matter and thus have exhausted my knowledge on the subject.
Any help that can be offered would be greatly appreciated, and I am more than willing to provide any further information that may be necessary to assist in that regard.
