Ive done all this to make my new thread network as preferred network on my mobile device (android), clear cache data etc. This is really a pain to reconfigure every thing again, wallet, smart watch etc. Then is working and i could add some new thread devices. But now, few month later and also some updates of google home etc. the old thread network is back as primary thread network.
wtf, where is this “old” and obsolete network stored and could be switched to the new one without to reconfigure the phone?
I'm am new to HA and just went through this battle with my two Timmerflotte sensors. For some stupid reason I did a reset on my ZBT-2 and of course it reset my thread network ID. Nothing I tried would get my phone to setup devices to the new network. Uninstall the companion app, clear cache, delete data, nothing worked. Finally in despiration I dug out my previous cell phone and installed the HA companion app on that. Sucess. It saw the new thread network and setup the devices. My regular phone is still stuck on the old one. I would really like to know where it is storing that network ID so I can delete it.
Does anyone know where the Thread network preference is cached? Like, the literal folder. I have a rooted phone and I'm tempted to modify files directly.
FWIW, resetting the Google Play Services cache did nothing, but deleting data did get me to a new screen which, instead of saying an old network is preferred, says sync was successful. However, now when I try to add a device I get an error that Matter is unavailable. The linked help article suggests that Google Play Services needs to download the necessary Matter modules, and that it can take 24 hours. So, that's an unnecessary pain.
A quick Google said that installing the Google Home app would force the necessary modules to download, which seems to have worked (I opened the app and signed in but nothing more). Now I can get back to the "add Matter" screen.
I still want another way to reset Thread credentials on a device without deleting Google Play Services data, since that deletes a lot of other important things, too.
Found a cleaner fix than resetting Google Play Services data — worth trying first
I had the exact same issue: a brand new (factory-reset) Thread bulb kept getting offered a stale Thread network from an old Aqara Hub M100 during commissioning via the HA Companion App (Android), even though that hub had been powered off for days and Home Assistant itself only knew about my current MR1-based network. Clearing Play Services cache alone did nothing; I wasn’t keen on wiping Play Services data entirely (breaks Wallet cards, Wear OS pairing, etc.).
What actually fixed it, without touching Play Services at all:
- In the Aqara Home app, create a brand-new Thread network on the Hub (instead of trying to delete the existing stale one directly — that option wasn’t available for me either).
- With the new network active, the app then let me delete the old stale network (the one Android/Google Home kept offering during Matter commissioning).
- Finally, remove the Hub completely as a device from the Aqara Home app.
After that, the stale network entry disappeared from Google Home’s “Change Thread network” screen, and Matter/Thread commissioning via the HA Companion App worked normally again — no Play Services data wipe needed.
My theory: removing the hub cleanly (after it’s no longer tied to the specific stale network dataset) properly triggers Google’s Thread credential-sharing API to revoke those credentials, whereas just power-cycling/disabling the hub, or deleting the network while the hub still references it, doesn’t.
Posting in case this saves someone else the Play Services data wipe. Happy to share more detail on my exact setup (SLZB-MR1 + OTBR) if useful.