SmartThings are introducing a subscription to use their API next month, just FYI. SmartThings Blog
Not sure if we are making a mountain out of a mole hill here?
Once you run HA, you will have some gadgets that are completely local - some may use the cloud (if you allow it - e.g. roomba vac) - and others only work if you use the OEM API or by fully depending on the cloud.
When you start out with HA, you are going to go with what you already have and make it work - and yes some of it will happen in the cloud.
But if you really do not like that, or if the vendor changes over to a paid model (Smarthings being the perfect example) you find an alternative.
Either someone builds an app/integration that will allow you to access your fridge locally (without Smarthings - e.g. Localthings) — or you move to hardware that gives you that option (e.g. buy an IR blaster to run your Samsung TV locally).
And quite frankly I do not understand the whole discussion around Matter in this matter 
I just installed a bunch of IKEA gadgets (Matter over Thread), and I did not need any IKEA app or cloud to do that.
Scan the QR code with your phone (or go through a BT dongle on your server ) - wait 15 seconds and you are off to the races.
They run completely local and I really don’t see how IKEA could make me pay for the use in the future.
The issue began with (a very frustrated) me attempting to connect a THIRDREALITY Matter Wi-Fi device to my HA installation manually using the pairing code. It failed miserably for two weeks before I came here seeking professional help. I have wifi, ipv6, mdns, bluetooth, etc., but it simply was not meant to be - without reverting to the mobile app. I loathe using mobile apps, qr codes, 3rd party intervention / auth / access methods. I want to keep my data, my activity, my network - on my network. I was forced to install the HA app on my phone, however, my phone runs grapheneos. This attempt failed miserably and so, now, I possess 3 Matter WiFi paperweights. I am now pursuing a THIRDREALITY Matter Zigbee device and will let everyone know how that goes.
Maybe a typo, but since it’s in the title aswell I am pointing it out: Matter and Zigbee are two different things. You won’t have any luck finding “Matter Zigbee” devices (even though Ikea has some Matter over Thread devices that also supports Zigbee). What you are looking for is Matter over Thread.
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The issue is that it’s not clear what sort of control the manufacturer has over Matter devices. Start with the “commissioning” step. I haven’t done this, which is why I’ve been following threads like this, and asking questions - to learn more. From what I’ve read, there’s a requirement to validate the manufacturer’s certificate in order to commission the device. Furthermore, it seems the manufacturer is able to restrict some or all of the devices’ functionality during that commissioning. Possible again later, maybe when the certificate expires? Or is there some regular check-in? Not at all clear to me.
The manufacturers are apparently claiming this ability to restrict functionality, or completely prevent a device from joining your local network without the right credentials, is being done for security. Having seen the direction manufacturers have gone with every other technology - toward subscription models - this rings hollow for me. I’d rather make the decision about what hardware, and what functionality, I trust, than have some for-profit corporation decide for me.
This whole thing seems like it could be a plan to move users away from local protocols like Zigbee and Z-Wave, so manufacturers can enforce more control. At first I hoped I was wrong, that these were some way to run Matter fully local, but the more I learn the less likely that seems.
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My error indeed. You are absolutely correct. I meant ThirdReality Zigbee device. Not sure how I got those two confused. As for the title, again - you are correct. That should say “install as Zigbee devices”. Thank you very much!
If you commission a device with a BT dongle on your server PC that doesn’t have internet connectivity — how exactly can the manufacturer restrict usage at that point?
The only possibility seems a firmware update at a later date?
And you decide if that update happens or not?
Has anyone had a case where “..the certificate expired..”?
Has anyone documented “…regular check-ins..”?
Was anyone unable to run a Matter device “…fully local..”?
Has anyone documented a case where “..functionality was restricted by the manufacturer..”?
If the manufacturers “plan to move us away from local protocols like Zigbee,” – why would the same manufacturer offer both protocols for a device?
Forgive me for saying, but this sounds all a bit too “conspiracy” to me
A much more likely scenario why you “heard” all of these things, could be that the Zigbee and Z-wave crowd wants to hang on to what they used in the past - and spread this “uncertainties” about Matter — without any hard facts.
If it were true, that Matter is a con job to drive us all into a dependency and ultimately make us pay a monthly fee to use a certain device — well, which manufacturer, which device, how, where and when was it done?
Let’s point out these manufacturers, so nobody buys from them anymore!
If for example IKEA would have the ability to use Matter to do all of the above (and there is zero evidence at this time) ----- what holds me back to take that 7.99 Euro water leak detector and throw it in the trash?
While there would be a small financial loss on my side ----- the shitstorm for IKEA would be off the charts
Look at Samsung and Smarthings - they are going to lose a ton of customers over their new pay-as-you-go model - never going to buy anything from Samsung ever - mobile phone included.
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Landfill and spaces before question marks? 
The “I don’t care” fraction mainly consists of two groups from my personal experience. One of them (probably the bigger one) don’t have an (detail) idea/knowledge what technically is possible - hence what could be the outcome of “I don’t care”. The other (imo smaller) group is the one that actually wants to say “I don’t give a f#*k” in terms of “I need the newest model” car/phone/hypetech and really doesn’t give a sh!t about other beings.
Greetings from the smart cave 
Matter actually would start with pre-commissioning which includes already the blockchain tech making cloud connection mandatory 
(Cloud) attestation for your matter device will fail and on-boardning can’t finish 
As a blueprint how matter can plan it’s rugpull? 
Like with the random remotes they sell? 
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I feel honored by your attention to me.
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This is exactly the question I’ve been trying to answer. Is the threat real?
On the one hand, there could be people who are misrepresenting facts simply because they want to “hang on to” the older protocols. I’m not really sure what their motivation would be.
On the other, we’ve all seen manufacturers trying to wrest control from the end user to drive them into walled gardens and subscription models. That motivation is clear, and I totally understand it.
If I were designing a one-size-fits-all system to mass-market to the average homeowner or renter, I’d be “dumbing it down” and locking it down in every possible way. Every tweak they can make could lead to another costly tech support call and possibly bad press. It needs to work seamlessly, out of the box, with no way the user can screw it up.
And if I could tell the bean counters in my company that I’ve developed an ongoing revenue stream through subscriptions, so much the better.
So, no conspiracy theories needed. Just clear motivations and the technical capabilities of the protocol.
The “hard facts” seem to include the ability to prevent a device from being commissioned on my network, without access to the manufacturer’s certificate, at least. There have also been reports that some functionality can be disabled based on that validation.
What is the extent of this ability? I don’t know. I’ve been burned by manufacturers who “pull the rug” after purchase of their devices. More than once. I’m not saying they’re all out to get me. Just that I plan to wait and see whether I’m actually allowed to “own” a device before I offer myself as a guinea pig again.
Exactly! We don’t know yet. Feel free to go out and buy stuff, and report back here.
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Yes the threat is real. @Frank_Beetz’s scenario with bluetooth essentially skirts the threat assuming the device is fully disconnected from anything that can update it.
If you commission a device and the device has wifi (that you cannot turn off or forget to disable) and the device can automatically apply firmware updates, a firmware update can remove features or brick the device.
It’s not necessarily a “conspiracy theory”, it’s happened before with other hardware on other protocols. Matter’s commissioning requirements make it easier for manufacturers to do this, where as zwave and zigbee have ways around anything manufacturers can do.
August/Yale Zwave Locks automatically pushed a firmware update that disabled Zwave. This only affected users that still had the device connected via wifi.
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I posted this months ago, and I haven’t seen that anything has changed.
I have kept Matter devices out of my home. It’s not a conspiracy. Matter manufacturers are allowed by the Matter consortium to push firmware updates that change how a device behaves, including removing advanced or optional capabilities, restricting commissioning through certificate checks, or forcing some features behind their own app or hub.
The device doesn’t have to be on the Internet full-time, just a simple device firmware upgrade is enough.
They cannot eliminate basic local control or make the device cloud‑dependent. In the future, vendors could remove features through updates, and while a true hard brick is technically possible through malicious or severely flawed firmware, Matter’s certification rules make fully bricking a device highly unlikely.
Matter devices must provide BASIC local control without a subscription. Lights must turn on/off locally, switches must toggle locally, plugs must energize/de‑energize locally, locks must lock/unlock locally, sensors must report their state locally
The list of “advanced features” that require a subscription is quite long, but fortunately for Home Assistant users most of these advanced features can be performed by Home Assistant.
It’s not a matter (sic) of “hanging on” to “older” protocols. It is a matter of hanging on to protocols that are simple and just work.
I do not see any advantage of Matter over simple WiFi or Zigbee devices. The pain of onboarding Matter devices just does not outweigh the existing protocols. No one has been able to demonstrate to me a single benefit that Matter brings to the party.
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Price maybe?
IKEA PIR sensor with Lux meter is 8 Euro!
A door/window sensor 8 Euro!
A water leak sensor 7 Euro!
All run on AAA or AA batteries and they offered 100% reliability in the last 3 months I used them.
IKEA lights - let’s not even go there.
As for “simple” protocols that just “work” - - how many post do we see each week along the lines of — “My Z2MQT just shit the bed” or “All my ZHA is gone”
So while there is no benefit for you - people who never went the Zigbee way now have an alternative - and WiFi was never really a good solution when it came to battery operated devices anyway.
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Probably because native Zigbee and WiFi devices in the Home Assistant world outnumber similar devices in the Matter world by a large margin. So, yes people experiencing problems with those devices will be a larger number than Matter devices.
Price? That’s all you got?
I have several cheap Zigbee devices in my home, mostly from Ali Express. None have ever been a problem, and my door sensors have been in use for more than three years, so yes, the batteries needed replacing. Once in three years.
Again. NO ONE has demonstrated a benefit of Matter that would convince me that it’s worth installing.
Note that the first has a "Works With Zigbee2MQTT badge, and the second has a “Works With Home Assistant”.
The only benefit for me is the ability for devices to be controlled by several different sources without a single point of (controller) failure. For instance, my Zwave/Zigbee devices won’t respond to Alexa voice control if HA is offline/rebooting. Matter devices can be controlled by both Alexa and HA “directly” so it increases WAF even if its just a small margin during a very short (and usually controllable) window of time. And sure there are a million other things that are dependent on Alexa handling a request correctly… But that’s the best I can come up with and I’ve only added a few Thread devices just to experiment with it. Is that worth any possible downsides of Matter? Today, no. The bulk of all my devices are Zwave/Zigbee and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
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You DO need a something acting as a Thread Router.
You may already have a device that does the job. Apparently many newer Apple devices will do it and also some other smart devices, google, samsung etc. I use an SMLight device, ther are many to choose from. I went with an POE ethernet option.
I believe there are USB device options
I’m pretty sure you also need IPV6 enabled on your Network Router.
Thank you, Andrew. I have a Zigbee MG21 Thread dongle, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and IPv6 enabled on my router, home assistant - it just didn’t want to work. Thank you, again, though.
Do you have your IoT walled off/isolated/vLANed from other parts of your network?
Negative, no sir. Currently, it’s all one flat, plain vanilla 192.168 network. No internal firewalls. No vlans. Nada. I think most people have good success with Matter devices when they don’t mind integrating their mobile phone with their home network. I rarely - if ever - connect my phone to my home network. And that’s even with my phone running grapheneos.