Looks like there are some knowledgeable people here. I’m trying to add my Hue Devices via Matter into ST. Seemed pretty straightforward and all of my devices showed up.
My issue is that none of the switches work in ST. I have some extra Hue switches that I would like to be able to use in ST so that they could run a routine that would control more than just the hue lights. Also, I have two Hue Bridges because I’m over the 63 item limit for the Hue Bridge and it would also be nice to be able to use a switch that can cross two bridges.
The first routine I’m trying to do is a going to bed routine that will turn two thermostats to Eco mode and set the bedroom thermostat down to 65 degrees. Also shut off all the lights and TVs that are connected to ST. I know I could probably just buy a Zigbee or Z-wave switch or button, but I have a few Hue Switches and Buttons that I’m not using anymore and would like to try and repurpose them. Also just want to knowledge how to integrate all this stuff through Matter if it’s able to work.
The routines work when I test it though the app, but it constantly says “This device hasn’t updated all of it’s status information yet. Check again later.” for all the hue switches I have. I’ve waited 24 hours and nothing works yet. Though the lights seem to work fine. Does anyone know why this is happening? Is this a bug of Matter and Hue integration being in the infancy stage?
If it matters, the switches I have are the older ones that say “Off”, but I thought the buttons were newer.
Just to share that I was working with Smartthings Hue integration till now and it worked pretty well.
Trying to move forward and after hue hub version update, I changed the integration to matter to see how it works.
It was nice that some devices pop-up in ST first time, I mean Hue switches, Hue motion sensors and some Leadvance zigbee on-off swithes that I deployed long time ago in my Hue instalation.
Bad news? As Homeautomator explains, no updated status information is available, nor in the hue swtches and nor in the motion sensors. We are in the same situation.
Has any root cause to explain this lack of status information? It’s a ST or Hue issue?
To be honest, my priority is to have information of Hue motion sensors to automate some routines in ST.
On the other hand, ledvance on-off switches works well in matter, no problem at all.
Thanks all for your comments and help… Best wishes .
Problem solved completely end of October…Matter in ST means a huge integration functionality with Philips Hue devices… switches and motion sensors upgrade ST options to higher levels…
I added a new, second Hue bridge to my Hue account and was able to connect ST to it using Matter. However, my old, first Hue bridge with all lights still connects to ST using the legacy connection. I cannot identify how to force the latter to also connect using Matter. Please help.
You don’t “force” it. You choose the method of integration at the time that you add the hue bridge to your smartthings account.
If you want to change from one method to another, I believe you have to add it again using the new method.
I believe (but I’m not 100% sure) that with a hue bridge specifically you can add it using two different integration methods and both will be accepted. But that will give you duplicates of all the attached child devices. There’s nothing in the architecture that allow smartthings to recognize that a specific hue bulb is the same device if it’s brought in through two different integrations, so you have to handle all that manually.
@blueyetisoftware might know more: he’s worked a lot with the Hue bridge, although I don’t know if he’s looked at the matter options.
I believe (but I’m not 100% certain) that you just add it like you would add a new Hue Bridge. Choose add a device and then matter but remember that it won’t know that this is the same bridge you already added, so you’ll get duplicates of everything.
On the other hand, I don’t know this for sure, I just know that works if you want to have one integration, cloud to cloud, and one integration with the smartthings specific local integration.
It’s possible that the Hue Bridge itself won’t let you do that for matter, and you’ll have to start from the Hue app and say you want to do a matter integration. I just don’t know the details, I’ve never tried it, and since the Hue matter integration gives you fewer features than the other integration methods do, most people aren’t using it so there hasn’t been a lot in the forum about it.
It’s possible that you’ll have to remove the Hue bridge from your SmartThings account altogether, then go back into the Hue app, and start from there to add it via matter.
If any case, you’ll have to re-create any scenes and routines you have in smartthings for those devices.
If you do try it, let us know how it goes and what worked.
Thanks so much for the response. However, I don’t succeed:
In the ST app, I go to Add device>Partner devices
I choose Hue
Dead end: „This partner service is already connected because your account has been linked.“
Recap: My first Hue hub is using the legacy integration, my second Hue hub was brought in using Matter
How may I set my first Hue hub to rejoin using Matter? Or what other way should I think about this?
Also, I understand the Matter integration exposes Hue switches to ST, no? That would be better than the legacy implementation. Please correct me if where I’m wrong, of course.
No, you’re right on that. There are a few exceptions like the Synch, but most of the accessories will come through.
(Alternatively, there is a custom edge driver created by a community member which can bring in way more than the official integration without using matter if you want to take a look at that. It’s very popular.
Anyway, doing some further research, it looks like the issue is on the Phillips side: if you want to use matter with a Hue bridge, they don’t want you to use any other integration options at the same time. So that cuts out that possibility.
If I’m understanding things right (and I might not, so I really hope someone else with hands-on experience will also post.), you would need to go into the Hue app and delete any existing integrations, as well as deleting it from the SmartThings app, and then basically start over from scratch. Which sounds like a lot of work.
If it were me, I would try the custom edge driver method first, because then you don’t have to delete any of your other setup and it’s easy to remove if it doesn’t do what you want. But again, I’m just speaking theoretically here, so I’m gonna leave the remainder of the conversation for people who have some actual knowledge on the process.
I am biased, but would recommend my driver as well. If you have a lot of Hue devices, you will get much better performance with this driver using room/zone control. The only reason I would entertain the matter integration is if you wanted to use the multi-admin feature and connect multiple voice assistants.
Thanks and your driver seems amazing. Thank you for the great work!
However, installing this custom driver appears to be stifled by ST more recently, requiring a work around. Is this a sign to expect more complications or are we optimistic this driver can prevail?
Also, using only Google for voice assistance and occasionally HomeKit via tap on screen device to control lights; willingness your driver affect any of that?
This is true. They changed the UI for hubs and removed all of the existing functionality to support their own matter hubs.
This isn’t unique to this driver. ST has a habit of breaking things without notice. These aren’t even all bugs. Many appear to be planned changes (see above) that are just not communicated. I have been told from both customer service reps and one of their engineers that their mobile team is working on a fix for the issue. It sounds like they just assumed internally that community developers wouldn’t try to customize the Hub UI, so they had free rein to change it without backward support.
This driver doesn’t interact with any of that. It sets up a local connection to the Hue hub, and only uses its local API. Hue handles any interactions with other systems.
