How to add a Matter device to Apple, Google, Alexa or Home Assistant

Adding a Matter device means pairing it with a controller, a step the standard calls commissioning. The routine is similar on every platform: put the device in pairing mode, scan its QR code or type its setup code, and let the app finish. The prerequisites differ, and so do a few traps. This guide follows each platform's own documentation, read on 13 November 2026. App menus change often, so treat the steps as the shape of the job and the linked pages as the authority.

Before you start, on any platform

• Keep the setup code. Home Assistant's documentation points out that a factory reset means entering the device's QR code or its numeric setup code again, and suggests photographing it if it is only in the paperwork.
• Check the packaging for the Matter badge and for the network the device uses: Wi-Fi or Thread.
• A Thread device needs a Thread border router. See our guide to Thread, Zigbee and Wi-Fi if that is new to you.
• Many Matter Wi-Fi devices use the 2.4 GHz band. Home Assistant's page says to make sure your phone is on the 2.4 GHz network where the device will live.

Apple Home

Apple's page on pairing Matter accessories gives the routine: open the Home app, choose Add, then Add Accessory, and follow the prompts to scan the code or hold the phone near the accessory. If the accessory was paired with another app before, choose More options and select it from the list.

What to know:

• Apple says an iPhone on iOS 18 or later can add Matter accessories without a home hub, and that iPhone 15 Pro and later can control Thread accessories without one. It still recommends a hub for the best experience.
• Apple's home hub page says Thread-enabled Matter accessories need a Thread-enabled hub, and gives HomePod mini and the third-generation Apple TV 4K with Wi-Fi and Ethernet as examples, while also allowing a border router from another maker that Apple supports. It also says these products are not sold in every country or region.
• The Home app supports a defined list of Matter accessory types, not every type the standard has. We compare the lists in which device types each platform supports.
• A multipack with a multi-device QR code can be paired in one go.

Google Home

Google's setup page lists the requirements: an account, home Wi-Fi with IPv6 turned on, a hub for Google Home that supports Matter, and a phone with a recent Android or iOS version and Bluetooth Low Energy. In the Google Home app you tap Devices, then Add, then Matter-enabled device, and scan the QR code. If scanning fails there is an option to enter the setup key instead.

What to know:

• Google's preparation page says you need a hub before you can add Matter devices, and that a Thread device needs a hub that is also a Thread border router.
• You can set up in the maker's app and then share the device to Google Home from there.
• Google's instructions say they do not apply to Google's own Nest devices.

Alexa

Amazon's developer documentation says a compatible Echo, once set up, acts as the Matter administrator that discovers and connects devices through the Alexa app. Alexa uses Bluetooth Low Energy to hand the Wi-Fi or Thread credentials to the device during setup. The page adds that Echo and eero models with Thread inside serve as border routers.

What to know:

• The same page says Matter-compatible Echo devices support a subset of the device types in Matter 1.5 and earlier. A device type being in the standard is not a promise that Alexa handles it.
• Amazon's pages we read are written for device makers. For the current screens in the Alexa app, use Amazon's own customer help, because we have not reproduced those menus here.

Home Assistant

Home Assistant's Matter page is the longest of the four, because Home Assistant runs its own Matter controller. In short:

1. Add the Matter integration in Settings, Devices and services. On Home Assistant OS this installs the Matter Server app, which does the controller work.
2. On a phone with Bluetooth on, open the Companion app. The page says this is the normal route to commissioning, so the phone has to be near the device.
3. For a Thread device, have a border router on the network. The page names Nest Hub (2nd gen) and Apple devices among those that work, or the OpenThread Border Router app that Home Assistant offers.
4. For a device already paired elsewhere, the Companion app has an option for a device that is already in use, and the page says you pick which controller it is currently on.

Our piece on how Matter works inside Home Assistant goes through those parts.

If a device is already on another platform

Matter lets one device join several controllers, which the standard calls multi-admin. The usual way is to ask the first platform for a sharing code and enter it in the second. Home Assistant's page describes sharing in both directions, and Apple's page says previously paired accessories can be added from any app that supports Matter. The multi-admin guide has the details.

If setup fails

• Restart the device, restart the phone, and start the flow again. Google's page suggests clearing the app cache on Android before trying again.
• Check IPv6. Google says setup may appear to succeed without it, and control then fails.
• Factory reset the device as a last step, having kept the setup code.

This guide is based on published documentation. We do not test devices, and we say where a platform's own page is the better authority.