Matter in Home Assistant: the controller, the app and the companion
How Home Assistant runs Matter: its own controller in the Matter Server app, the phone that sets devices up, and what that means for sharing and bridges.
By Jonas Ferris · · 5 min read · Comments
Home Assistant does not lean on a hub from another company to speak Matter. It runs its own Matter controller. That design choice explains most of what you will see when you add a device: why a phone is involved, why a server app appears, and why a device can live in Home Assistant and in Apple Home or Google Home at the same time. This piece describes the moving parts as Home Assistant's own documentation lays them out, read on 13 November 2026. The project's pages are the authority, and everything here is our summary of them.
The three parts
The Matter integration. This is the part of Home Assistant you see under Settings, Devices and services. It turns Matter devices into the usual entities.
The Matter Server app. The documentation says the integration does not speak Matter itself. A separate server runs the controller software as its own process and joins your Matter network, which the standard calls a fabric, to Home Assistant, and the integration talks to it over a WebSocket connection. "App" is the current name for what used to be called an add-on. The app's own documentation says the WebSocket is only exposed inside Home Assistant by default, and that opening it to the network is an advanced option.
The Companion app. Most Matter devices carry a Bluetooth chip used only to pair them. Home Assistant's page says the Companion app on your phone handles that step for the controller, which is why the phone has to be near the device with Bluetooth on. The page adds that Home Assistant does not use a Bluetooth adapter on the server for commissioning, to avoid clashes with its Bluetooth integration. The app's documentation does list optional settings for commissioning through Home Assistant's own Bluetooth, so check the current pages if you want that route.
Where it runs
The page recommends Home Assistant OS for the Matter Server app and calls it the one supported choice at present. For a container install, a Docker image of the server exists and its repository describes what the host needs, while the page says other installation types are unsupported and at your own risk. It adds that the official app does not run on 32-bit platforms.
What the phone needs
The documentation gives minimums. On Android, version 8.1 at a minimum and 12 or later recommended, the full Play Store version of the Companion app, and the app's location permission set to allow all the time, because Android restricts access to the Wi-Fi name for background apps and the Google setup screen runs in front of the Companion app. On iPhone, iOS 16 or later. For a Wi-Fi device the page reminds you that many use only 2.4 GHz, so the phone should be on that network.
For a Thread device, a Thread border router has to exist on the network: the page names Nest Hub (2nd gen), HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K among those that work, or Home Assistant's own OpenThread Border Router app. We cover the second option in Thread in Home Assistant. The page adds that using another company's border router does not mean adding your devices to that company's platform. Home Assistant only uses it to reach the Thread radio network, and the border router passes data along without being able to read it.
One device, several controllers
Home Assistant's page calls this multi-fabric and says the standard describes devices that can join at least five fabrics at once. In practice you can add a device to Home Assistant directly, or share one that is already in Apple Home or Google Home: in the Companion app you say the device is already in use and pick the other controller. The other direction works too, with a share option on the device in Home Assistant that produces a code for the other app. Our guide to sharing devices between platforms puts the methods side by side.
When Matter is not the best route
The page is frank about this. For devices that have a native Home Assistant integration, Matter may offer less. Its example is Philips Hue: over Matter, only basic light control is available, while the dedicated Hue integration brings features such as dynamic scenes and entertainment mode, and also runs locally. The page's advice is not to bridge devices into Home Assistant over Matter when the native route is better.
Bridges and what Home Assistant is not
Home Assistant is a Matter controller. The page says it is not a bridge, and cannot turn existing Home Assistant devices into Matter devices for other platforms. If a hub from another maker acts as a Matter bridge, Home Assistant can control the devices it exposes, but the page warns there is no guarantee that every device behind a bridge appears, and gives the example of one hub exposing curtains, locks and blinds but not lights. Our bridges and hubs comparison goes through the trade-offs.
Cameras and other newer features
The page says cameras built to Matter 1.5 or above are supported, which takes app version 9.3.0 or higher, or server version 1.5.0 or higher for a container. See what changed in the server app for the background to those version numbers.
What to check
- Your Home Assistant installation type, against the page's recommendation.
- The Matter Server app version, if you want a newer feature.
- A phone that meets the minimums, and a border router for any Thread device.
- Whether the device has a native integration that does more than Matter does.
This piece summarises documentation. It is not based on testing, and for any step, the documentation is the better authority.