Support for iHost in Google Home with Matter

eWeLink CUBE
1

Since v1.1.12 I am able to add my iHost to Google Home using the Matter Bridge configuration page. However those devices remain “offline” on Google Home so I can’t use them.

Here is the Matter Bridge added in iHost

image
image907×259 9.55 KB

My device list on iHost does show 9 supported devices.

I’m currently running eWeLink CUBE v1.13.0 and Google Home on an Android smartphone.

When I open Google Home I see the following

Screenshot_20240102-110955_Home
Screenshot_20240102-110955_Home1080×2400 167 KB

Screenshot_20240102-111024_Google Play services
Screenshot_20240102-111024_Google Play services1080×2400 150 KB

Screenshot_20240102-111037_Home
Screenshot_20240102-111037_Home1080×2400 175 KB

Am I missing something or is Google Home not supported ?

Thanks!

2

You must have Matter Hub from Google (e.g. Nest Hub (2nd gen))

3

Thank you! I assumed that my Google Home enabled JBL speakers (Authentics 300) would be the Google device but I understand now that it has to be a Google nest.

4

For everyone else wondering I purchased a “Google Nest Mini gen 2” and it enabled controlling my iHost devices in Google Home. Except for a third party thermometer. So it’s not just the Google Nest Hub.

5

Good day. I have a Google home mini and a mesh wifi network. Sonoff iHost is connected to one of the routers via cable. I tried connecting the Google home mini to different routers in different rooms. The connections are always successful.
The main task is to connect devices from iHost to Google home via Matter Bridge.

  1. If the Google home mini is in the same room as the iHost, the devices are connected via Matter Bridge and are Online. They can be controlled both locally and via the Internet (for example, by turning off wifi on your phone). But if you move the Google home mini to another room with another router that is in the Mesh network, the speaker itself successfully connects to the network, but all devices connected via Matter Bridge become Offline.
  2. Next I Unlink the speaker from the account and, consequently, the router in the room with Ihost and connect it in another room. The speaker successfully connects to the account and to the network. I’m trying to connect Ihost devices via Matter Bridge - devices are not found.
    Can anyone tell me why this is happening?
    P.S. Google home mini is linked and has a statistical IP address in the router
6

We believe the issue is mainly related to network configuration. In your case, since the two routers are connected via Mesh, they must operate within the same IP address range and should not have NAT isolation or independent DHCP to synchronize properly.

Additionally, please confirm whether the routers have the “Multicast Forwarding” feature enabled. Matter devices use mDNS (Multicast DNS) to automatically discover devices within the local network, and mDNS relies on multicast packets.

When both the Google Home Mini and iHost are connected to the same Mesh node, multicast packets can be directly transmitted, allowing the devices to discover each other. However, once the Mini switches to another Mesh node, if the Mesh network does not properly forward multicast packets, the mDNS broadcasts will be isolated, preventing the devices from discovering one another.

7

Thanks for the explanation.
But I did not find mDNS or NAT in the router settings.

router
router1222×896 130 KB

8
  1. Please navigate to Advanced Settings → Wireless/Network Settings → look for IGMP Snooping or Multicast Forwarding.
  2. If you find IGMP Snooping, please disable it, or enable Multicast Forwarding (the naming may vary depending on the router brand).
  3. If you cannot find the related options, you may need to contact the router manufacturer to confirm whether these features are supported.
9

There are no such settings. There is only IPTV. I turned on IPTV, but it did not help

10

Why are many devices not available for adding via matter bridge? I once unchecked some devices because they were not needed, and now they are not available and grayed out