We’d like to share with the community a major upcoming update to the Matter Bridge Add-on for HA over iHost, planned for release later this June. This change aims to improve how local devices are synced to Matter ecosystems such as Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and SmartThings.
We’re sharing this early to gather your thoughts, suggestions, and concerns before the update goes live.
What’s Changing?
In the upcoming version, the Matter Bridge will no longer sync devices based on device type ID.
Instead, it will sync individual entities based on their entity type ID.
Why This Change?
Through internal testing and user feedback, we’ve identified a key limitation:
Syncing by device type often fails for complex or multi-entity devices — especially when there’s no clear one-to-one match between the device and a Matter category.
By switching to entity-based syncing, we’re aiming for:
- Better flexibility across a wider variety of device architectures
- Improved Matter compatibility for more brands and use cases
- More accurate mapping between Home Assistant and Matter capabilities
What This Might Mean for You
If you are currently using the Matter Bridge Add-on, here’s what to expect once this update released:
- Devices already synced to your Matter apps (Apple Home, Alexa, etc.) will likely be removed
- They will be replaced with newly synced entities based on the new logic
- Because device IDs and entity IDs are different, any existing automations or scenes in your Matter apps will likely stop working — you’ll need to reconfigure them manually
- Entities related to diagnostics or internal configurations will not be synced.
- A known issue with XY five-color light control is also planned to be fixed in this version
We Need Your Feedback
Since this is a significant change, we want to hear from you before we finalize it.
- Do you foresee issues with this change?
- Are there specific use cases we should test?
- Any other suggestions for improving Matter compatibility?
Please share your thoughts — we’re listening.
Final Thoughts
This upcoming update marks a strategic shift in how we approach Matter bridging on iHost.
While full Matter ecosystem compatibility takes time and iteration, moving to entity-based syncing is a key step toward long-term reliability, flexibility, and broad device support.
We truly appreciate your support and look forward to evolving this add-on with the help of the community.