1/5
From there, the onboarding was similar to adding any device to Alexa. I connected it to my Wi-Fi network and chose a name, then put it in a group/room. Once set up, I could control it easily in the app or by asking Alexa, with response times being prompt. I could also add it to an Alexa Routine to have it turn on at a certain time or to a Scene that would activate it along with other devices when I triggered the Scene.
Next, I went to add it to the other Matter platforms, and while I was eventually successful, the process was inconsistent, and the compatibility between platforms feels very shaky.
To add a device from Alexa to another platform, you need to go to the device’s settings page in the Alexa app and tap on a new option, “Other Assistants and Apps.” This lets you put the plug into pairing mode, where it broadcasts its availability for 15 minutes, giving you time to open the other app and copy and paste a unique code into it.
You can’t just scan the Matter QR code on the device again in the new app — it’s one and done for the code (although you’ll want to keep it around in case you ever factory reset the device.)
Chris La Pre from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (the organization behind Matter) tells me this is by design. “The original code no longer works. The device needs to be put back in pairing mode, and the original ecosystem will provide a new code,” he says. “Otherwise, a neighbor walking through your house could possibly pair devices if they see the barcode.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t clearly explained anywhere in the platform apps. I can see a lot of people just trying to scan the code again to add it to another platform. In every app I tried the pairing process from, the steps to do so were buried in the settings — almost like they don’t want you to find them! Really, when you pair a device to one platform, the option should pop up to add it to any other compatible platform you have installed on your phone. That would be simple.
Once I got the pairing code from the Alexa app, I added the plug to Google Home on Android following these steps:
- Open the Google Home app
- Tap Add Device
- Tap New Device and wait for Google to scan for the device (it won’t find it)
- Tap “Set up a different device” when the prompt appears
- Tap “Matter-enabled device”
- Do not scan the Matter QR code as it prompts you to do; instead, tap the option to “Set up without QR code”
- Enter the Matter pairing code from the other app (Alexa in this case)
- Then follow the standard steps to add the device to Google Home
This just seems way more complicated than it needs to be. To make matters worse (ahem), when I tried to add the Tapo plug to SmartThings from Alexa, it failed immediately. I had to go back to the Google Home app, where I could choose “SmartThings” as an option to pair to. This opened the SmartThings app and let me add the plug easily.
Multi-admin is one of Matter’s main selling points. As of today, it’s just not ready.
This ease of this setup process is down to that special “partnership” between Google and SmartThings. But Matter is supposed to fix the problem of ecosystem lock-in, not create cabals within it. If Matter is going to work, it needs to be easy to pair devices to any ecosystem.
The final step was generating a pairing QR code from the Google Home app on Android and scanning that into Apple Home with an iPhone. Now, the plug was on all four platforms.
I reset the Tapo plug and set it up on iOS using the Matter-enabled SmartThings app, with the SmartThings Station as a Matter controller. (Side note: I also set up the plug using the Apple Home app and a HomePod Mini. But that process was identical to adding a device to HomeKit. The setup process with SmartThings is what’s notable here.)
