Cannot connect arre smart button to HA, keep getting "checking network connectivity" timing out

[Jazzman-007]

The problem

I've successfully connected other Matter over Thread devices to my HA, using my android phone with HA app. But, now, after the HA Matter add device connects to my arre Smart Button, it generates credentials. But, then it just stays on the "checking network connectivity" page and nothing ever happens. I have IPv6 working on the VLAN that my HA is on. I'm on the correct WiFi on my smartphone. I've gotten eve smart outlets and aquara motion sensors to be properly hooked up on the Matter devices on HA, over the thread border router (skyconnect on the RaspPi 4 that's running HA).

I've tried changing router settings (enabling mDNS, turning off Multicast Enhancement, turning on IGMP Snooping), rebooting HA, rebooting router, rebooting cable modem, rebooting smartphone. I've verified the Matter connections in my android phone.

What am I missing?

What version of Home Assistant Core has the issue?

2024.9.3

What was the last working version of Home Assistant Core?

2024.9.3

What type of installation are you running?

Home Assistant OS

Integration causing the issue

Matter

Link to integration documentation on our website

No response

Diagnostics information

No response

Example YAML snippet

No response

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

No response

Additional information

No response

[home-assistant[bot]]

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[marcelveldt]

Is it just this device that is failing and the other Matter over Thread devices keep working ?

Try to factory reset the device. Make sure its in close range of both your phone and the Thread border router while commissioning.

if it keeps failing, maybe this is just a faulty device ?

[Jazzman-007]

I have 11 other Matter devices over Thread that are working great on the HA: Several Eve Energy smart plugs, and several Aqara motion and light sensor P2s. They all continue to work great.

I have 2 of these new "arre Smart Buttons" that I'm trying to connect. They both fail at the "checking network connectivity" stage of adoption. I've reset these buttons to factory default. Nothing seems to work.

I think there's an issue with the Matter Android side of things.

I had issues with connecting the Eve and Aqara sensors the first time around, about 4 months ago. I determined it was the IPv6 that I didn't have setup on the UniFi Dream Machine Pro (UDMPro) that I'm running. So, once I enabled the IPv6 on the VLAN that these devices are on, once I made sure my Android phone using the HA companion app was on that same network over WiFi, and once I made sure I had the proper Matter credentials setup on my Google account on my phone (had to delete my credentials/settings in my Google account so the new credentials would no conflict with some other default Matter credentials), the Eve and Aqara devices were easily setting up fine.

Now, I'm stuck with these "arre Smart Buttons" that don't seem to connect, because my phone isn't "connected to the network".....even though it is.

I'm on the correct WiFI network (same network as the HA RaspberryPi 4). It has IPv6 setup. I've tried all the possible settings on and off for the IPv6 network settings in the UDMPro: mDNS on/off, IGMP Snooping on/off, DHCPv6 vs SLAAC. I've made sure Router Advertisement (RA) is on, High priority. I've tired using the RaspPi on both the LAN and the Wifi, all with IPv6 working fine. Tried multiple settings in the UDMPro for the Wifi, including turning on/off Multicast Enhancement.

Does anyone have the "proper" UniFi UDMPro network IPv4 and IPv6 and WiFi settings that we need to run in order for the Matter installer to properly work on the HA companion app on my android smartphone? Is there some other setting I need on my Galaxy S23 smartphone for Matter to work correctly? I've even tried this before, during, and after I have had Google Home installed on my phone.

Finally, I'm unwilling to reset my HA Matter settings, as I don't want to have my current 11 Matter over Thread devices fail a re-install. They're working great now, and I don't want to chance having new difficulty setting these back up, since it seems that the installation process is all jacked up.

I'm at the end of my troubleshooting journey for these new "arre" Smart Buttons. They are going to be returned soon if I can't get it running. $35 each for a Smart Button that doesn't even install is ridiculous. Also, the customer service at the "arre" company seems to be nonexistent, which is incredibly frustrating.

If Matter over Thread devices continue to be so extremely difficult to install, I don't think I will continue to add on to this ecosystem in my HA setup in the future.

[marcelveldt]

Yeah, Arre is what previously was Tuo. I've heard more complaints from users having difficulties setting them up. I reached out to them (well, its a one person company so there is not exactly they) at one point and he said he will send me a device to test with but never received it. Its sad because these buttons have a lot of potential, especially if they would support direct bindings at some point to a Matter light(group).

Giving the fact that your other Matter-over-Thread devices now work fine I don't think the network is the issue. Unifi has been a big source of troubles with Matter (and especially Thread) but they released a bunch of fixes and with the right settings many folks have it working with the Unifi gear just fine. Just don't use the mdns forwarder (Multicast DNS in their UI) and be careful with the "multicast optimizations" setting on the WiFi because that actually drops the required packets.

The only thing I would propose is to try one other "known working" device, so for example another Eve Energy plug (or reset just one for this test). If that can be commissioned just fine, you can say with a bit more confidence that its the Tuo/Arre buttons that fail and not your Thread network.

[Jazzman-007]

I was thinking of doing that (disconnecting/resetting one device that currently works, and then re-adopting).

So, I tried that, and the Eve device that normally was working is now not able to connect.

I'm getting the same issue as the Arre/Tuo Smart Button: The Matter adoption fails at the "Checking network connectivity" step, and then times out, saying "Can't reach device. Make sure your phone is connected to WiFi".

So, it seems there's an issue with my phone's Matter adoption and/or an issue with my UDMPro's network settings for IPv6.

Any suggestion as to what settings I need to have on for the network and WiFi? I'm assuming there's been some sort of UniFi or Matter update on Android that's messing me up now. (4 months ago, it was working fine for adopting.)

additional steps taken:

Here are the UDMPro settings I've tried changing (either on to off, or off to on), and am still having issues with the Matter adoption "Checking Network Connectivity" step:

Settings/WiFi: With each change below, I made sure to reboot my Android smartphone.

1. BSS Transition: on to off.
2. Security Protocol: WPA2/WPA3 changed to WPA2 (which also changes PMF from Optional to Disabled).
3. Multicast Enhancement: from off, to on.

Settings/Network: With each change below, I made sure to reboot my HA. IPv4 Settings:

1. IGMP Snooping: from off to on.
2. Left on IGMP snooping, and changed DNS servers to my default Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 servers.
3. Turned off Ping Conflict Detection (which appears to me to be a new setting).

IPv6 Settings:

1. Client Address Assignment : from DHCPv6 to SLAAC, router Advertisement (RA) is on.
2. Went to Settings/Internet, and also changed IPv6 Configuration to SLAAC;
3. Changed DNS Server: Cloudflare: from 2606:4700:4700:0:0:0:0:1113 and 2606:4700:4700:0:0:0:0:1003, to 2606:4700:4700::1113 and 2606:4700:4700::1003. Also tried the basic non-filtering DNS servers for Cloudflare: 2606:4700:4700::1111 and 2606:4700:4700::1001

Still getting nowhere. What am I missing? My router is showing a public IP address for both IPv4 and IPv6. So, I know my ISP/cable modem is working on the IPv6 side of things. (I notice that I get an IPv6 address only when it's on DHCPv6, and not on SLAAC. So, I put it back on DHCPv6 mode for my Internet settings, and for my Network IPv6 settings.)

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Jazzman-007]

Was hoping 2024.10.0 update would fix. Still can't finalize the Matter adoption, as above.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[marcelveldt]

Head over to discord to get some help from fellow Unifi users.

[Jazzman-007]

Thanks for your advice.

I tried adoption of a couple MoT devices using an OpenWrt router connected to the internet, with only the HA device and my Android smartphone devices on the network. IPv6 was enabled. Initially, it still wouldn't connect.

But, after I double-NATed the OpenWrt router (hooking up the WLAN port on the OpenWrt router to an ethernet jack on the UDMPro, with WiFi and the LAN port on the same LAN with IPv6 working), I was able to connect my MoT Devices using a iPad with iOS HomeAssistant Companion app.

[Jazzman-007]

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So, YES, it IS the UniFi UDMPro causing my MoT issues during the "network connectivity" check!

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[marcelveldt]

Closing here as the issue has been confirmed to be not related to HA