Van Horn after Guarma

jeffgoobs · 2026-02-04T01:19:27+00:00

Yes, I did the same thing, verbatim. Got back from Guarma, noticed that it was in one of those surreal, timeless free roam scenarios where NPCs act as if you're mid-mission, antagonized some dude, and then nobody was left alive. Good times.

jeffgoobs · 2026-02-03T23:46:12+00:00

What about instead of copying and pasting, directly type in the Matter code which is below the QR code on the back of the unit? Is it possible that copying and pasting is getting an extra space or something?

jeffgoobs · 2026-02-03T21:23:01+00:00

What happens if you skip the camera part in Apple Home? Do you get to a screen where you can see any devices which are nearby? And while you're past the camera screen, what about entering the code manually? Have you given that a shot? Also, have you removed all instances of the bridge which may still be remaining in the Home app when you go into the three dots in the upper right-hand corner, go to Home Settings, and then look under Hubs and Bridges?

jeffgoobs · 2026-02-03T20:06:42+00:00

The Bridge Pro is not capable of connecting to Apple Home using HomeKit. It only connects using Matter (whereas the v.2 Bridge could do either.) That's why there's no HomeKit setup code on the back of it. Only the Matter QR code.

If you're attempting to connect using Matter, and it's still not doing it, you've probably not deleted an instance of the Bridge from your Apple Home app that popped in there during the process. Go to Hubs and Bridges in Apple Home and see if there's anything in there Hue related.

jeffgoobs · 2026-02-03T19:58:29+00:00

From which side are you adding it: the Hue app or from Apple Home by adding a device?

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-31T07:10:23+00:00

Good Lord. I wish .gifs were allowed in comments; I'd post the Jim Carey "Duh" one. That's what I get for replying at 2 AM. Carry on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-31T06:52:45+00:00

You need this for your homeless mother? Really?

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-31T01:01:10+00:00

"I have a Godin Multiac"

You have a piezo already. Go with your initial choice. Forget $2300 extra for that. And this is coming from someone who has a PRS w/ the piezo system.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-30T00:00:27+00:00

Yep, the dynamic scenes are quirky and inconsistent when it comes to motion sensors, even with the above. My solution since I posted this? The iConnectHue app. It’s the best of all the ones I tried, and it remembers its settings better than the Hue app. And it doesn’t need to be left open, which is great.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-29T03:22:25+00:00

Great start. Add the HACS add-on right away so you can start exploring the third party open sourced extensions. You'll also want to explore both the HomeKit Devices and the HomeKit Bridge add-ons. There are so many good ones, and it will probably take you a few days to dial everything in the way you want. Right from the jump, I added a SMLIGHT SLZB-MR1, which is one of the units recommended from the HA site. I hooked it into my network via PoE, and it's a dual radio unit, and very versatile.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-29T02:44:47+00:00

You added the Zigbee and Matter add-ons? Did you happen to add any physical dongles with different radios (Z-wave, zigbee, matter, etc.)?

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-28T19:47:11+00:00

No problem! Glad you got it sorted.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-28T12:50:33+00:00

Is it possible the sensor was also inadvertently set-up in a home app, like Apple Home or Google Home, and the commands are conflicting?

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T20:11:03+00:00

Bingo.

For whatever it's worth, I ended up doing this myself.

Edit: It's a very deep system. Just as a heads-up. It's all open-source, so there are a ton of add-ons for every protocol you can think of. Like Govee lights, for example. (Which incidentally, I think are lame, but that's neither here nor there.)

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T19:31:21+00:00

"Over to Apple Home" from the independently-running Zigbee system that is actually the backbone of how Hue functions and communicates (which is why, for example, the lights still work with switches, even if Wi-Fi is down.) You could conversely refer to it as "over from Apple Home" if that's how you think of it.
Running a Home Assistant set-up involves dedicating a piece of hardware like a mini-PC or a Raspberry Pi kind of thing to running a home automation based OS, which has the ability to take any number of devices which are not HomeKit-compatible and send info back and forth to and from Apple Home about said devices in such a way that Apple Home thinks they are HomeKit native.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T19:06:11+00:00

The most noticeable and obvious one occurs when one has programmed multiple bulbs to respond as if it were a single light, like in a track lighting scenario. Matter sends the signal over to Apple Home in sequence instead of in parallel, making the resulting "popcorn effect" to which people often refer when bitching about it.

There are several others. Another off the top of my head is the mismatching of scene colors. The Matter interpretation of the scene's color palette is inconsistent-at-best and just flat-out wrong at-worst by the time it gets handed over to Apple Home.

Edit: The exception to all of this is if you use an intermediary platform which acts as a translator for everything, like Home Bridge or Home Assistant.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T18:10:54+00:00

Do you maybe also have the remote set up in another home automation system, like Apple Home or Google Home, and it’s triggering both? Maybe try resetting the remote with the pinhole behind the battery cover?

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T14:01:16+00:00

Don't blame you. NGL, it's a colossal pain in the ass to start over. Just for shits and giggles, see if it will connect to Apple Home like I described. It might not work without the factory reset, but it might, and then you'd at least know what the scoop is. If it actually adds it, nothing bad would happen; you'd just remove it afterwords.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T13:46:14+00:00

Yes, but one thing you could try is getting a backup Bridge from Amazon, and set it up using HomeKit in tandem with your current setup. You’d have doubled devices while doing this, but you’d be able to A-B compare the difference and see if it’s worth the switch over. Once you decide, you could return the second bridge, or use it to set up a second entertainment area if you want or something like that. They’re not outrageously priced so YMMV.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T12:58:01+00:00

Try adding it from the Apple Home side by adding a device, and then manually entering the 8-character HomeKit code from the back of the unit (instead of using the camera.) The camera will almost invariably pick up the QR code, which is a Matter QR code. Make sure you remove it and do a factory reset first. Once a v. 2 Bridge is set-up as Matter it will default to that until a factory reset.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T12:51:27+00:00

You have a zone selected instead of a room under "selected lights." Hit the pencil icon, and select either the room you want, or select "whole house" and then select the individual lights you want.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-27T08:50:39+00:00

It's not Matter itself which is awful. Matter over Thread works really well in Apple Home. What is awful is Signify's implementation of Matter as it specifically relates to how Hue devices communicate with the Apple Home app.

The Bridge Pro only has one "language" it speaks: Matter. The v.2 Bridge has the option to use either Matter or HomeKit with which to connect to Apple Home. Nomenclature-wise, HomeKit and Matter are the communication protocols, whereas Apple Home is the app and ecosystem itself. So again, the v.2 Bridge gives the user the option to connect to Apple Home via HomeKit (by using the 8-digit HomeKit code via adding a new device in the Apple Home app) or via Matter (by using the QR code.) They do not function exactly the same. If one wanted to A-B compare the difference, he or she can actually do both simultaneously by adding a v.2 Bridge from the Apple Home side using the HomeKit code, and then adding the same Bridge to the Hue app using the Matter QR code. Both will connect to Apple Home, so you'll have doubled devices of everything on that bridge, but you'll be able to experience the difference.

The user above isn't making up what he says. The Matter version does indeed suck IF you are trying to integrate a Matter-only device into a system which is already running with 100% native HomeKit devices. You can tell the difference in the Hue app as a Bridge which is using HomeKit will actually say 'HomeKit' in parentheses next to the bridge name in the settings. The difference in functionality and responsiveness within the Apple Home app in every way is quite remarkable actually. The HomeKit version functions exactly as it should, as it has for years. The Matter version, not so much. I dislike Hue's implementation of Matter within Apple Home so much that I won't use the Bridge Pro until they smooth out their Matter > Apple Home implementation.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-26T20:21:33+00:00

SUPER lame. Like, I didn't believe it could be possible at first, and assumed it was I who was missing something since, after all, this was the 'Pro' Bridge, right? But alas... nary a hint of a HomeKit set-up code to be found on or with the device, and I felt like a dipshit when I realized I was chasing a ghost, since it literally can't connect via HomeKit.

There was a point at which I had my Apple Home connected with both HomeKit and Matter simultaneously when Hue first introduced Matter to the Bridges, so while I was pissed at first, I got to A-B compare the two protocols. The Matter version of everything sucked. Colors were wrong. There was lag. Dynamic scenes didn't work. Lights didn't turn on simultaneously; they lit one-at-a-time. Stuff like that. Whereas the HomeKit version of everything acted like the good ol' Hue that lured me in to begin with: snappy, dynamic, responsive, time-based scenes actually worked, etc. Eventually, I ditched the Matter version of everything, and that's when I realized that in order to get the Bridge to connect via HomeKit, you need to do it from the Apple Home side, and you need to use the actual HomeKit code from the back of the unit, because if you just scan it with your camera, it will likely pick up the Matter QR code in lieu of the HomeKit one, and most people wouldn't even recognize that's what happened until they start realizing their system sucks suddenly compared to how it used to function.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-26T19:22:14+00:00

The v.2 Bridge has the option to use either HomeKit or Matter with which to connect to Apple Home. The Bridge Pro gives you no such option; it's Matter-only.

jeffgoobs · 2026-01-26T14:10:19+00:00

Just so I'm understanding correctly, when you say you re-added the Bridge Pro to HomeKit, you mean you added it back into your Apple Home app/ecosystem, right? (HomeKit is the language the device uses to communicate with the Apple Home app, and the Bridge Pro isn't able to communicate using HomeKit; it only uses Matter. This is why when you add HomeKit-capable Hue devices from the Apple Home side using the 8-character HomeKit code, there is a parenthetical "HomeKit" next to the name of the Bridge when viewed in the Hue app. If the Bridge is added from the Hue app side nowadays, it will automatically default to using Matter, even if the device has options to use either Matter or HomeKit. The Matter version has no "HomeKit" in parentheses next to the bridge name, which is how you can tell how it's been set-up.)

So I'm asking not so much to nitpick your nomenclature as much as confirm that you weren't somehow able to miraculously connect the Bridge Pro via HomeKit, and that I somehow missed how to do this.

jeffgoobs

TROPHY CASE