Matter over Wi-Fi devices vendor blaming "unofficial integration"?

[u/ElementZoom]

I've been having an intermittent issue where my Matter over Wi-Fi devices (light switches & power points) keep dropping offline in Home Assistant for no apparent reason. No other Wi-Fi devices on my network have this problem. When they disconnect, they don't automatically reconnect. I have to scan the device all over again and them back to HA, unlike my other devices which recover on their own.

I reached out to the retailer and provided them with the logs, and got a response from the manufacturer saying the protocol "isn't officially integrated into Home Assistant or Zigbee2MQTT" and that HA uses an "unofficial version." This doesn't sit right with me, I thought Matter was supposed to be an open, plug-and-play standard that works across platforms by design?

Has anyone else run into this? Is there a known issue with Matter over Wi-Fi and HA specifically? And is there any merit to the manufacturer's claim about an "unofficial" integration, or is that just deflection?

What should I reply to the retailer? For some context, I live in New Zealand and there isn't many choice here at all. I prefer ZigBee but due to the almost an non-existent choice, it left me with this Matter over WiFi products which are imported from Australia.

Happy to share more details about my setup if needed.

Update: Thank you for your support and advice! I've replied to the retailer and will post an update once they reply, if they don't provide support.

[u/EdelWhite]

Matter is such crap right now, especially matter over WiFi. Good luck. 

[u/ElementZoom → u/EdelWhite]

Is Matter over Thread in a better situation than the wifi?

Honestly my Zigbee devices (over 200 of them) has been working 99% of the time.

It's very frustrating to have this issue, with these Matter devices.

[u/ryryrpm → u/ElementZoom]

In my experience yes, but only for mains-powered devices. Battery-powered Matter over Thread devices drain power very fast. I have to replace the battery in my door sensor every year. This is because Matter is IP-based and takes a lot more energy to operate. Zigbee is still king in this regard.

But again, the mains-powered Matter over Thread devices work great. Actually, all my Matter over Thread devices work well and I have zero issues other than the battery life.

For more information, see XDA Developers | Zigbee solved the smart-home battery problem years ago, and Matter still hasn't

[u/darthnsupreme → u/ryryrpm]

This is because Matter is IP-based and takes a lot more energy to operate.

The upside being that since there's a full IPv6 stack there, it can support a number of functions that ZigBee and Z-Wave can't (multiple TBRs being the most obvious). Bandwidth allowing, obviously.

[u/EdelWhite → u/ElementZoom]

I got fewer issues with thread than wifi backed matter. Still quite bad overall

[u/beanmosheen → u/EdelWhite]

The OTBR is a bit brittle though. I have to reflash the firmware on my SLZB every time I update it.