My biggest smart home regret is not doing this from the start
I only started building a smart home last year, so almost all of my devices communicate through Matter. For the most part, things worked out. As I try out different smart home hubs and troubleshoot the occasional issue, there’s just one simple thing I wish I had done from the start that would have saved me a lot of frustration: writing down my Matter pairing codes.
You need your original Matter pairing code to reset devices
This is the QR code and number that came with your device.
Every Matter device comes with a Matter pairing code that you must enter when setting up the device on your smart home platform. You can either enter this code manually or by scanning a QR code. Generally, it consists of 11 digits.
When everything goes well, you only need to interact with this code once. Then your smart home knows how to communicate with your product, and you no longer have any reason to think about those numbers again. Like an IP address, this number is a component of network infrastructure that appears largely invisibly behind the scenes.
Even if you want to add a Matter device to Google Home after initially setting it up in Samsung SmartThings, it’s a quirk of Matter that if you want to control a Matter device from two smart home platforms at once, you don’t use the original pairing code a second time. Instead, you need to generate a new one. Only when resetting your device do you need the original code.
The fact is that resetting devices is something that comes up often enough that it’s essential that you don’t lose that original code.
This code is not always in a convenient place
Where did they put that number again?
Most Matter products come with the pairing code placed somewhere on the device. Both of my Govee floor lamps have theirs on a tag wrapped around the power cord. My Umbra Cono portable smart lights have theirs physically etched into their legs.
Some codes are more difficult to access. My Tapo S505 smart switches have their codes visible behind the wall plate. This plate can be difficult to remove, and since I replaced the factory wall plate with an alternative from Lowe’s, I also have to remove a screw before I can access the pairing code. Considering I’ve purchased almost 50 smart switches for my home, that’s a lot of physical work if I want to reset my lights and replace my original smart home platform with another one.
I started with Samsung SmartThings because it was the most accessible for me, as someone who owns a Samsung Galaxy phone. Although SmartThings does a better job supporting Matter than alternatives like Google Home and Amazon Alexa, that doesn’t mean I want to stick to my smart home base forever.
Saving your codes keeps them accessible
Avoid having to search for them again
Now that I’m in the process of migrating my Matter devices from a cloud-based platform, I’m taking this time to write each of my Matter pairing codes as I go. This way, in the future, if I run into problems and need to reset a device, or just want to wear all my devices again, I know exactly where to look and have to exert a lot less physical effort.
At the same time, it is also helpful to note how to put each device into pairing mode. The process is not always obvious, even if it seems like it should be. My light switches have a button labeled “Reset”, but it only really takes effect if I hold the button down long enough for the light controlled by the switch to flash. The power button on my portable smart lights needs to be pressed three times, with my finger remaining in place on the third press until the light turns red. The Tapo smart bulb in my bedroom needs to be turned on and off several times until the bulb flashes. With such vastly different ways to prepare devices for pairing, even if you have your Matter codes handy, you’re still not ready to go unless you also know how to reset your device.
You have a backup if you lose the original
Numbers may disappear over time
Many devices come with the Matter pairing code printed on a separate sheet of paper, in addition to being located somewhere on the product itself. The fact is that some of these devices have become part of your home. They live long enough that the ink can fade and even the engraving on the plastic can bleed to the point that some numbers become illegible. Having a backup on hand saves you from having to replace a device not because it stopped working, but because you have no way to reconnect it to your smart home hub.
It doesn’t matter where or how you write down your Matter pairing codes, as long as it’s somewhere you won’t lose it. For now, I write mine down in Samsung Notes. I can export the note to PDF and save it somewhere or even print a copy. A plain text file works just as well. The same goes for writing on paper and taking a photo. All that matters is that you create a durable record and keep it somewhere safe.
