Is my Aqara Hub M3 just… broken? Matter absolutely refuses to work (UniFi setup)

[JohnD]

Perhaps that is the reason:

@JohnD

Thread Network: The Stale Credentials Trap

Matter over thread: why stale network credentials block connections after a hub reset:

1. You set up your Aqara Hub, which also functions as a Thread Border Router.
2. The Hub creates a new Thread network and generates network credentials (Dataset: PAN ID, Network Key, Channel).
3. The Hub shares these credentials with your smartphone.
4. The smartphone stores the credentials (in the encrypted iCloud Keychain on iOS / in Google Play Services on Android).
5. Issues arise, and you reset your Hub to factory settings. The Thread network credentials are deleted from the Hub.
6. You set up the Hub again in the Aqara app (without explicitly creating a new Thread network).
7. You add a new Matter device by scanning the Matter code.
8. Your smartphone connects to the Matter device via Bluetooth.
9. The smartphone passes the credentials (of the old network) that it last had in memory to the device.
10. The device now attempts to find this specific Thread network.
11. Since the Hub (which established the network) was reset, this network no longer exists.
12. The device cannot find the Thread network, and the setup fails.

Solution: Create a new Thread network so that the Hub generates fresh credentials and passes them to the smartphone as the new default.

Go to the hub settings under:

Network Information → Thread → Thread Network Management → Create and join

Although the old credentials remain on the smartphone as “residual data,” they usually no longer cause interference because the system now prioritizes the new credentials.

Since access data for the Thread network is stored on the smartphone, using a different one is also problematic. The Thread network should therefore always be set up and Matter devices added using the same smartphone.