I used the fdroid app through droidify and when I use the companion app to add a matter device it tells me to install the app.

I can only note that it requires the play store version.

Is this known, a bug or a necessary evil?

Its likely because it uses some Google service to complete the transaction with the device. I believe this is a known limitation of the f-droid version, not sure if it's something the are able to work around or not.

Edit: yes under the android instructions it states the Google Matter UI takes over the process. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/matter/

Damn. Its so difficult to degoogle.

Thanks for this, wonder if there is any other way.

Honestly this has completely set back my opinion of matter. I was already really hesitant to jump on board but was still optimistic about it. Now I'm very unlikely to ever embrace it.

Edit: Apparently you can use a dedicated Bluetooth adapter for provisioning if it's installed on your server. It can't be used for the Bluetooth integration at the same time.

It was a big tech protocol, I just hoped to use it without them.

I'm not entirely familiar with the processes, I only just started HA. I'll try get my head around the alternative, I just got the ZBT2 on the promise of ease of use to my partner but they will have to wait for their lamp automation

It looks like you can use a a Bluetooth adapter plugged into your server as long as the normal Bluetooth integration is disabled, the matter integration needs sole access. Then you'll just use the browser interface to provision something.

Much less convenient to provision things but worth it if you can avoid Google lock in.

Thanks for helping man, appreciate your efforts

Yeah, the Google tie in has made Matter a non-option for me too. I have ZigBee and WiFi devices, but nothing Matter for this very reason.

lol. in that case it's not an f-droid restriction, but that google has inserted itself into the matter protocol as a gatekeeper like they do with everything. f-droid is right to strip out all the google components from apps they distribute, and tht is one of the reasons why I prefer it over other download methods

Edit: Apparently you can use a dedicated Bluetooth adapter for provisioning if it's installed on your server. It can't be used for the Bluetooth integration at the same time.

surely the google component can be replaced then? I mean it needs to be made first, but hopefully google has not made it impossible to implement with arbitrary android api restrictions..

Possibly. There's also the consideration that the Companion app dev is a paid employee. Does enough of the community demand this feature to be googless to justify the development of building a new system from scratch instead of using the drop in service module?

I would love a fully function play services free version of the app. But is there enough demand for their limited resources to be applied?

Maybe someday Google will push enough people too far. But here on Lemmy we are definitely not the majority, even in the home automation hobby.

I'm not sure how how the hardware works with the matter software. It's possible that they are even already working on someday for the Bluetooth proxies to work which would be a good compromise even if the phone Bluetooth is impossible to use without play services.

Since I have a degoogled phone, I got a USB Bluetooth dongle for my server. If you use docker (like me) it is a bit tricky but doable.
I was furious thinking Google is unavoidable, but it is just a sign of how bad android is tide to google...

Nobody said it was an F-Droid restriction.

I have a pi5, fairly sure the BT is inbuilt

But is there enough demand for their limited resources to be applied?

too few people know how to program.

too few people have meaningful amount of free time after work.

true. but in my experience in such cases people too often think that this is because f-droid is too strict, has silly rules, something along those lines, and blame it for the bad apps.

Just FYI this is incredibly easy, and can be done on yur phone just not through the QR code. Open the matter app/add on, enable BLE proxy, restart, open webui and add node. Simple as.

Degoogled