A recent Matter Alpha explainer describes a problem we see in a lot of installs: the smart home works well until the batteries start dying. We are summarising their experience, not claiming our own hands-on use of these products.
What happened
The writer replaced most of their wall switches with hardwired Tapo Matter switches, and those just keep working. They then put a SwitchBot presence sensor in every room, all battery powered. They also run IKEA Matter-over-Thread gear: a TIMMERFLOTTE temperature and humidity sensor, KLIPPBOK water leak sensors and BILRESA remotes. Their Homey app lists dozens of battery devices.
During a stretch when the household was dealing with a death in the family, nobody checked on any of it. The presence sensors in two of the busiest rooms died at about the same time. Ceiling fans that used to start automatically stopped doing so, and the SwitchBot floor fans stopped circulating air when someone was in the room.
Battery life varies a lot
- The climate sensors, from both SwitchBot and IKEA, were all still running. A SwitchBot Meter Plus reviewed over a year earlier had not needed new batteries.
- Presence sensors were the hungry ones. The living room and dining room units died, and the office unit was at 5% when swapped.
- Range matters. SwitchBot warned during setup that a longer detection range shortens battery life, and the two large open rooms were the ones that failed. The office is tiny, but people go in and out constantly, which also drains it. The bedroom unit is still going.
- Ease of replacement differs. IKEA covers pry off in seconds. The SwitchBot sensors sit on arms stuck to the wall with 3M stickers, so you separate the sensor, swap batteries, then re-attach and re-aim it.
What it means for your system
This is not a Matter flaw. Battery life comes from the device, its settings and how busy the room is. The article does not say which transport the SwitchBot sensors use, so do not read it as a verdict on Thread or Wi-Fi. Vendors do make long-life claims (the Thread Group says sleepy devices enable “many years of battery usage”, and the Z-Wave Alliance claims up to 10 years on a coin cell for Long Range), but real life depends on how often a device reports.
What we would do:
- Keep battery notifications on, even if you silence everything else. Replace at 10 to 20%, not 0%.
- Check battery history in your app after a few months. It tells you the real life of each device in each room.
- Do not hang critical automations on a single presence sensor. If a fan, light or alarm depends on it, plan for what happens when it goes silent.
- Check how you get into the battery before buying, especially for gear you will mount high or glue to a wall.
- Use mains-powered sensors where you can, especially for busy rooms and long detection ranges.
- Stagger replacements. Sensors installed on the same day tend to die on the same week.
What owners are asking
Is Matter still experimental in Home Assistant? That was the 2024 description. The Open Home Foundation Matter Server and Home Assistant were certified by the CSA in March 2025, and Home Assistant announced Matter 1.5.1 support in June 2026. Network setup (IPv6, multicast, VLANs) is still the most common source of trouble.
Do bridges cover everything, such as scenes? Not always. Home Assistant has said not every advanced feature of a native integration is covered by the standard, and a bridge only exposes what the controller on the other end understands. Test the specific thing you need before relying on it.
Does choosing Matter change battery life? Not by itself. The device design matters more.
Our stance
Today, Zigbee is the more mature option in Home Assistant: a larger proven catalogue, fully local, very low power. Matter is the industry’s direction and wins on working across ecosystems, but it is younger. If your Zigbee sensors work, keep them until they die. For new gear where cross-ecosystem use matters, choose Matter over Thread. Whatever you pick, a battery alert you actually read matters more than the protocol.