Home Assistant 2026.4! 🎉

I’ll be honest: when I first heard the pitch for infrared support in Home Assistant, I wasn’t exactly jumping out of my chair. Infrared? That’s old tech! But that’s exactly the point. Think about how many TVs, air conditioners, and other appliances sitting in your home right now have an infrared receiver but no smart features whatsoever. With this release, all of those devices can get a smart future, showing up as actual, controllable devices in Home Assistant. Turns out, old tech can learn some very new tricks. 📡

Our purpose-specific automation triggers and conditions are back with a whole metric ton of new triggers and conditions! This effort, currently available through Home Assistant Labs, is now almost feature complete. If you haven’t tried it yet, please give it a shot; I’m really looking forward to your feedback. 🧠

There’s also plenty of fun stuff: background colors for dashboard sections, favorites on your dashboard cards, full Matter lock management with PIN codes, and you can now see what your AI-powered Assist is thinking while it processes your requests. Plus 14 new integrations! 🚀

Oh! And don’t forget: State of the Open Home 2026 is happening on April 8 in Utrecht, the Netherlands! Come celebrate everything we’ve built together in person. Tickets are limited, so grab yours while you can! 🎟️

Enjoy the release!

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Backups are one of those quiet, powerful features: when they work, you don’t notice them, but when you need them, they’re everything. We’ve evolved Home Assistant’s built-in backup format over the years to keep it safe and secure, especially when backing up to remote locations. As modern cryptography has advanced, we needed to build a system to match. SecureTar v3 is a purpose-built library for creating and reading password-protected Home Assistant backups with modern cryptography and safer, stronger defaults.

To help us get this right, we commissioned Trail of Bits, a leading security engineering firm, to independently audit our work. Their review found that SecureTar v3 follows best-in-class practices for core security algorithms, such as hashing and encryption. They also identified three areas for improvement, which they confirmed were resolved in their follow-up review. This audit was paid for by the Open Home Foundation so we could invest in improvements that protect users’ privacy, security, and control.

Your backups will start using this new encryption automatically, beginning with the release of version 2026.4 on April 1, 2026. Please note old backups will still work and be readable after this change (see Recommended next steps below). For more technical details, please read on…

We’re thrilled to extend a very warm (ahem) Works with Home Assistant welcome to Heatit! As the name suggests, Heatit are all about keeping you, and your home, warm. They specialize in smart climate and heating control, which might have something to do with the fact they’re based in Norway, where energy management is a big reason people turn to Home Assistant, as winter temperatures can dip to below -20°C!

Home Assistant 2026.3! 🎉

After last month’s massive release, this one is a nice and relaxed one. We took a step back from the big headline features and fully focused on something equally important: getting the amazing contributions from our community reviewed, polished, and merged. 💚

And did our community deliver! This release is packed with tons of new integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more], lots of noteworthy improvements to the ones you already use, boatloads of bug fixes, and a really nice list of integrations that climbed up the integration quality scale. 📈

It’s releases like these that really show the strength of our open-source community. Every single contribution matters, and this month that shows more than ever. Thank you all! 🙏

My personal favorite this month? The automation editor change: Continue on error has finally landed in the UI. I actually wrote this feature years ago, but it was only available through YAML. Seeing it now land in the visual editor (making it accessible to everyone) is just awesome. It’s one of those small things that make a big difference in everyday use. 🤩

Oh, and before I forget: have you seen our brand new merch store? The Open Home Foundation store is live! I have to be honest: the quality is really great. The hoodie is so darn comfy it’s ridiculous. I’ve been wearing mine non-stop. Go check it out! 🏃

Also, mark your calendars: State of the Open Home 2026 is happening on April 8 in Utrecht, the Netherlands! Join us live in the audience for a celebration of everything we’ve built together, a look at what’s ahead, and your chance to help shape the future of the Open Home. Tickets are limited, so grab yours while you can! 🎟️

Enjoy the release!

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After an amazing 2025 that saw 12 new Works with Home Assistant partners join the program, it’s now time to say “Hei” to the first partner joining us this year: Heiman.

Founded back in 2005, Heiman specialize in smart home security devices, and are bringing an impressive selection of safety-focused sensors and alarms to the program: including the first Matter carbon monoxide alarms to be certified, along with smoke alarms designed for international markets.

Yes, the day has finally arrived: the Open Home Foundation merch store is up and running! 🥳 While some of you have tracked it down already (and are wearing the T-shirts to prove it!), we wanted to share it officially with the whole community so no one misses the chance to get involved.

Home Assistant 2026.2! 💝

February is the month of love, and this release is here to share it!

The new Home Dashboard is now the official default for all new installations. If you’ve been using Home Assistant for a while and never customized your default view, you’ll get a suggestion to switch; give it a try!

I also need your help! The Open Home Foundation device database is being built as a community-powered resource to help everyone make informed decisions about smart home devices. Head to Home Assistant Labs to opt in and contribute your anonymized device data. 📈

Add-ons are now called Apps! After a lot of community discussion, it was time to use terminology that everyone understands. Your TV has apps, your phone has apps, and now Home Assistant has apps too.

My personal favorite this release? The completely redesigned Quick search! If you’re like me and navigate Home Assistant using your keyboard, you’re going to love this one. Press ⌘ + K (or Ctrl + K on Windows/Linux) and you have instant access to everything. 🤩

Enjoy the release!

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Imagine knowing how a smart device will actually perform in your home before you buy it… not from a spec sheet, but from anonymized data that people running setups just like yours have opted to share. Having answers to questions like: will this sensor work without the cloud? Is that smart plug actually being reported by users as reliable? Does “local control” mean local always, or just sometimes? Will these devices work well across protocols? What this device looks like in other users’ homes?

It’s time to celebrate what we’ve built together, and get excited about what’s coming next – at State of the Open Home, our annual look at how we’re championing privacy, choice, and sustainability in the smart home. And this year, we’re doing something new: inviting you to be part of the action in our audience! 🎉

That’s right, you don’t have to watch from home – you can join us live in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on Wednesday, April 8.

Last month – and indeed last year! – we published a blog recapping the highlights from the Works with Home Assistant program in 2025. As with any certification program, our partnerships evolve: some start anew, some grow bigger and stronger, and some naturally run their course. In the interest of visibility for our community, we want to share an update about one such change. When a partner leaves the program, we believe it’s important to document this openly so you get the full picture.