Home Assistant 2026.5! 🎉

What a few weeks it has been! Earlier this month, we hosted State of the Open Home 2026 live in Utrecht, the Netherlands. A big chunk of that day was dedicated to something we deeply care about: building in the open, and how we’re going to take that even further from here on out. 💙

Building in the open isn’t just about source code on GitHub. It’s about doing the planning, the decision-making, and the prioritizing out where everyone can see it, follow along, and join in. And “joining in” doesn’t mean you have to write a single line of code or even consider yourself technical. Sharing how you use Home Assistant, telling us what frustrates you, what you wish existed, voting on ideas, helping a fellow user on the forums or Discord, translating, writing documentation, or simply leaving a thoughtful comment on a roadmap item: it all counts, and it all shapes where this project goes next. 🤝

A great first step in that direction also went live this month: our roadmap is now public. You can go browse it, see what we’re working on, what’s next, and (most importantly) comment on it, share your thoughts, and help shape it. We talked about all of this, and a lot more, on stage. So if you weren’t able to join us live, please go watch the recording. It is genuinely worth your time, and it’s the best invitation I can give you to come build the Open Home with us. 🗺️

Now, on to this release. My personal favorite this month is maybe a bit unexpected, considering it sits all the way at the end of this post: the completely reworked templating documentation. I know, I know, “documentation” doesn’t exactly scream headline feature. But hear me out: making Home Assistant more approachable is one of our biggest missions this year, and darn good documentation is a big part of that. We’ve expanded our documentation team and are investing heavily in this, and the new templating docs are the very first taste of what’s to come. I’m really proud of where this is heading. 📚

That said, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also super stoked about radio frequency (RF) support landing this release. Just like last month’s infrared (IR) release, this brings a massive category of devices into Home Assistant natively: blinds, garage doors, ceiling fans, RF outlets, doorbells… you name it. Sure, there have always been clever workarounds and custom integrations to bridge some of these, but having it built right into the platform changes the game completely. There is so much cool stuff going on around this, and we’re only getting started. 📡

And there’s plenty more: a new Maintenance dashboard for your batteries, serial ports proxied over the network with ESPHome, new tile card features for media players, durations for purpose-specific automation triggers and conditions, redesigned more-info dialogs for vacuums and lawn mowers, autocomplete in the code editors, and 12 new integrations! 🚀

Enjoy the release!

../Frenck

How do you more or less double the number of Works with Home Assistant-certified devices available to our community? Have BEGA join the program! This German firm has spent more than 75 years designing a wide range of architectural lighting that sets the industry standard: and now they’re bringing that expertise to your smart home.

We’re thrilled to welcome ubisys to Works with Home Assistant! This German company has been dedicated to smart home automation for more than 20 years, and offers a range of Zigbee devices designed to help you retrofit your home. If retrofitting is conjuring up images of avocado bathrooms 🥑 and artexed ceilings, fear not – it just means upgrading what you already have, rather than ripping it out and starting again. Better for your home, and the planet 🌍.

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!

../Frenck

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!

../Frenck

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!

../Frenck