Home Assistant Podcast

Living With Home Assistant: The Other Side of the Smart Home

Sofia lives in a Home Assistant smart home, but she didn’t install it. We’re breaking down what its like on the other side of the fence and how open communication and involvement make for a happier smart home. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA247 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:00 Home Assistant origins 00:04:00 Philips Hue beginnings 00:06:30 Building automations together 00:09:00 Sensors and safety alerts 00:12:00 Magic mirror project 00:15:00 Apple Home scenes 00:18:00 Home Assistant usability 00:21:00 Privacy and stability 00:24:30 Voice control and wrap-up This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Want Phil to help with your smart home? You’ve heard him troubleshoot Home Assistant on the podcast. Now you can book him to troubleshoot yours. From broken automations and confusing YAML to dashboards, devices, and complete smart home setups: https://smarthomecto.com Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on this link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Rohan is Packing Up his Smart Home and Starting Over

Rohan is moving house! Phil and Rohan dive into the realities of selling a Home Assistant-powered home and moving into a new property. They discuss what smart home gear is worth leaving behind, how to keep a house buyer-friendly, and why removable devices are often the safest choice. Plus, Rohan shares his plan to rebuild his smart home from scratch in a new house with a pool, septic, a generator, and plenty of new automation opportunities. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA246 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00: Intro 00:01:45: Moving House Update 00:04:41: Leaving Smart Gear 00:08:51: Selling Smart Homes 00:14:40: Lockbox Troubles 00:17:31: Open House Modes 00:19:59: Preparing The Yard 00:23:43: Packing The Tech 00:25:48: Home Assistant Move 00:28:50: Server Rack Plans 00:31:14: Doorbell And Locks 00:34:09: Irrigation Controller 00:35:19: New House Criteria 00:39:00: Pool And Irrigation 00:43:19: Fresh Home Assistant 00:48:03: New UI Features 00:51:26: Well Septic And Generator 00:55:09: Move Planning Tools This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Clean My Mac Get Tidy Today! Get 7 days free and use our code ASSISTANT for 20% off Want Phil to help with your smart home? You’ve heard him troubleshoot Home Assistant on the podcast. Now you can book him to troubleshoot yours. From broken automations and confusing YAML to dashboards, devices, and complete smart home setups: https://smarthomecto.com Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Home Assistant 2026.8 says goodbye to 8123, while SmartThings goes behind a paywall

Home Assistant 2026.8 is here, we unpack the biggest changes. From port 8123 to port 80 for new Home Assistant OS installs, customizable entity ID formats, moon and vibration automation triggers, and the device-registry separation that may affect merged devices. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA245 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:47 - Perth meetup and SmartThings API 00:07:47 - Battery charging and leak sensors 00:14:52 - Port 80 and HTTP settings 00:18:03 - UI wording and entity IDs 00:22:49 - Moon and vibration automations 00:24:23 - Device registry separation 00:30:00 - Template editor 00:32:21 - Dashboards and integration updates 00:36:37 - New Home Assistant integrations 00:44:48 - Breaking changes and upgrade advice 00:46:34 - Rohan's house move 00:48:14 - Proxmox migration and Zigbee 00:51:02 - Z-Wave migration and lock codes 00:55:31 - AI agent automations 00:57:36 - Network troubleshooting with Hermes 00:59:48 - Picture frame project and closing This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Want Phil to help with your smart home? You’ve heard him troubleshoot Home Assistant on the podcast. Now you can book him to troubleshoot yours. From broken automations and confusing YAML to dashboards, devices, and complete smart home setups: https://smarthomecto.com Products Discussed SwitchBot Candle Warmer Lamp: https://amzn.to/45plQEt Roborock Q10 robot vacuum: https://amzn.to/4fVu105 Harbor Sleep Baby Monitor: https://amzn.to/3Rt73VV Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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How Eugene Built a .NET Home Assistant Brain for his Smart Home

Phil and Rohan chat with Eugene about how he built a deeply automated smart home using Home Assistant, Raspberry Pi, Zigbee, Shelly devices, Aqara sensors, and even C#/.NET with NetDaemon. They explore practical automations for alarms, presence, notifications, kid management, and more. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA244 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00: Intro 00:02:00: Getting Into Automation 00:04:15: Choosing Hardware Wisely 00:06:30: Network Lessons Learned 00:10:30: Current Home Setup 00:15:00: Presence And Notifications 00:20:30: Actionable Alerts 00:27:55: Chores And Screen Time 00:34:20: Morning Summaries 00:39:00: .NET Automations 00:46:50: School Dates This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products Discussed Shelly One relay: https://amzn.to/4wUFxj6 CC2531 Zigbee controller: https://amzn.to/3RFhwgS Amazon Echo Dot: https://amzn.to/44DIBUB Aqara contact sensor: https://amzn.to/4vIfUky Aqara passive infrared motion sensor: https://amzn.to/4wWJ3tn Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Khaled - The dentist with a Kubernetes Cluster and Home Assistant

Phil and Rohan chat with Khaled, a periodontist who turned Home Assistant into the central brain of his home. From Roomba integrations and Soma shades to barcode-driven dog treat tracking, e-ink dashboards, and local AI workflows, this conversation is packed with practical smart home ideas. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA243 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:56 Khaled’s Background 00:04:21 First Home Assistant Use 00:08:52 GUI Over YAML 00:12:24 Hardware And Green 00:16:27 Grocy And Barcodes 00:20:45 Scanner Workflow 00:26:20 NFC And More Ideas 00:35:35 Voice PE Remote 00:39:52 Terminal Displays 00:47:23 Local AI Tools 00:53:04 Automating CV Updates 00:56:39 Paperless NGX 01:00:46 Hermes And Agents This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Symcode 2D QR Bluetooth Barcode Scanner Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Home Assistant Smart Home That Reminds, Nudges, and almost Pours Tea

Phil and Rohan chat with Jason from the UK about building a truly proactive smart home with Home Assistant. From room-aware dashboards and presence detection to Alexa routines, Google Calendar, Todoist, Zigbee, ESP32s, and AI-powered driveway monitoring, Jason shares how he turned automations into a daily life assistant. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA242 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:06 Jason’s smart home journey 00:05:19 Voice, automations, and helpers 00:12:00 Car, tea, and problem solving 00:18:45 Presence detection and room dashboards 00:26:50 Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Matter choices 00:34:35 Todoist and calendar automation 00:44:30 Doorbells, garages, and briefings 00:52:40 Driveway security and Gemini 00:58:03 Sports dashboards and future plans 01:05:07 Getting started with smarter automations This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Clean My Mac Get Tidy Today! Get 7 days free and use our code ASSISTANT for 20% off Products Discussed LinknLink presence sensor and IR blaster: https://amzn.to/4oXjLIF Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Omri Peretz the creator of QuickBars for Android TV

In this episode Phil and Rohan chat with Omri, the creator of QuickBars, an Android TV and Google TV app for controlling Home Assistant from the couch. They dig into his smart home journey, how he replaced a slow proprietary Zigbee setup, and how Home Assistant became the central brain for his parents' house and his own apartment. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA241 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:26 QuickBars overview 00:03:07 Broken smart home origin 00:05:58 Rebuilding with Home Assistant 00:10:04 Running two Home Assistant homes 00:14:51 House automations and cameras 00:18:57 Building QuickBars 00:28:29 App development lessons 00:31:34 Community response and use cases 00:35:04 Notification and camera features 00:38:40 Open source and AI coding 00:42:13 Apartment automations and alerts 00:48:39 Wrapping up QuickBars This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products Discussed Google Coral: https://amzn.to/4b44TCm Nvidia Shield: https://amzn.to/4eCreYH HomePod: https://amzn.to/4uWeu5A Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Home Assistant 2026.7 Brings The Biggest Automation Upgrade Yet

Phil and Rohan unpack the massive 2026.7 release, including purpose-specific triggers and conditions graduating from Labs, the move to Matter.js, faster templates, improved dashboards, and better debugging tools. They also discuss mailbag comments and Rohan’s progress on his e-ink display. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA240 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:10 Unify 2026 recap 00:10:45 Listener feedback and Yoto 00:28:40 E-Ink project update 00:32:43 Home Assistant 2026.7 00:40:52 Updates and integrations 00:50:40 Breaking changes and wrap-up This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This video contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Neil takes us through how he is using AI to build his ultimate smart home with Home Assistant

Neil walks us through how he has managed to leverage AI tools to create his dream smart home with Home Assistant. From automating blinds to automating a winter cottage Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA239 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Welcome 00:01:21 - Neil’s background 00:03:33 - Starting with Google Home 00:04:53 - Lutron and motion sensors 00:06:06 - Complex HVAC challenge 00:08:52 - DIY manifold control 00:10:52 - Radiant cooling by dew point 00:13:23 - Gas vs electrification debate 00:15:51 - Coding with AI tools 00:19:59 - Sauna and smart blinds 00:24:21 - Cottage winter automation 00:31:20 - Remote access choices 00:33:55 - Multi-building MQTT design 00:40:41 - Plant care automation 00:44:54 - Device health monitoring 00:49:59 - Zigbee vs Z-Wave talk 00:55:06 - Future plans and tools 00:59:38 - Wrap-up This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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From an Orange Bulb to a Smart Home: Claudia’s Home Assistant Journey

Claudia joins Phil and Rohan to share how an orange Philips Hue bulb sparked a full-blown smart home powered by Home Assistant. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA238 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:03:35 - Early lights to Apple Home 00:06:24 - Why local-first and fewer subs 00:07:59 - Server closet hardware and UDM 00:10:24 - Magic lights with mmWave 00:15:12 - Nap-time button and scenes 00:19:22 - Local voice, Music Assistant 00:27:03 - Protocols: Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread 00:31:00 - Door sensors and recessed mods 00:34:40 - Climate data and ESPHome AC 00:38:30 - Ceiling fans and canopy modules 00:41:30 - Partner approval and tweaks 00:44:30 - Cats: Litter-Robot and cameras 00:45:15 - Robot vacuums and Valetudo 00:48:30 - Dashboards that are simple 00:52:10 - YAML, AI helpers, and costs 00:56:20 - Cloud-optional philosophy 01:01:06 - Robot mowers and real limits 01:01:06 - Humanoid robots chat and wrap This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Sign up for your free trial in your Home Assistant system: https://my.home-assistant.io/redirect/cloud/ or visit https://nabucasa.com Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Clean My Mac Get Tidy Today! Get 7 days free and use our code ASSISTANT for 20% off Products Discussed Unifi Dream Machine (UDM) router: https://amzn.to/4wPeLJG Aqara FP1E mmWave presence sensor (Zigbee): https://amzn.to/4wLIrXY Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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From Tuya to Home Assistant: A Kiwi’s Smart Home Journey

Steve from New Zealand (Kiwi Smart Tech) shares his journey from Tuya bulbs to a powerful Home Assistant setup. We dig into garage door woes and wins, cross‑protocol sensors, mmWave presence, and why Apple Home is his go‑to interface Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA237 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:00 Steve’s Kiwi smart home origin 00:10:15 First Home Assistant wins and fails 00:16:00 Garage door saga and ESPHome 00:23:50 Access control 00:28:01 From tinkerer to creator 00:41:00 Apple Home as UI 00:46:30 Ambient alerts: plants, leaks 00:55:10 Appliances, HACS, lock‑in 01:04:00 Cameras and continuous video 01:07:30 Wrap‑up and links This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Home Assistant 2026.6, E‑Ink Unboxing, Yoto, and Smarter Automations

Rohan and Phil are breaking down the 2026.6 release, which features updates for Infrared, Purpose specific triggers and conditions. Plus we talk KVM’s, eInk displays and starting from scratch in 2026. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA236 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:04:30 - New Works With HA gear 00:06:30 - Open Display collab, e‑ink 00:12:00 - E‑ink uses and costs 00:16:30 - OHF privacy paper 00:18:30 - RF and plugs 00:26:00 - JetKVM and PiKVM talk 00:29:30 - 2026.6: IR receivers 00:34:30 - Dashboards and Matter BLE 00:36:32 - Cards and automations 00:42:30 - Z‑Wave, Sonos, Reolink, Tuya 00:47:30 - New integrations roundup 00:54:30 - Breaking changes 00:56:30 - Fresh HA vs restore 01:00:00 - UniFi hiccup resilience 01:02:00 - Wrap‑up and callouts This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products Discussed JetKVM IP KVM: https://amzn.to/4wU1bEO Yale Z‑Wave smart locks: https://amzn.to/4visNSl MyPropane tank monitor: https://amzn.to/3QjJZbn Yoto audio player: https://amzn.to/4xlZhNJ Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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MiciMike will turn your Google Home Mini into a Home Assistant Voice Satellite

Imre is a Home Assistant user, who was frustrated with his Google Home mini, so he created a PCB that can turn your Google Home Mini into a Home Assistant Voice Satellite Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA235 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Welcome & sponsors 00:02:30 - Imi’s smart home origin 00:05:00 - Lights first, then sensors 00:07:30 - Heating logic in Node-RED 00:10:00 - Room presence tactics 00:12:30 - Millimeter wave realities 00:15:00 - Cameras, alarms, UniFi 00:17:30 - Notifications via Telegram 00:20:00 - AI greetings at the door 00:22:30 - Protocols: Zigbee to Matter 00:25:00 - Wi‑Fi at scale pitfalls 00:28:30 - Voice stack & languages 00:31:30 - MickiMic: project intro 00:35:00 - Drop‑in PCB details 00:38:00 - HA Voice compatibility 00:41:00 - Gen2 plans & audio 00:44:00 - Echo future & limits 00:47:00 - Firmware hurdles 00:49:30 - Crowdsupply journey 00:53:00 - Pricing & sustainability 00:56:00 - What’s next & thanks This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products Discussed MiciMic PCB (Google Home Mini drop-in board): https://www.crowdsupply.com/micimike-rev-devices/micimike-home-mini-drop-in-pcb#products Google Home Mini (Gen 1): https://amzn.to/3RtvxxG Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Giovanni’s Self-Hosted Home

Giovanni joins Rohan and Phil to dive into a fully local, privacy-first smart home. We cover Home Assistant on an Intel N100, Shelly devices, Zigbee vs Wi‑Fi, ESP32 Bluetooth proxies, Frigate with a Coral TPU, Reolink cams, and smart lighting with pets. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA234 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:05:00 Local-only gear and protocols 00:12:00 Lighting, presence, and pets 00:18:00 Cameras, Frigate and automations 00:27:20 Media servers 00:33:00 Plex vs Jellyfin 00:41:00 Nextcloud and Immich photos 00:47:00 Backups and offsite strategy 00:53:00 Security, reverse proxy, wrap-up This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Clean My Mac Get Tidy Today! Get 7 days free and use our code ASSISTANT for 20% off Products Discussed Intel N100 mini PC: https://amzn.to/3OP00FI NVIDIA Shield TV: https://amzn.to/4w9E2Ok Google Coral USB TPU accelerator: https://amzn.to/4cNVot1 Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Mark's Home Assistant Setup: The Good, The Bad, The Exploded Server

Mark went from a rocky SmartThings world to a rock-solid Home Assistant install. He shares his tails of disaster and recovery, as well as his journey from Tasmota to ESPHome. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA233 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:00 - SmartThings beginnings and first automations 00:06:00 - Old timers to cameras after a theft 00:09:30 - Discovering Home Assistant and server build 00:16:00 - From Node-RED to cleaner HA automations 00:19:50 - Reolink AI triggers outside lighting 00:23:30 - Server failure and Proxmox migration 00:28:30 - UPS woes and garage door backup issue 00:38:00 - Presence, Ecobee, salt and propane projects 00:44:00 - Matter locks, long-range Z-Wave ideas 00:49:00 - New Overview, Alarmo plans, wrap-up This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products Discussed Aladdin garage door openers (with battery backup): https://amzn.to/4mxGfPl Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This video contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Home Assistant 2026.5 introduces RF and RS-232 Control

We’re diving into Home Assistant 2026.5 and re-capping the highlights from State of the Open Home 2026. There’s new RS-232 serial control, dashboard strategies, and more purpose-specific triggers. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA232 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:10:30 Roadmap deep-dive and HTTP 80 00:15:30 Easter eggs, Project BLAST, merch 00:19:30 IR databases and Z-Wave spectrum 00:23:00 2026.5: RS-232 and RF proxies 00:28:30 RF rolling codes and SDR hopes 00:31:30 Dashboards: strategies and shortcuts 00:36:00 Vacuums chat and power strip ad 00:41:00 Purpose-specific triggers (Labs) 00:44:00 MQTT, Matter, ESPHome updates 00:46:30 Shelly, Sonos, groups, and S1/S2 00:50:30 Apple TV typing, WLED, notifications 00:54:00 Immich photos, Subaru, and UniFi 00:57:00 New integrations roundup 01:00:00 Breaking changes: Ring, webhooks 01:01:30 Template docs overhaul 01:02:30 Network outage story and resilience 01:05:30 Wrap-up and sign-off This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products Discussed Broadlink RM4 Pro (433 MHz IR/RF blaster): https://amzn.to/4tesZk8 UniFi Protect PoE Smart Siren: https://amzn.to/4w4ZWCh Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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How FireAvert wants to prevent house fires with a smart home twist

We’re sitting down with Nick and Larsen from FireAvert to talk about how FireAvert aims to stop house fires, and how they can tie into smart home systems like Home Assistant Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA231 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro and Sponsors 00:04:00 What FireAvert Does 00:08:00 Technical Challenges and Detection 00:12:00 Form Factor and Installation 00:16:00 Accuracy, ML, and Notifications 00:20:00 Smart Automations and Control 00:24:00 Product Evolution and Z-Wave/LoRa 00:31:00 Risk Areas: Kitchens, EVs, Dryers 00:35:00 Water Leaks and Mitigation 00:39:00 Startup Lessons and Team 00:43:00 Home Assistant Dev and Roadmap 00:46:00 Global Availability and Wrap-up This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Products Discussed FireAvert Gas Auto Shut-Off: https://amzn.to/4vLz0rl Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This episode contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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How Mike is making heating smarter with Home Assistant

Industrial data pro Mike joins Phil and Rohan to unpack his Home Assistant setup. We dive deep into Node‑RED flows, mmWave presence, actionable dashboards, and AI‑assisted automations—including recognizing his own cat and verifying the right bin is curbside. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA230 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:28 - Mike’s background and location 00:03:43 - From OpenHAB to Home Assistant 00:06:11 - Cloud vs local pragmatism 00:09:40 - Zigbee, Thread and Matter lessons 00:12:17 - Distributed hardware and Docker setup 00:16:08 - Family UX and presence ethos 00:20:26 - PIR, mmWave and context signals 00:24:41 - Automations with Node‑RED 00:29:50 - AI‑assisted automation building 00:34:44 - Dashboards and notifications 00:43:42 - Cameras, AI and the cat 00:50:59 - Smarter heating and preheating 01:03:33 - Actionable notifications philosophy 01:05:40 - Evangelizing at work and wrap‑up This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Clean My Mac Get Tidy Today! Get 7 days free and use our code ASSISTANT for 20% off Products Discussed Aqara Cube: https://amzn.to/47C7YIm Intel N100 Mini PC: https://amzn.to/4v13dC8 Oral‑B Electric Toothbrush: https://amzn.to/4tfVoGV Products we Recommend Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Braden’s Reliable, Low-Cost Home Automation System With Zero YAML Powered by Home Assistant

Electrical engineer Braden joins Phil and Rohan to share practical Home Assistant wins. From migrating to Zigbee2MQTT, taming a Whirlpool ice maker with ESPHome, building a garage door opener, and planning a sensor-packed greenhouse lab. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA229 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:23 - Meet Brayden in Windy Indiana 00:03:35 - From Hue to Home Assistant 00:08:50 - Greenhouse Lab Plans 00:12:45 - Nursery Voice and Motion Tactics 00:18:20 - RFID Cards for Kids’ Media 00:29:00 - Zigbee2MQTT, Aqara, Litter Box Hack 00:36:40 - ESPHome: Ice Maker and Garage 00:43:40 - Power Monitoring and Breakers 00:47:00 - Unifi, Cameras, and ZBT-2 00:52:30 - Agents, Dashboards, and Presence 01:00:20 - Wrap-up and Thanks This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Notion Notion is an AI-powered, connected workspace for teams. Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one space that just works. Try Custom Agents now at https://notion.com/homeassistant Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Smart Home Products Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Smart Home Products Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Infrared is cool again with Home Assistant 2026.4

Home Assistant 2026.4 is here! We break down Infrared as a first‑class feature with IR proxies, expanded purpose‑specific triggers, dashboard background colors, favorites for lights/covers, Matter lock credential management, and more. We also cover a critical HA OS/Supervisor security patch you should apply now. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA228 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story. Chapters 00:00:00 Intro, sponsors, housekeeping 00:02:30 2026.4 overview and event 00:05:00 Security alert and patch tips 00:07:30 New Works With partner: HeatIt 00:10:00 Feedback: Frigate and Litter‑Robot 00:12:30 Thread/Matter experiences and FP300 00:15:00 Local LLMs and home agents 00:17:30 Cat litter → RoboRock cleanup 00:20:00 Entity naming change delayed 00:23:00 Infrared goes first‑class 00:26:00 IR proxies now, RF coming 00:28:30 Purpose‑specific triggers expand 00:31:00 Dashboard background colors 00:33:30 Favorites for lights and covers 00:36:00 Matter lock credentials, locks 00:38:30 Robots: Roborock Q10, SmartThings 00:41:00 Jellyfin and Proxmox updates 00:43:30 Voice cleaning, backup progress 00:46:00 Markdown actions, LG IR nuances 00:48:30 New integrations roundup 00:51:00 E‑ink, energy, access, breaking changes This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML. Zooz If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers. For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com Apollo Automation Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box. Hosts Phil Hawthorne Website Smart Home Products Twitter: @philhawthorne Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com Buy Phil a Coffee Rohan Karamandi Website Smart Home Products Twitter: @rohank9 Buy Rohan a Coffee This video contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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