Infrared is cool again with Home Assistant 2026.4

Headlines

• State of the Open Home is next week!Wednesday April 8th in Utrecht, livestream kicks of 7pm Central European Summer time or 5pm UTCExpect to hear how the Open Home Foundation is working on “building in the open” even more
• You can now subscribe via Apple PodcastsIf you want an ad-free feed and early access to the episodes, you can now subscribe directly in Apple Podcasts.
• Critical Security Alert for Home Assistant OSThere has been a critical security vulnerability flagged for Home Assistant OS versions 17.1 or the Supervisor running 2026.3.1. If you’re prompted, you should upgrade your supervisor to 2026.03.2https://radar.offseq.com/threat/cve-2026-34205-cwe-923-improper-restriction-of-com-dfad0bbb
• Heatit Joins works with Home AssistantFormerly known as Thermofloor, they’re a Norway-based company specialising in smart climate and heating control. All of Heatit’s certified devices connect with Home Assistant via Z-wave.

New Features

• Entity NamingBig change to how entities are named – was going to be released in 2026.4, delayed because of beta.Home Assistant has been working towards this for 4 years, trying to name things individually. Entity names were to always include the device name as context, whether the name was set by an integration or by you. Renaming that entity to “Ambient temp” would produce something like “Motion Sensor Ambient temp,”.If you previously renamed entities without including the device name, those entities will now show the device name again in places that use the friendly name (friendly_name) attribute, like the logbook and external tools (for example, external voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, or monitoring tools like Prometheus). The Home Assistant UI is also affected: as the default display on dashboard cards uses the device + entity name, cards showing entities you’ve renamed will look different.
• Infrared becomes first party citizenIf you still have a device which can be controlled with Infrared, Home Assistant is coming for them!This initial release gives Home Assistant the ability to send IR commands from IR blaster proxies around the home to control a select number of devices. As long as there’s an integration the knows the IR commands for a device, Home Assistant will be able to send those commands to the device.Seed Studio make a Infrared sensor, which ESPHome now supports as an Infrared Proxy. State will reflect the last day/time something was sent.At this stage you can’t teach Home Assistant to learn existing remote codes. Ie Home Assistant can only send IR commands not receive it.RF Hoping to be implemented in 2026
• Purpose specific triggersA whole bunch of new triggers have been added in this release. The biggest improvement is cross domain triggers and conditions.A “door opened” trigger now responds to any door entity, whether it’s a contact sensor or a motorized cover. A “temperature changed” trigger picks up readings from temperature sensors, climate devices, and water heaters alike. You no longer need to know the technical details behind the scenes.That means you can create a trigger like “When a window on the upstairs floor is opened” without listing every single window. Add a new window sensor up there, and it’s automatically included.More triggers and conditions are now also supported, including:
• Background Colours come to dashboard sections
• Copy light favourites to other lightsLight cards also now support having the favourite colours to the dashboard
• Favourites now supported against coversYou can have pre-set levels for your covers now set as a favourite for that device
• Matter Locks!You can now manage Matter lock credentialsWhen adding a new user, you give them a name, set a PIN code, and choose an access type: full access (can lock and unlock anytime) or one-time access (the code works once and is then automatically deleted by the lock).The Schlage integration also got the ability to manage access codes as of this release!
• RoborockQ10 Supported
• SmartThingsRobot vacuum cleaners connected to SmartThings got a massive improvement. There’s also new features for dishwashers.
• JellyfinGained shuffle and enqueue support for its media player, giving you more playback control.
• ProxmoxThere’s now an uptime duration and memory usage sensors, runtime entity discovery for nodes, VMs, and containers, plus a suspend all button at the node level.
• Voice cleaning areasYou can ask your voice assistant to clean a specific area, and your vacuum will head there
• Backup upload ProgressWhen uploading a backup, you can now see the upload progress for each backup location. The backup page shows which step is active (creating the backup or uploading it), and for locations that support it, you’ll see a per-location upload percentage. This is supported by Home Assistant Cloud (by Nabu Casa), WebDAV, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, and the S3-compatible integrations
• Markdown CardNow supports tap, hold, and double-tap actions. This means you can turn your Markdown cards into interactive elements that navigate, open URLs, or call actions when you interact with them

New Integrations

• Autoskope (Germany)Integrate your Autoskope vehicle tracking devices with Home Assistant. Track the GPS location of your vehicles and other assets through Autoskope’s cloud services.
• LoJackConnect your LoJack by Spireon vehicle tracking account to track the GPS location of your enrolled vehicles on the Home Assistant map
• Casper GlowControl your Casper Glow portable sleep light from Home Assistant over Bluetooth. Adjust brightness levels and incorporate this gentle-dimming sleep aid into your bedtime automations.
• DropboxUse your Dropbox account as a backup location for your Home Assistant backups.
• Fresh-rMonitor your Fresh-r ventilation devices in Home Assistant. Track indoor air quality, CO2 levels, and ventilation performance through the Fresh-r cloud dashboard.
• LG InfraredControl your LG TV using any infrared proxy configured in Home Assistant. Send commands over IR to manage power, volume, input sources, and more, using assumed states.
• OpenDisplayControl your OpenDisplay BLE e-paper displays from Home Assistant. Devices are automatically discovered via Bluetooth, and you can send images to the display.
• TRMNLMonitor your TRMNL e-paper (e-ink) displays in Home Assistant. Track battery levels and manage the display sleep schedule of your low-power e-ink devices.
• Qube Heat PumpMonitor your Qube heat pump in Home Assistant via Modbus TCP. Track energy performance and operational data from your heat pump on the local network.
• SolarmanIntegrate your Solarman smart energy devices with Home Assistant over the local network. Monitor energy production, consumption, and control devices like smart plugs and meter readers in real time.
• Unifi AccessControl and monitor your Ubiquiti UniFi Access system locally from Home Assistant. Manage locks, doors, and access readers with real-time status updates over the local network.
• WiiMIntegrate your WiiM streamer devices with Home Assistant. Control playback, volume, and input sources on devices like the WiiM Pro and WiiM Amp, with automatic discovery via Zeroconf.

Breaking Changes

• BMWOn September 29, 2025, BMW added additional security measures that block third parties from accessing BMW servers. For EU-registered cars, BMW now provides the CarData API, for which a custom integration has been developed.
• Duke EnergyDuke Energy changed authentication providers back in November 2025, and the integration has not worked since