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.

Why we’re making a change

Despite reaching out to HELTUN multiple times during 2025 to discuss renewing their Works with Home Assistant contract with the Open Home Foundation, we haven’t been able to connect. As their previous contract has now lapsed, we’re formally removing HELTUN from the Works with Home Assistant program.

We have no specific issues with the HELTUN devices, and hope they will continue to be compatible with Home Assistant – as Z-Wave devices operate on an open standard, they should continue to function. However, without a contract, HELTUN has no formal obligation to provide ongoing support, such as firmware updates via Z-Wave JS.

This is an example of why the contract is more than just paperwork. It’s intrinsic to the badging as it outlines, in a legal and binding document, our partners’ commitment to the community, keeping devices working long-term, and the values we all care about. Without it, we can’t maintain certification.

What happens now

HELTUN’s integration page will now be removed from the partner filter, and an update has been published on our original HELTUN launch blog stating that the information is no longer applicable. They are now also prohibited from using the Works with badge on relevant marketing materials.

As we have no problems with the devices themselves, we will be happy to welcome HELTUN back into the program should they wish to re-engage in the future.

Looking ahead

In more positive news, don’t forget we’ve introduced an up-to-date list of all certified devices from our current Works with partners to help guide your purchasing decisions – and watch this space for details of more brands joining us in 2026!

Happy New Year! 🥂

I hope you had a wonderful holiday, spending time with your loved ones. We’re kicking off 2026 with a smaller release, as our contributors and maintainers have been enjoying some well-deserved time off as well. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of good stuff in this release!

Home Assistant 2026.1 brings a refreshed Home dashboard experience on mobile, with summary cards right at your fingertips without extra taps. We’ve also made it easier than ever to navigate to the protocol connecting your devices, such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread and more.

For automation enthusiasts, we’re continuing our work on our even more “human-friendly” triggers, which can be enabled via Home Assistant Labs, so you can build automations using easy-to-understand language instead of technical state changes, like initiating automations if a button is pressed or someone arrives home.

On the integrations front, we welcome eight new integrations to the family, including pet tracking with Fressnapf, energy monitoring with eGauge, and smart heating control with Watts Vision +. Plus, improvements to existing integrations from our amazing community contributors.

I wish you a happy and healthy 2026! Enjoy the release!

../Frenck

It’s been a busy few months composing behind the scenes, building up to a massive crescendo. Today, the beat finally drops on Music Assistant’s biggest update yet. With version 2.7, Music Assistant is getting all jazzed up with a visual overhaul, a chart-topping lineup of new features and providers, along with a brand-new streaming protocol we’re spinning up ourselves.

Of course, you can always update and experience all the great new stuff without reading the rest of this, but you might miss a deep cut. In fact, we can’t even cover everything in this blog (there really is that much), so go sing your praises for anything we missed in the comments!

If you’re ever in need of a device that works great with Home Assistant, well, I have just the program for you. Works with Home Assistant is our certification program that ensures devices work seamlessly and locally, all with brands that back them up.

Did you know that this year the Works with Home Assistant program has certified 12 partners across 12 months? That’s more than were certified in the two years since the program launched in 2022! The full list of devices is insanely long now (luckily, we made it searchable). To make all this happen over just one year, a lot of important things have been happening behind the scenes.

Home Assistant 2025.12! 🎄

As the year winds down and the holidays approach, we’re closing out 2025 with a release that’s all about giving you more control and a little bit of magic. ✨

This month, we’re unveiling Home Assistant Labs, a brand-new space where you can preview features before they go mainstream. And what better way to kick it off than with Winter mode? ❄️ Enable it and watch snowflakes drift across your dashboard. It’s completely unnecessary, utterly delightful, and exactly the kind of thing we love to build. ❄️

But that’s just the beginning. We’ve been working on making automationsAutomations in Home Assistant allow you to automatically respond to things that happen in and around your home. [Learn more] more intuitive over the past releases, and this release finally delivers purpose-specific triggers and conditions. Instead of thinking in (numeric) states, you can now simply say “When a light turns on” or “If the climate is heating”. It’s automation building the way our mind works, as it should be. 🧠

Oh, and if you’re looking to level up your Zigbee or Thread network, check out the Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 we released last month. It’s four times faster and has a gorgeous new antenna design that you’ll actually want to display on your desk. 📡

From all of us working on Home Assistant:

Thank you for an amazing 2025! ❤️

Happy holidays, and enjoy the release!

../Frenck

The easiest way to start with Zigbee or Thread just got even better, with Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2. This USB adapter plugs into your Home Assistant system and opens up a world of smart device options. Between its precisely tuned antenna and next-generation chip, it’s a big step up for anyone looking to connect Zigbee, Thread, or Matter devices directly to Home Assistant.

For all our Zigbee fans, this might be the best upgrade you’ll make all year. We’ve squeezed every inch out of this technology, giving it the best range, speed, and stability possible. The same can be said for our Thread-heads out there (yeah, I just came up with that cool nickname 😎), making Matter or ESPHome Thread connections rock-solid. Pick whether to dedicate your Connect ZBT-2 to run a Zigbee or Thread network, and it’ll provide the best experience for that protocol (and if all these names just sound like new streaming services to you, check out our explainer below).

If you’re one of those people still rocking three different hubs, what are you waiting for… another giant server outage to take down your smart home? Ditch those cloud hubs and take back your privacy today. As an added bonus, your devices will likely get more controls, range, and resilience.

Available today starting at $49 and €45 (that’s the MSRP, and pricing will vary by retailer). Designed and built by Nabu Casa and the Open Home Foundation, every purchase helps fund the development of Home Assistant. For quick specs, details, and where to buy, visit our beautiful Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 page.

Home Assistant 2025.11! 🎉

November is here, and we’ve been hard at work refining some of the main experiences that you interact with every day, and I think you’re going to love what we’ve built.

My personal favorite this release? The brand new target picker. 🎯

It’s one of those changes that seems simple on the surface, but makes such a huge difference in how you build automations. You can finally see exactly what you’re targeting, with full context about which device an entity belongs to and which area it’s in. No more guessing whether you’re controlling the right ceiling light when you have three of them!

But that’s just the beginning. We’re continuing with the automation editor improvements, this time with a completely redesigned dialog for adding triggers, conditions, and actions. It’s cleaner, easier to read, and sets the foundation for some really exciting stuff coming in future releases. 🤫

And speaking of making things clearer, you can now control exactly how entity names appear on your dashboard cards. Want to show just the entity name? The device name? The area? Or combine them? Even if you rename things, your dashboards will stay perfectly in sync. No more manual updates needed!

Oh, and energy dashboard fans will appreciate the new pie chart view for device energy, complete with totals displayed in the corner of every energy card. 🥧

Enjoy the release!

../Frenck

PS: Oh, and pssst… Don’t tell anyone 🤫, but there might be something exciting being released on November 19th. Hit the bell on this announced YouTube stream to not miss it. Stay tuned! 😀

We’re delighted to welcome ELTAKO to the Works with Home Assistant program! ELTAKO’s robust relay switches have formed the blueprint for smart building and smart home control across Europe for decades – and happen to be the first Matter relays to join the program.

You may never have seen one of ELTAKO’s little blue devices before, and that’s the point. They usually sit quietly behind walls, furniture and in distribution boards, doing their jobs without interfering with interiors. Now, thanks to their joining the Works with Home Assistant program, you can bring these professional-level installations to your own smart set-up.

Welcome to Voice Chapter 11 🎉, our long-running series where we share all the key developments in Open Voice. In this chapter, we will tell you how our assistant can now control more things in the home, in multiple languages at the same time, all while not talking your ear off. What’s more, our list of supported languages has grown again with several languages that big tech’s voice assistants won’t support. Join us for a deeper look at this voice chapter in our livestream on Wednesday, October 29. It’s been a couple of months, we’ve been building up our voice, and now have a lot to say, so let’s get to it!

Today, we’re announcing that we will no longer be producing Home Assistant Yellow. Rest assured, it will continue to receive software support far into the future.