Last updated on January 30, 2026
It’s here! One of the most anticipated updates of the year has landed. The Home Assistant 2026.2 release is packed with features that fundamentally redefine the user experience and supercharge our automations. From a major visual overhaul to core concept changes designed to simplify the platform for newcomers, I’ve dug deep into this version to give you the full scoop.
In this article, we’ll break down the most important new features, look at practical examples, and walk you through the critical changes you need to know about before you hit that update button. Get ready to take your DIY smart home to the next level!
A Fresh Look for Your Home: The ‘Summary’ Dashboard Takes Over
The old “Overview” dashboard is officially a thing of the past. With the Home Assistant 2026.2 update, the “Home Dashboard” becomes the new default under the name “Summary”. This move unifies the experience and provides a cleaner, more organized interface right out of the box.
If you’re a veteran user who never customized your main view, Home Assistant will automatically suggest the switch. If you prefer to move at your own pace, you can enable it anytime by going to Settings > Dashboards.
Miss the old blank slate for building your dashboards from scratch? No problem. Just head to Settings > Dashboards, click “Create Dashboard”, and choose the “Overview (legacy)” template.
Key UI & UX Upgrades
- Discovered Devices at a Glance: A new card in the “For you” section instantly shows devices Home Assistant has discovered on your network. You can add them with a single click, no more digging through menus.
- Simplified Area Assignment: The section for unassigned devices now actively prompts you to place them in their corresponding rooms. This makes the task of organizing your devices into Areas dead simple.
- Faster Area Editing: Need to change a room’s primary temperature sensor? The “Edit” button on Area pages now has a shortcut to modify the main temperature or humidity sensors in seconds.
- Visual & UX Polish: Say goodbye to the blue top bar! The default theme is now cleaner and more consistent, similar to the Settings page, letting your cards and data be the stars of the show. Plus, theme selection has been moved to your User Profile for quicker access.
‘Add-ons’ Are Now ‘Apps’: Why This Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think
One of the most significant and debated changes is the renaming of “Add-ons” to “Apps”. While it might seem like a simple word swap, the underlying reason is to make Home Assistant more intuitive for new users.
The confusion between “Add-ons” and “Integrations” was a constant pain point. Both seemed to be for “adding things,” but their functions are completely different. With the new terminology, the mental model is much clearer and more familiar to anyone who’s ever used a smartphone or smart TV:
- Apps: These are standalone applications that run alongside Home Assistant (e.g., Zigbee2MQTT, AdGuard, Mosquitto MQTT). Think of them like programs you install on your computer.
- Integrations: These are connections that link Home Assistant to your devices and services (e.g., ZHA, Philips Hue, Google Calendar).
Comparison Chart: Add-ons vs. Apps
| Characteristic | Before (Add-ons) | Now (Apps) |
|---|---|---|
| Term | Add-on | App |
| Concept | Technical term, often confused with “Integration.” | Universally understood concept (App Store, etc.). |
| Panel Performance | Managed by a separate process (Supervisor), sometimes laggy. | Integrated into the Home Assistant frontend, making it much faster and smoother. |
Beyond the name change, the Apps dashboard has been completely rewritten to integrate into the frontend, resulting in a much snappier and more responsive user experience.
The Open Home Foundation Device Database: Shop Smarter
Making an informed purchase in the smart home world is tough. That’s why the community is building the Open Home Foundation device database, a public resource to see which devices work well with Home Assistant *before* you buy them.
This project is powered by anonymized data that users choose to share. If you want to contribute, you can opt-in from Settings > System > Labs. Your privacy is guaranteed; no personal data is ever collected. You can check out the public stats on their Grafana dashboard.
Automations Get a Major Upgrade: More Power, Less YAML
Continuing the work from previous releases, this version expands on device-specific triggers and conditions. This allows us to create automations using more natural language (“when a light turns on”) instead of technical jargon (“when the entity state changes to ‘on'”).
New Triggers
- Calendar: Fire when a calendar event starts or ends. Perfect for automations based on your schedule.
- Person: Now cover when a person arrives home or leaves.
- Vacuum: Trigger when the robot vacuum returns to its dock.
New Conditions (Finally!)
This release debuts device-specific conditions, making automations even more readable:
- Alarm Panel: Check if the alarm is armed, disarmed, or triggered.
- Climate: Verify if the HVAC is on, off, heating, or cooling.
- Lock: Check if a lock is locked, unlocked, jammed, or locking.
- Media Player: Verify if it’s on, off, playing, or paused.
- And many more for trackers, fans, humidifiers, sirens, switches, and vacuums!
You can enable this functionality from Settings > System > Labs to start testing it out.
Meet the New Distribution Card: Visualize Your Data Like a Pro
A powerful new card is being introduced for our dashboards: the distribution card. It shows how values are distributed among multiple entities in a proportional bar chart. It’s perfect for seeing at a glance where your energy consumption is going or how your storage is allocated.
The card is interactive and very smart: it only lets you combine compatible entities (for example, you can’t mix power sensors with battery sensors) and automatically handles related units like Watts (W) and kilowatts (kW).
Quick Search: Your New Command Center
The old “quick bar” gets a complete redesign and is now called “Quick search”. Access it with Ctrl + K (or ⌘ + K on macOS) and use it to navigate, run commands, or find any entity, device, or area instantly. The old keyboard shortcuts (e for entities, d for devices, etc.) still work and now open the search with the corresponding filter already applied.
New Integrations in Home Assistant 2026.2
The community is always growing, and this release brings some exciting new integrations:
- Cloudflare R2: Back up your instance to Cloudflare R2, which offers a generous free tier with no egress fees. An excellent alternative for backing up your configuration.
- Green Planet Energy: Pulls dynamic electricity pricing data from the German renewable energy provider.
- HDFury: Control and monitor your HDFury HDMI video processors.
- NRGkick: Monitor your NRGkick Gen2 EV charger locally, with no cloud required.
- Prana: Integrates your Prana heat recovery ventilation systems.
- uHoo: Integrates your uHoo indoor air quality monitors.
Noteworthy Improvements to Existing Integrations
- ESPHome: Now supports water heaters!
- Reolink: A new pet doorbell option has been added, perfect for knowing when your furry friend is at the door.
- SmartThings: Now supports audio notifications.
- Hikvision: Camera support is here! You can now view snapshots and streams directly in Home Assistant.
- Bang & Olufsen: Adds support for monitoring the battery of speakers and remote controls.
Heads Up! Critical Breaking Changes in 2026.2
Before you smash that update button for the Home Assistant 2026.2 release, it’s crucial to review the following breaking changes, as they could impact your current setup.
- Add-ons Renamed to Apps: If you have custom scripts, automations, or UI elements that reference old URL paths like
/hassio/addon/..., they might break. You’ll need to update them to point to the new structure. - Default Theme Changes: The removal of the blue header bar can affect custom themes that inherit from the default theme. If your theme looks off after updating, check for an update from its developer or review our guide to customizing dashboards.
- Supervisor API: The rewrite of the Apps panel has modified some internal Supervisor API calls. This will only affect you if you use highly specialized external tools that interact directly with this API.
- Developer Tools Relocated: The “Developer Tools” have been moved into the “Settings” area. This is a location change that might disrupt your workflow if you accessed them frequently from the sidebar.
My recommendation is always the same: take a full backup before you update.
FAQ: Your Questions on the 2026.2 Update Answered
- How do I update to Home Assistant 2026.2?
- You can update directly from the Home Assistant UI by going to Settings > System > Updates. We strongly recommend reading our complete guide on how to safely update Home Assistant first.
- Is the update safe? What kind of backup should I make?
- Yes, the update is safe, but it’s always critical to make a full backup before any major change. You can do this from Settings > System > Backups. For extra peace of mind, consider setting up automatic cloud backups with our safe update guide, which covers best practices.
- My Add-ons are gone! Where did they go?
- Don’t worry, they haven’t disappeared. They’ve simply been renamed and are now located in the Settings > Apps menu.
- My custom theme looks weird after the update. Why?
- This is likely due to the removal of the blue header bar from the default theme. Your custom theme may be inheriting styles that no longer exist. The solution is to update the theme to a version compatible with 2026.2 or adjust it manually.
Bottom line: Home Assistant 2026.2 is a solid release packed with quality-of-life improvements that polish the user experience and give us more powerful tools for our automations. Enjoy the new features!