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Home Assistant Podcast

Mostly Automated Media

Join hosts Phil Hawthorne and Rohan Karamandi as they explore the newest Home Assistant releases and the latest Home Automation news. Featuring guests who use or contribute to Home Assistant, the podcast aims to inspire new ways to make your home smarter.

  1. Home Assistant 2026.5 introduces RF and RS-232 Control

    5 DAYS AGO

    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

    1hr 6min
  2. How FireAvert wants to prevent house fires with a smart home twist

    21 APR

    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

    48 min
  3. How Mike is making heating smarter with Home Assistant

    14 APR

    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

    1hr 10min
  4. Braden’s Reliable, Low-Cost Home Automation System With Zero YAML Powered by Home Assistant

    8 APR

    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

    1 hr
  5. Infrared is cool again with Home Assistant 2026.4

    31 MAR

    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

    54 min

Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
27 Ratings

About

Join hosts Phil Hawthorne and Rohan Karamandi as they explore the newest Home Assistant releases and the latest Home Automation news. Featuring guests who use or contribute to Home Assistant, the podcast aims to inspire new ways to make your home smarter.

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