Infrared is cool again with Home Assistant 2026.4
Home Assistant Podcast
Infrared becomes first‑class with IR proxies
They introduce infrared proxies, ESPHome support, limitations like lack of learning, and future RF plans.
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.
Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA228
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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
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Hosts
Phil Hawthorne
Twitter: @philhawthorne
Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com
Rohan Karamandi
Twitter: @rohank9
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