What's New in HomeAssistant 2026.5: We're on the Same Wavelength 📡

The May update of Home Assistant, subtitled "We're on the same frequency now," picks up right where last month's April update left off. While last time the developers focused on the return of infrared control, version 2026.5 takes the integration of "dumb" hardware to the next level. Radio frequency (RF) and network sharing of serial ports are now natively joining the family of fully supported technologies.

In addition, we get a fantastic new built-in dashboard for battery management and a ton of improvements for automations. Let's take a closer look at the most interesting bits.

1. Radio Waves (RF) as a First-Class Citizen

Do you have motorized blinds, garage doors, ceiling fans, wireless doorbells, or remote-controlled Christmas lights at home? Most of these devices operate on classic radio frequencies (usually 433 MHz, or 315, 868, or 915 MHz). Until now, connecting them to a smart home was a matter of complex DIY or third-party integrations.

Starting with version 2026.5, Radio frequency (RF) has its own native platform in Home Assistant. It works on the same principle as the IR proxy introduced last time:

• ESPHome RF Bridge: Just take an inexpensive module (such as the recommended CC1101 for a few bucks) combined with an ESP32, flash ESPHome, and Home Assistant will turn it into a network radio gateway.

• Broadlink: If you already have the popular Broadlink RM4 Pro at home, version 2026.5 can automatically use it as an RF transmitter for the new integrated components.

Why is this awesome? It is a huge plus for sustainability and your wallet. You don't have to throw away functional blinds or buy new expensive Zigbee plugs – just bridge your existing radio-controlled ones.

2. Serial Ports over Network via ESPHome

Another great thing for tech enthusiasts. A lot of excellent devices communicate via a classic serial interface (RS-232, P1 ports on electricity meters, older AV receivers, etc.). Until now, such a device had to be physically wired directly to the server where your Home Assistant is running.

Now, ESPHome can share a serial port over the local network (Serial proxy). You place a small ESP device near the electricity meter in the utility room or next to the receiver in the living room, and Home Assistant will see this remote port in the user interface just as if it were plugged directly into a USB slot.

3. No More Dead Sensors: The New Maintenance Dashboard

You know the feeling – one evening an automatic light in the hallway stops turning on, and after three days you find out that the motion sensor simply ran out of battery.

Home Assistant is gradually expanding its built-in dashboards that you don't have to program yourself. Following cards for lights, climate, and security comes the Maintenance dashboard. This automatically finds all battery entities in your home, neatly groups them by room, and highlights those with low capacity in red. With a single click, you can see where a coin cell needs to be replaced or an accumulator recharged.

4. Automations That Finally Understand the Concept of "For a While"

Creating automations is yet another step closer to human speech. The developers have improved specific triggers and conditions by adding support for durations. You no longer have to come up with complex conditions; now you can define logic directly in the block like: "When no motion has been detected for 5 minutes..." or "If the door is open for more than 10 minutes...".

A great little feature is also the new trigger for doorbell rang. No matter what brand of smart doorbell you have at your door, HA has unified them under a single universal command.

5. One-Click Shortcuts: The New Shortcuts Card

This is a design gem that many of us have been waiting for. If you wanted to have several quick buttons next to each other on your dashboard until now (e.g., to launch different scenes, open different garage doors, or quickly set the temperature to 21 °C / 22 °C / 23 °C), you had to painstakingly assemble horizontal columns, grids, or use custom elements from HACS.

Version 2026.5 brings a native Shortcuts card. It allows you to line up compact buttons with icons next to each other in a single clean row. You can use them to:

• Run scripts and scenes

• Toggle climate control modes

• Control specific entities

It looks absolutely great on mobile, saves screen space, and configuration takes just a few seconds directly in the visual editor.

6. Home History at a Glance: The Activity Log Card

Want an overview on your main dashboard of who last unlocked the door, exactly when the vacuum cleaner left, or what time the irrigation started? Until now, only the giant Logbook card was available, which displayed absolutely everything without complex filtering and felt quite cluttered.

Now we have the Activity Log card. It is a lightweight, incredibly elegant version of history that you can fully customize. You choose only the entities you actually care about (e.g., lock, alarm, main lights), and the card will list a clean chronological timeline of the latest events below. This gives you an immediate overview of what's happening in the house without having to click through deep system settings.

7. Better Cards for Media and Vacuums

The visual side of the system did not lag behind:

• Tile card for media players received a massive upgrade. Directly on the card, you can now have a dropdown list to quickly change the input (HDMI 1, Spotify, TV) or change the sound mode (Movie, Music, Night mode). Additionally, you can arrange and enable playback buttons in exactly the order that suits you best.

• Vacuum cleaners and robotic lawnmowers received a completely redesigned, modern pop-up window with detailed information (more-info dialog) that matches HA's current design language.

Quick Updates in a Nutshell:

• Claude 4.7 Opus: The Anthropic AI integration now supports the latest flagship model.

• Smarter Code Editor: YAML editors in the system now feature autocomplete, which will save a lot of typos.

• New Toggle Icons: Classic toggles received a more modern, cleaner look.

• Added 12 new native integrations (e.g., local Duco ventilation control, Denon RS-232, or EARN-E P1 meter).

Conclusion and Recommendations

The May 2026.5 update clearly shows that Home Assistant is keeping its promise for this year – making the system more accessible, cleaner, and capable of absorbing older electronics, giving them a second chance.

If you have older RF controllers or devices with a serial port at home, now is the perfect time to grab a few ESP32 modules and sensors from our store and dive into modernization.

As always, we recommend updating to version 2026.5, but make sure to check the Backward-incompatible changes section first to see if you are affected by the removal of the old personal triggers entered_home and left_home, which will be replaced by new logic in the future.

The HomeBrainz team wishes you an exciting journey discovering the new features!