Home Assistant Podcast

In this episode Phil and Rohan chat with Omri, the creator of QuickBars, an Android TV and Google TV app for controlling Home Assistant from the couch. They dig into his smart home journey, how he replaced a slow proprietary Zigbee setup, and how Home Assistant became the central brain for his parents' house and his own apartment. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are a...

Phil and Rohan unpack the massive 2026.7 release, including purpose-specific triggers and conditions graduating from Labs, the move to Matter.js, faster templates, improved dashboards, and better debugging tools. They also discuss mailbag comments and Rohan’s progress on his e-ink display. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA240 Sup...

Neil walks us through how he has managed to leverage AI tools to create his dream smart home with Home Assistant. From automating blinds to automating a winter cottage Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA239 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patre...

Claudia joins Phil and Rohan to share how an orange Philips Hue bulb sparked a full-blown smart home powered by Home Assistant. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA238 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 a...

Steve from New Zealand (Kiwi Smart Tech) shares his journey from Tuya bulbs to a powerful Home Assistant setup. We dig into garage door woes and wins, cross‑protocol sensors, mmWave presence, and why Apple Home is his go‑to interface Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA237 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-f...

Rohan and Phil are breaking down the 2026.6 release, which features updates for Infrared, Purpose specific triggers and conditions. Plus we talk KVM’s, eInk displays and starting from scratch in 2026. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA236 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreo...

Imre is a Home Assistant user, who was frustrated with his Google Home mini, so he created a PCB that can turn your Google Home Mini into a Home Assistant Voice Satellite Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant.fm/HA235 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/p...

Giovanni joins Rohan and Phil to dive into a fully local, privacy-first smart home. We cover Home Assistant on an Intel N100, Shelly devices, Zigbee vs Wi‑Fi, ESP32 Bluetooth proxies, Frigate with a Coral TPU, Reolink cams, and smart lighting with pets. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant.fm/HA234 Support the Podcast Get early-access to...

Mark went from a rocky SmartThings world to a rock-solid Home Assistant install. He shares his tails of disaster and recovery, as well as his journey from Tasmota to ESPHome. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant.fm/HA233 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant....

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....

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.f...

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-acce...

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...

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://ho...

Director-turned-vanlifer Mike from the YouTube channel SmartyVan shows how he turned a bare Mercedes Sprinter into a fully automated, off‑grid smart RV powered by Home Assistant and ESPHome. We cover DC power realities, alternator charging vs solar, Starlink on the move, Bluetooth presence, wired vs Zigbee sensors and PoE cameras with Frigate. Perfect for vanlife, RV, and tiny home builders. Watch...

We’re diving into Kaden’s cat-first smart home: Reolink + Frigate for pet detection, PetLibro feeders, and a Litter-Robot 4 all tied together with Home Assistant and LLM-generated dashboards. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant.fm/HA226 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https...

Phil and Rohan go deep on practical AI for Home Assistant. We cover LLM Vision for doorbell and perimeter alerts, HACS add‑ons like AI Agent and AI Suggester, and using GitHub Copilot to generate YAML automations. Rohan shares his Ollama + LiteLLM routing setup and why private cloud models might beat pay‑per‑token APIs. Phil battles OpenClaw (aka MoltBot/Claude Bot) to control lights via MCP Watch...

Breaking down Home Assistant 2026.3: map vacuum rooms to Areas for voice control, set HA as your default Android assistant with wake word support, SendSpin multi-room updates, Python 3.14 performance gains, and new integrations for Ghost, Proxmox, SwitchBot AI Art Frame, Trane HVAC, and NYC MTA. Mailbag: NFC dash buttons, Aqara FP300 presence tips, bed sensors, and listener automations for pets an...

Andrew joins Phil and Rohan to share how he outgrew Apple HomeKit and built a powerful multi-user smart home in Home Assistant. We cover presence detection with ESP32s and sensors, ditching MyQ for a Meross garage opener, Yale smart locks, bathroom humidity fan automations, and fun ESPN sports goal alerts. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassi...

Will joins Phil and Rohan to share how he tamed a period UK home and a remote Canary Islands vacation property with Home Assistant, ESPHome, and Zigbee. We dive into DIY pool chemistry control, fridge monitoring with a ‘strawtenna’, tactile dashboards, AI‑assisted heating, and why Shelly is everywhere Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant...

Mike joins Phil and Rohan to share how he hides smart tech in a 1953 mid‑century home so it looks analog but works like magic. Plus: Roborock tricks, leak sensors that turn rooms blue, HomePod TTS vs Sonos ducking, Samsung Frame art‑mode headaches, and running full HA OS in a VMware Fusion VM on a Mac mini. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeass...

We break down Home Assistant 2026.2: the Home Dashboard is now default, the new Command‑K command palette, a dedicated Matter dashboard, and add‑ons renamed to Apps. Plus: CES 2026 highlights, the Open Home Foundation device database and a Google Home outage. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant.fm/HA220 Support the Podcast Get early-acc...

Miranda from the Open Home Foundation takes us inside the Works With Home Assistant program: how devices are tested, why the badge matters, and how vendors—from startups to big brands—can get certified. We cover Zigbee vs Z‑Wave vs Matter, badge misuse, regional device coverage, and Miranda’s own fun automations. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://h...

Aaron returns to share how his Home Assistant setup evolved from endless tinkering to a rock‑solid system that runs his family life. We cover Z‑Wave provisioning, ESPHome vs off‑the‑shelf reliability, RATGDO for garage doors, HA Green/Yellow, voice‑first routines, and the rise of AI‑powered helpers. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant.f...

By day Artem works for JetBrains, developing coding IDEs for software professionals. But today we want to learn about his smart home, and how he is using Home Assistant to make it more energy efficient Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at  https://homeassistant.fm/HA217 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patr...