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.

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Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA232

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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

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Apollo Automation

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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

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Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

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Rohan Karamandi

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Twitter: @rohank9

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