Home Assistant 2026.1: SendSpin, new Home Dashboard improvements and presence using labels
Home Assistant PodcastShow Notes
Rohan and Phil are here to break down the 2026.1 release. We’re talking Home Dashboard improvements, a new multi-room audio protocol from Music Assistant, and of course some Zigbee quirks thrown into the mix
Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA216
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Chapters 00:00:00 - New Year, housekeeping, sponsors 00:03:00 - SendSpin: open sync audio arrives 00:10:00 - Cross‑ecosystem sync caveats 00:14:00 - Voice PE audio and DIY speakers 00:16:00 - Listener Q&A and AI log help 00:20:00 - 2026.1 mobile Home dashboard 00:24:00 - Purpose‑specific triggers expansion 00:27:00 - New integrations 00:31:00 - Labels/templates for presence 00:37:00 - Protocol hubs, Matter, graphs, devices 00:41:00 - Breaking changes, EcoWitt PSA, CES
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.
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Products Discussed Roborock Q7 robot vacuum: https://amzn.to/4bkyEjo EcoWitt weather station: https://amzn.to/4jBcX0M Sonos One: https://amzn.to/4pmsz9H
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
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