Our why as an organization is clear: to fight for privacy, choice, and sustainability for smart homes, and for every person who lives in one. But who does live in them?

In December 2024, we launched the first Home Assistant survey to find out. Our goal was simple: to make Home Assistant more inclusive and approachable by listening directly to the diverse community of people who use it.

In the spirit of building in the open, today we’re thrilled to announce the anonymized results of that survey are now freely available. In this post, we’ll run you through what the survey covered, why and how we’re publishing this data, what the data is not (read: identifiable), how we’re using this information to improve what we do, and opportunities for further understanding and research.

You’ve been asking all year, and the wait is over… Mark your calendars, because Community Day 2026 will be held on Saturday, November 7! 🎉

Back in April during State of the Open Home 2026, we gave you a sneak peek of ESPHome’s very first official product… And after months of hard work alongside the community, the ESPHome Starter Kit is here! 🎉

Home Assistant 2026.8! 🎉

Hi, I’m Ashley, the Technical Program Manager at the Open Home Foundation. With Frenck taking a well-deserved break, Bram and I are teaming up to handle things this time around.

We have been working on a lot over the past few weeks, and I’m excited to share some of what we have done for this release!

If there’s one thread tying this release together, it’s a direction we care about: making Home Assistant something you don’t need to be technical to use. This release is another step along that path.

Enjoy the release!

- Ashley

Something big just happened. As the Open Home Foundation’s Android developer for Home Assistant, I was invited by the European Commission to consult on Android interoperability. On July 16, 2026, the Commission adopted a decision requiring Alphabet to open up eleven Android features — including always-on wake word detection, ambient sensor access, and screen automation — to all assistants, on equal terms.

The Open Home Foundation fights for privacy, choice, and sustainability. These principles are at the heart of everything we do, including how we handle website analytics. Our position is clear: we reject tools that track individuals across the web to monetize their data. Instead, we want aggregated, anonymized analytics that show how our websites are performing overall — without identifying who our visitors are, or compromising their privacy.

Sound the alarm, because Works with Home Assistant just welcomed our newest partner to the program: FireAvert! 🎉 Specialists in fire safety, FireAvert are on a mission to keep you and your home out of harm’s way. They bring the very first gas and electric appliance shutoff devices to the program, and with them, a whole lot of peace of mind.

Ever since we introduced the idea of a community-powered device database at State of the Open Home 2025, our goal has been clear: create a “Wikipedia of smart home devices” based on real-world usage. In February, we took the first step by inviting Home Assistant users to voluntarily share anonymized device data to help us build it.

The Works with Home Assistant program powers up this month as we welcome our new partner, IoTorero! 🎉 Experts in pre-flashed smart home hardware, IoTorero bring the very first ESPHome-ready smart plugs and relays to the program (and that’s not all).

We’re updating which Apple platforms the Home Assistant Companion app supports, and because transparency is core to how we work, we want to be upfront about what’s changing.

Starting with version 2026.8.0 of the Companion app, we will no longer support iOS 15, watchOS 8, or macOS 11. The last supported version for these platforms will be 2026.7.1.