Smart Home News — November 2026

What actually happened, newest first, with a short summary and a link to the original source. This roundup now runs from November back through September, August and July 2026 — filter by category.

Sources we monitor

Outlets whose smart home coverage we track for this page. Names shown as plain wordmarks — not the outlets' official logos, and not an endorsement or affiliation.

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How this page works. Every item links to the original announcement or the outlet that broke it — we summarise in our own words and never reproduce their copy. Items are dated to the day where the source carries a date, and to the month where it does not. Protocol standards and event listings appear in their own sections further down, because those are ongoing or forward-looking rather than single-day news.

11 November 2026

DevicesProtocols ifun.de

IKEA moves its Timmerflotte and Klippbok sensors to Matter 1.5 and Thread 1.4

IKEA is rolling out new firmware for two of its cheapest sensors: the Timmerflotte temperature and humidity sensor (version 1.2.2) and the Klippbok water leak sensor (version 1.1.1). Both now run Matter 1.5 and Thread 1.4. IKEA describes the update as a stability release and lists no new features, so it is not yet clear whether it fixes the connection drops some owners have reported. The rollout is gradual. Sensors paired with the Dirigera hub update by themselves; sensors added to another Matter platform can be updated from there, for example in Home Assistant or Apple Home. Both sensors still need a Thread border router to work.

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4 November 2026

Protocols Connectivity Standards Alliance

Zigbee 4.0 is positioned as the bridge between Zigbee and Smart Energy networks

The CSA has published a new explainer on Zigbee 4.0, framing it as the step that brings Zigbee and the Smart Energy profile onto one security and onboarding model. It describes shared key handling, a common join flow and the ability to replace a network’s trust centre without re-pairing every device. Earlier documents in the series say some existing hardware may gain 4.0 through an over-the-air update and that the release stays compatible with current Zigbee 3.0 devices. For a household this points to energy devices such as meters and heat pumps eventually joining the same mesh as lights and sensors, with fewer re-pairing headaches.

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Hubs Home Assistant

Home Assistant 2026.11 adds a built-in marketplace for community add-ons

Home Assistant’s November release is its largest so far. The headline change is a built-in Marketplace for community integrations, dashboard cards, themes and templates, which until now most people installed through the separate HACS project. Automations and scripts can now exclude specific areas, devices or entities, and dashboards can add new devices to the right section automatically. The release also adds support for Matter 1.5 cameras, LoRaWAN sensors and batteryless Zigbee Green Power switches, plus 38 new integrations. One change needs attention: entity naming was reworked in a way that is not fully backward compatible, so some names on existing dashboards may change after updating.

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Hubs Local Smart Home Guide

SmartThings will charge for API access used by the Home Assistant integration

Samsung has announced that the current SmartThings integration for Home Assistant will stop working after 15 December 2026. Its replacement, expected in Home Assistant’s December release, requires SmartThings’ new API Developer Plan, listed at $4.99 a month in the US with 100,000 API calls and up to ten apps. Free API access for individual developers already ended on 3 November. People who link SmartThings to Home Assistant can pay for the plan, or move devices across: Zigbee and Z-Wave devices to a Home Assistant radio and Matter devices directly to Home Assistant. Samsung appliances usually have no local alternative, so they are the hardest to keep.

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2 November 2026

Protocols Forbes

Industry voice argues open standards and local control are closing the gap between DIY and professional smart homes

A Forbes column built on an interview with the head of the ISE professional AV show argues that consumer and professionally installed smart homes are converging, because both now use many of the same chipsets and open standards such as Matter and Aliro. It expects established professional platforms and protocols, including Z-Wave, Zigbee and KNX, to stay and to be linked through bridges and gateways rather than replaced. It also points to privacy concerns and subscription fatigue as driving demand for systems that keep working locally without the internet. This is an opinion-led piece rather than a new announcement, so it is best read as one industry view of where the market is heading.

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Late October 2026

HubsDevices Hueblog

Philips Hue Bridge Pro gets automations described in plain language

Signify has confirmed that custom AI behaviours for the Hue Bridge Pro arrive as a software update in late October, a few weeks after the early-October date it first gave. The feature lets owners describe in their own words how lights, switches and sensors should behave, and goes further than the AI assistant already in the Hue app. It is limited to the Bridge Pro; the older Hue Bridge is not mentioned. Signify has not said whether the feature will be free, in which countries it launches first, or how complex a described automation can be.

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29 October 2026

Hubs 9to5Google

Google’s Gemini for Home update fixes speakers that answered nobody

Google’s second Gemini for Home update of October is mostly about fixing annoyances. Speakers should no longer say “Sorry, I didn’t understand” when nobody has spoken to them, and asking to move music to another room now works as expected. Gemini also stops turning a normal timer into a sleep or media timer, starts YouTube TV content reliably on smart displays, and no longer changes the volume of the speaker you are talking to when it cannot find the device you asked about. Alarm and timer volumes that had been set to zero now follow the device’s normal volume. The update rolls out gradually.

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28 October 2026

DevicesHubs TechCrunch

Amazon launches five Echo devices, including a $99.99 Echo Dot with a smart home hub

Amazon has introduced a new round of Alexa devices. The most relevant for a smart home is the new Echo Dot at $99.99, which has a built-in smart home hub, Amazon’s AZ3 chip for processing on the device and an eero Wi-Fi extender for up to 1,000 square feet. The rest of the line-up is the Alexa Photo Frame (from $199.99), the Echo Time alarm clock with opt-in sleep sensing ($199.99), the Echo Studio with a built-in home camera ($249.99) and a 16-inch Echo Show with Fire TV ($499.99, on pre-order). Several features depend on Alexa+, for example choosing which photos the frame shows or recognising objects through the Echo Studio’s camera.

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15 October 2026

Protocols TIME

Aliro, the cross-brand standard for unlocking with a phone, is named a TIME Best Invention of 2026

TIME has included the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Aliro standard in its 2026 list of best inventions. Aliro, released in February, lets a phone or similar device unlock a door or other smart device over Bluetooth, NFC or ultra-wideband regardless of which brand made each side, and it has been adopted by companies including Apple, Google and Samsung. The first Aliro products are wireless door locks that open with a tap. The listing is recognition rather than a new technical release, but it shows the standard moving from announcement into real products.

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13 October 2026

DevicesHubs MacRumors

Apple unveils HomeView, its first home hub with a screen

At its “Welcome home” event Apple introduced HomeView, a home hub with a 7-inch square touchscreen that is designed mainly for voice control with Siri. It runs on the A18 chip, supports a limited set of Apple apps and has no App Store. There is a countertop model in space grey, silver, starlight and pink, and a wall-mounted model in space grey and silver. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, shipping starts around mid-November and the speaker sounds better than a HomePod mini. Apple’s own coverage at launch did not yet answer the practical questions for a smart home, such as its exact Thread and Matter roles, so those details are still to be confirmed.

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October 2026

Hubs Devices Homey · Athom

Homey adds support for AlphaESS home batteries in its energy overview

Homey now has an official app for AlphaESS home batteries, available on Homey Cloud, Homey Pro, Homey Pro mini and the Self-Hosted Server. Once the battery is linked with its AlphaESS account, Homey Energy shows its charge level, whether it is charging or discharging, and how much energy it stores and uses, next to dynamic electricity prices, a smart meter and an EV charger. Automations can then decide when the battery charges or discharges, for example keeping a reserve for peak-price hours or sending solar surplus to the car or battery first.

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Early-to-mid September 2026

Hubs Devices Homey · Athom

Homey brings major appliance brands into one smart home app

Homey now supports the ConnectLife platform, letting owners of Hisense, Gorenje, ASKO, ATAG and Pelgrim appliances control washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and split air conditioners from inside Homey instead of a separate manufacturer app. Once added, a household can see a cycle’s status and remaining time, get a nudge when a dishwasher is low on salt or rinse aid, and build automations such as a notification when a wash finishes. Paired with Homey’s dynamic electricity pricing, compatible appliances can also be scheduled to run during the cheapest hours of the day rather than whenever it’s convenient to load them.

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8 September 2026

Devices TechRadar

IKEA’s new Dubbelkisel driver brings Matter to built-in cabinet and wardrobe lighting

IKEA has started selling Dubbelkisel, a wireless driver that replaces the older Trådfri unit used with its integrated cabinet and wardrobe lights. Where Trådfri paired directly with a handheld remote over Zigbee, Dubbelkisel instead connects through IKEA’s Dirigera hub and is Matter-enabled, so those lights can be controlled from IKEA’s own switches or from any other Matter controller as part of a wider setup. It is rolling out first in a handful of European countries at €18, with wider availability expected over the coming weeks; early adopters report a small on/off delay compared with the instant response of the old remote-paired Trådfri driver.

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4 September 2026

DevicesProtocols MacRumors

Aqara shows five Thread and Zigbee lights at IFA

Aqara has added five lights to its range, presented at IFA in Berlin: the Floor Lamp T1 with 18 colour zones and up to 1,000 lumens, the slim LED Downlight T2 for low ceilings, a trimmable LED Strip T2 with 108 LEDs per metre, and two outdoor products, the String Lights H1 and the Permanent Outdoor Lights H1. All of them support Thread and Zigbee, so they can join Apple Home and other Matter platforms as well as an Aqara hub. White light ranges from 2,000 to 9,000 K. Prices and release dates were not announced at the show.

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3 September 2026

Devices HomeKit News

Aqara’s five new lighting products at IFA 2026 all support Matter over Thread

Aqara used IFA 2026 to launch five lighting products — a floor lamp, an LED downlight, a light strip, and two outdoor lighting lines — with every one of them supporting Matter over Thread as well as Aqara’s usual Zigbee. Choosing Thread lets the lights join Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa or other Matter ecosystems directly, without an Aqara hub, provided a Thread border router is already on the network; sticking with Zigbee keeps deeper integration with Aqara’s own sensors, switches and automations. It is a sign Aqara is now treating Matter over Thread as a standard option across a full product line rather than a one-off feature on a flagship device.

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2 September 2026

Protocols Connectivity Standards Alliance

Zigbee’s mesh networking gets a long-range, sub-GHz extension called Suzi

The Connectivity Standards Alliance has opened product certification for Suzi, a sub-GHz extension to Zigbee that runs in the 800/900 MHz bands instead of the usual 2.4 GHz. The lower frequency carries further and through more walls, so a mesh network needs fewer repeaters to cover a large house, a multi-building site, or an outdoor area. Suzi is designed to run alongside existing 2.4 GHz Zigbee gear via bridge devices, so current Zigbee products keep working while manufacturers start shipping longer-range, Suzi-certified hardware built on the same trusted certification framework.

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1 September 2026

Hubs Homey · Athom

Homey unveils Portal, a twist-and-tap dial for lights, sound and temperature

Homey has introduced Portal, a wall- or desk-mounted controller built around a 2.8-inch round touchscreen ringed by a rotating stainless-steel dial. Twisting the ring adjusts whatever the screen is currently showing — light brightness, volume, or a room’s target temperature — while the touchscreen handles everything else, including switching tracks or picking a light’s colour. Each Portal can be assigned to a specific zone, such as the kitchen or living room, and its home screen can be pinned to the Flows, Moods or devices used most often. It works across Homey Cloud, Homey Pro (2023–2026), Homey Pro mini and Self-Hosted Server, ships with both a desk stand and a wall mount, and is open for pre-order now ahead of shipping before the end of 2026.

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Hubs Android Authority

Homey Portal launches at IFA: what it costs and what it controls

Android Authority’s coverage from IFA Berlin fills in what Homey’s own announcement leaves out: pricing. Portal is listed at €249 for early pre-orders, rising to €299 once the introductory window closes, with orders filled first-come, first-served. The write-up highlights compatibility with Philips Hue, Sonos, Denon Heos, Nest, tado° and Honeywell devices alongside Homey’s own app library, and frames the appeal in practical terms — a shared physical control point anyone in the room can walk up to, rather than another app to open. Homey Flow can also route camera feeds and custom notifications to the screen. Shipping is still expected before the end of the year.

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Devices Protocols mobiflip.de

IKEA’s first radiator thermostat, LILJEBAGGE, starts rolling out at €14.99

IKEA has begun rolling out LILJEBAGGE, its first radiator thermostat, starting in Sweden at 199 SEK (around €17) and now reaching Germany at an introductory €14.99. It runs on Matter over Thread rather than IKEA’s older Zigbee-based Home smart line, so a hub-free unit can be paired via a QR code, but scheduling, remote control and cross-ecosystem integration need a Thread border router — IKEA’s own DIRIGERA, or any other, including the one built into Homey Pro. Two AA batteries are rated for roughly 18 months, six adapter rings cover common European valve threads, and the thermostat runs an automatic anti-scaling cycle roughly every two weeks to stop it sticking. At well under half the price of Danfoss Ally or Aqara’s radiator valve, it is aggressive positioning against the field in our radiator valve buying guide.

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Protocols Hubs RAVE Publishing

Z-Wave Alliance brings Ring, Schlage, SmartThings and Shelly to CEDIA Expo 2026

The Z-Wave Alliance is coordinating member presence across the CEDIA Expo 2026 show floor, running 1–4 September in Denver, to put integrators in front of companies shipping Z-Wave gear. Named exhibitors include Alarm.com, Johnson Controls, Ring, RYSE, Samsung SmartThings, Schlage and Shelly, spanning security, access control, climate and whole-home control rather than any single device category. It is aimed at the professional-installer side of the market CEDIA serves, distinct from the consumer retail channel most of those brands also sell through. The Alliance’s own Fall Summit follows separately on 29 September–1 October in Boca Raton, Florida, with a live demonstration of SmartStart commissioning and Z-Wave Long Range performance.

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Hubs Le P'tit Blog · Léa Faure

Independent reviewer swaps a self-hosted Home Assistant setup for Homey Pro

French blogger Léa Faure documents replacing her self-hosted Home Assistant server with a Homey Pro (2026), citing eight built-in protocols (Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, Thread, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, 433MHz RF and IR) in one box versus juggling separate dongles, plus local automation processing without a mandatory subscription. Her stated reason for switching isn’t missing features but reduced maintenance overhead — fewer broken integrations and YAML edits after updates. She notes there’s no automatic Home Assistant import; migration is done device by device and automation by automation. Disclosure: the review unit was supplied free of charge by Athom.

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Late August 2026

Hubs MacRumors · Bloomberg

Apple’s smart home display is still on track for before year-end, Gurman says

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is now saying Apple’s first smart-home device with a screen remains on track to ship before the end of 2026, after slipping from an original spring-2025 target and then a spring-2026 one, largely on Siri’s readiness. MacRumors reports the description hasn’t changed much since earlier in the summer: a seven-inch square display with a front-facing camera for facial recognition and multiple user profiles, running an operating system closer to tvOS than iOS and built around home-screen widgets rather than an app grid. Corroborating references were found in macOS Tahoe 26.7 code discovered the same week. A roughly $350 price point and a companion Apple TV and HomePod mini refresh are still expected alongside it.

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Hubs Homey · Athom

Homey lets you update Matter, Z-Wave and Zigbee devices without leaving the app

Homey has added Device Updates, a single screen (More → Settings → Device Updates, or a device’s own Maintenance tab) that surfaces and installs firmware for Matter, Z-Wave and Zigbee devices without switching to each manufacturer’s own app. Z-Wave and Zigbee updates are still delivered through their respective Homey apps; Matter updates are pulled directly from the Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Distributed Compliance Ledger, the same registry manufacturers use to publish them. It needs Homey Pro or Self-Hosted Server v13.2.0 and the v9.10.0 mobile app, and works across Homey Cloud, Homey Pro (2023–2026), Homey Pro mini and Self-Hosted Server. The practical effect is fewer devices left running old, occasionally insecure firmware simply because updating them meant opening yet another app.

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Devices Engadget

UK legalises plug-in balcony solar, but wiring checks come first

As of 27 August 2026, UK law formally permits selling and installing small “plug-in” solar setups — one or two panels feeding up to 800W into a normal wall socket via a microinverter, no electrician required, following Germany’s long-running Balkonkraftwerk model. Electrical bodies including the IET are warning that much of Britain’s older wiring, especially single-direction RCDs, wasn’t built to take power flowing the other way, and are urging a professional check before anyone plugs one in. It’s a genuine option for the millions of UK renters and flat-dwellers who can’t fit a full rooftop system, but the safety caveats matter for anyone with an older consumer unit.

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Mid-August 2026

Hubs TechCrunch

Amazon makes Alexa+ free on Fire TV, no Prime required

Amazon is rolling its AI-powered Alexa+ assistant out to all compatible Fire TV hardware at no cost and without a Prime subscription, upgrading eligible devices automatically. It had previously cost non-Prime members $19.99 a month. The free tier covers current Fire TV Sticks, Fire TV Cube, Amazon’s own Ember TVs, and third-party Alexa+-equipped sets from Hisense and Panasonic, and adds conversational, theme-based show search on top of Alexa’s existing smart-home controls. TechCrunch notes Alexa+ can already pull up Ring camera feeds on the television and manage connected devices from the same interface, positioning the TV as a control surface rather than just a display — one more example, alongside Google’s Gemini-on-TV push, of an AI assistant layer sitting on top of the smart-home standards underneath rather than replacing them.

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Hubs Homey · Athom

Homey Energy adds solar production forecasts and export-price tracking

Homey Energy now plots forecast solar output as a dashed line against actual production, using panel orientation, tilt and peak power that owners enter themselves, and exposes that forecast to Flow so high-draw tasks can be scheduled around predicted sun rather than the weather app. On the export side, it now tracks either a fixed feed-in rate set by the local provider or a dynamic one that moves with wholesale import prices. It is available on Homey Pro (2023–2026), Pro mini and Self-Hosted Server, and on Homey Cloud for Premium subscribers, requiring Homey Pro/Self-Hosted v13.4.0 and the v10.1.0 mobile app. Paired with the export-pricing groundwork behind it, this pushes Homey’s energy tooling closer to the dedicated solar-monitoring platforms in our solar inverter guide, without needing a separate account.

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Early-to-mid August 2026

Devices Homey · Athom

LEDVANCE and OSRAM Smart+ lighting now pair directly with Homey

Two new official Homey apps bring LEDVANCE SMART+ and OSRAM SMART+ lighting into Flow and Advanced Flow without a third-party bridge. LEDVANCE’s side covers bulbs in various shapes, plugs, LED strips, panels and outdoor lighting; OSRAM’s covers its classic and PAR16 multicolour bulbs, strips and plugs. Both ranges pair over Zigbee or Matter, which run natively on Homey Pro and Pro mini; Homey Cloud and Self-Hosted Server need a Homey Bridge for the Zigbee devices or a Thread border router for the Matter-over-Thread ones. It is a smaller release than Portal or Device Updates, but it is the kind of steady app-store growth — more brands, not more hardware — that determines how big a device list a given hub can honestly claim.

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August 2026 product roundup

Devices T3

Shelly’s fourth-generation Flood S adds a third leak probe

Shelly’s latest water-leak sensor, the Flood S Gen4, moves from the two contact points on earlier generations to three stainless-steel sensors on its underside, aimed at catching a slow drip under a boiler or washing machine rather than only a puddle spreading across the whole base. It keeps the built-in local alarm and app/push alerts of its predecessors. T3’s August roundup grouped it alongside half a dozen other launches as a routine, incremental refresh rather than a new category — which is exactly the kind of unglamorous reliability improvement we look for in our water leak detector guide.

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Devices T3

Govee’s Strip Light 2 brings LuminBlend+ colour blending down the range

Govee’s second-generation Strip Light adds RGBWW-plus-IC control and its LuminBlend+ colour-mixing technology, previously reserved for pricier products, to a strip sold in cuttable, extendable lengths from $49.99 in the US (£59.99 for the 5-metre UK version). The pitch is smoother colour transitions and more even white light than the single-chip strips common at this price. It sits in the same crowded field as Philips Hue’s and Nanoleaf’s strip lighting, covered in our LED light strip guide, where Govee’s advantage has generally been price and length flexibility rather than ecosystem integration.

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Devices T3

EcoFlow’s Stream 5000 packs a 5kWh battery into a compact solar setup

EcoFlow’s Stream 5000 pairs a 5kWh battery with up to 5,000W of solar input and 3,000W of AC output, aimed at the growing category of plug-in-and-expand home battery systems that sit below a full solar-plus-storage installation. It is up for pre-order at £1,599/$2,200. Positioned as a lighter, quicker-to-install alternative to the fixed inverter-and-battery combinations from Fronius, SolarEdge or Enphase in our energy storage guide, it is part of a wider trend of battery makers courting renters and anyone who can’t get a full installation past a landlord or homeowners’ association.

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Late July 2026

31 July 2026

Devices TechRadar

US bans sale of new Chinese-made robot vacuums and lawn mowers on security grounds

The FCC has confirmed that a national-security ban on foreign hardware, which previously covered drones, Wi-Fi routers and power inverters, now extends to “advanced robotic devices” — autonomous, obstacle-avoiding machines weighing over 4.4 lbs, a definition broad enough to capture most robot vacuums and robotic lawn mowers. The rule blocks new sales rather than existing ownership: models already authorized for the US market can keep selling and keep receiving software updates until at least January 2029. Because the leading robot vacuum brands sold in the US — including Ecovacs, Roborock and Dreame — are Chinese-made, the change is expected to narrow the range of new models households can buy going forward, while manufacturers say they are still seeking clarity on how it applies to future products.

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28 July 2026

Hubs Bloomberg · Mark Gurman

New Apple TV 4K Box, HomePod mini and Siri AI Smart Home Hub Are Coming

Bloomberg reports Apple has three home products close to launch: a refreshed Apple TV 4K, an updated HomePod mini, and the long-delayed Siri-powered smart home hub. The hub reportedly pairs a HomePod-style speaker with a 7-inch display and runs a new operating system derived from tvOS, in both tabletop and wall-mounted versions. Built-in facial recognition would let it identify who is looking at the screen and surface personalised information. The Apple TV and HomePod mini are expected this autumn, with the hub arriving between October and early next year. Two further products are said to be in development: a robotic hub with a 9-inch display and an advanced indoor security camera.

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Hubs 9to5Mac

Apple has three new smart home products 'nearly ready to launch,' per report

9to5Mac's write-up of the same Bloomberg reporting focuses on how far along the three products appear to be. It notes the smart home hub has slipped repeatedly since first being expected in early 2026, with Siri's delayed overhaul the usual explanation. The piece frames the hub as Apple's real entry into the category rather than an accessory, given the display and new OS. It also flags that the refreshed Apple TV and HomePod mini would both act as Thread border routers and Matter controllers. For existing Apple Home users the practical question is whether the new hub replaces or merely supplements an Apple TV.

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Hubs MacRumors

All-New Apple Home Hub Reportedly Launching as Soon as October

MacRumors narrows the timing question, reporting the hub could ship as early as October 2026. The device is described as combining FaceTime calling, home security monitoring, HomeKit accessory control, photo and calendar display, music playback, and an intercom. Facial recognition would tailor what appears on screen depending on who approaches it. The article notes the wall-mounted option puts Apple in direct competition with Amazon's Echo Hub and Google's Nest displays. It remains a report rather than an Apple announcement, so the date should be treated as provisional.

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HubsProtocols Homey · Athom

Matter 1.5 certification for Homey Pro, Pro mini and Self-Hosted Server

Homey has been certified against Matter 1.5 by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the industry body that also certifies the Apple, Google and Amazon platforms. The certification covers Homey Pro models from 2023 to 2026, Homey Pro mini and Homey Self-Hosted Server, and is listed publicly in the Alliance’s own product database rather than only claimed by the vendor. Homey Pro and Pro mini include a built-in Thread border router, so Matter-over-Thread devices can be paired directly; Self-Hosted Server has no Thread radio and needs a border router already present on the network. Support also runs outward — a separate Matter Bridge app republishes devices already connected to Homey to Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings and Home Assistant. That matters for older Zigbee, Z-Wave and Wi-Fi gear, which can appear in those ecosystems without being replaced.

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23 July 2026

Hubs SmartHomeScene

Home Assistant's New Device Database Is Here

Home Assistant opened its new device database to the public in preview on 23 July 2026. The database is intended to answer the single most common pre-purchase question — whether a specific device actually works with Home Assistant, and via which integration. Entries are community-contributed and tied to the integrations that support each device. It addresses a long-standing gap, since compatibility information was previously scattered across documentation, forum threads, and GitHub issues. For anyone comparing hubs, it also makes Home Assistant's integration breadth far easier to verify rather than take on trust.

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10–17 July 2026

Hubs Protocols Residential Tech Today

ResTech Roundup: OpenAI Enters the Smart Home as Matter Struggles to Deliver Simplicity

Residential Tech Today's mid-July roundup pairs two threads: OpenAI moving into home hardware, and continued friction in Matter's promise of simplicity. Reporting suggests OpenAI's first consumer device may be a portable, screenless smart speaker acting as an in-home AI companion, with cameras, microphones, sensors, and some mechanical movement. The Matter half of the piece argues that setup and cross-ecosystem behaviour still fall short of the standard's original pitch, several releases in. The two stories are related: AI assistants are being positioned as the interface layer that papers over interoperability problems underneath. Worth reading as industry context rather than a product announcement.

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15 July 2026

Hubs MacRumors

Apple's 2026 Smart Home Lineup: New Apple TV, HomePod, and Home Hub

An earlier July round-up of everything then known about Apple's 2026 home plans. It sets out the three-product picture — Apple TV, HomePod mini, and the new hub — and the repeated delays behind the hub specifically. The piece is useful for understanding how the expected feature set evolved through the year before the late-July reporting firmed up timing. It also covers the higher-end robotic hub said to be further out. Read alongside the 28 July items to see how quickly the story moved.

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Early July 2026

Devices SwitchBot

SwitchBot outdoor security camera that reacts to intruders

SwitchBot introduced an outdoor security camera designed to respond to intruders rather than simply record them, adding active deterrence to its camera range. It sits alongside the company's wider 2026 push into AI-driven home hardware, including an AI Hub positioned as a local home AI agent with on-device processing and camera-based visual intelligence. As with most SwitchBot hardware, it is primarily aimed at the SwitchBot ecosystem rather than third-party hubs. Buyers wanting hub-agnostic recording should still check for RTSP or ONVIF support before committing. We have not tested this camera.

Manufacturer site →
Devices Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf smart ceiling light designed to reduce eye strain

Nanoleaf announced a smart ceiling light built around reducing eye strain, focusing on flicker and glare rather than colour effects alone. It marks a shift in emphasis for a brand best known for decorative panels, towards lighting quality claims more usually associated with task lighting. Metrics to look for here are CRI and any published flicker figures, since "reduces eye strain" is not itself a measurable specification. Nanoleaf products generally support Matter and Thread, which makes them straightforward to add to most hubs. We have not tested this fixture.

Manufacturer site →
Devices Notebookcheck

New Philips Hue AI Assistant on the way to more smart light users

Signify is widening the rollout of its Philips Hue AI Assistant to more users, letting people describe a lighting scene in natural language and have it generated for them. It sits inside the Hue app rather than replacing any hub-level automation, so it complements rather than competes with a Flow or Automation engine. The feature depends on Hue's cloud, which is worth noting for anyone running a deliberately local setup. Hue's underlying Zigbee lighting continues to work locally through the Bridge regardless. A reminder that AI features in this category are mostly arriving as app-layer additions.

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Devices Reolink

Reolink TrackFlex Floodlight Wi-Fi Camera

Reolink's TrackFlex floodlight camera uses a two-lens design that switches focal length automatically, aiming to keep subjects sharp as they move through the frame. Reolink claims 360-degree coverage without the blur that single-lens pan-and-tilt units produce when tracking. The company continues to be one of the more hub-friendly camera brands thanks to broad RTSP and ONVIF support plus local recording via its Home Hub or an NVR. That makes it a reasonable pick for anyone avoiding camera subscriptions. We have not tested this model.

Manufacturer site →

17 June 2026

Protocols Connectivity Standards Alliance

Matter 1.6 lets several platforms share one network, and adds tap-to-setup

The Connectivity Standards Alliance has released Matter 1.6. The headline change is Joint Fabric: instead of each ecosystem keeping its own network and sharing access across the boundary, multiple authorised controllers can now co-administer a single shared network, with any device added becoming visible to all of them. It also introduces NFC commissioning, so a device can be set up by holding a phone against it before it is installed or even powered — useful for ceiling fittings and in-wall switches. Thermostats gain a suggestion mechanism that lets them weigh an incoming instruction against the owner’s stated preferences and recent manual adjustments rather than obeying blindly, and smoke and CO alarms can now report that they have been taken off their mounting.

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Protocol & standards status — ongoing through 2026

Protocols Connectivity Standards Alliance

Matter 1.5 Introduces Cameras, Closures, and Enhanced Energy Management Capabilities

Matter 1.5 is the release that finally brings cameras into the standard, letting manufacturers certify cameras that work across Matter ecosystems without bespoke integrations. It also adds a new "closures" device category covering blinds, curtains, gates, and similar, plus soil sensors. Energy management is substantially expanded, with support for electricity pricing, tariffs, and grid carbon intensity — the groundwork for automations that shift load to cheaper or cleaner periods. Certification and shipping products follow the spec by months rather than weeks, so the practical effect arrives gradually. This is the most consequential Matter release so far for our Devices categories.

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Protocols Matter Alpha

Matter 1.5: Cameras lead the way as the standard grows into new parts of the home

Matter Alpha's analysis of 1.5 argues camera support is the release's headline because cameras have been the largest remaining hole in the standard. It looks at what interoperable cameras would actually mean in practice, including where ecosystems may still differentiate on features above the baseline. The piece is also useful on how long certification typically lags a spec release. For readers weighing a camera purchase now, the takeaway is that Matter support is coming but not yet a reason to wait. Our camera comparison still recommends judging on RTSP/ONVIF and local recording today.

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Protocols Forbes

Z-Wave Chairman: Multiple Standards Key To Thriving Smart Home Market

The Z-Wave Alliance's chairman argues that a healthy smart home market needs several coexisting standards rather than convergence on one. Z-Wave Long Range is the Alliance's main growth story, with 125 certified ZWLR devices reported and around 80% of products currently in the certification pipeline seeking ZWLR approval. The position directly counters the assumption that Matter will absorb everything. It is also a reminder that Zigbee and Z-Wave are actively evolving rather than winding down, which matters when choosing a hub that must speak them. See our protocol explainers for how these relate.

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Protocols matter-smarthome.de

The Matter Standard in 2026 — A Status Review

A status review of where Matter actually stands in 2026, covering adoption, certification volumes, and the gap between specification and shipping products. It notes Thread 1.4 became the only certified Thread version from 1 January 2026, and that Matter 1.4's improvements to sleeping-device power consumption are only now reaching the market. Zigbee 4.0, released in November 2025, is covered alongside SUZI — Zigbee's sub-GHz answer to Z-Wave Long Range — whose certification programme opens during the first half of 2026. The overall picture is steady progress rather than the step change early Matter messaging implied. Useful grounding before making protocol-dependent purchases.

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Tech events calendar

Tech Events 4–8 September 2026

IFA Berlin 2026 — Messe Berlin, Germany

Europe's largest consumer electronics show and historically the venue where smart home brands announce their autumn line-ups. Its Communication & Connectivity halls cover IoT and smart home specifically, and it is where European-market products tend to appear first. Expect hub, lighting, and energy-management announcements timed to the show. For anyone tracking the European market it is more relevant than CES. Registration and hall details are on the official site.

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Tech Events 19–20 October 2026

IoT Tech Expo Europe 2026 — RAI Amsterdam, Netherlands

A free-to-attend, two-day conference and exhibition at RAI Amsterdam covering IoT alongside four co-located events on AI & Big Data, Digital Transformation, Edge Computing, and Cyber Security & Cloud. The 2026 edition leans heavily on industrial AI and edge intelligence in connected industry. It is more enterprise and infrastructure than consumer smart home, but relevant to protocol and platform direction. Being in Amsterdam makes it the most accessible major IoT event for Benelux readers. Free registration via the official site.

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Tech Events 6–9 January 2027

CES 2027 — Las Vegas, United States

CES remains the single biggest moment in the smart home calendar, and the show where Matter, Thread, and Z-Wave alliances typically publish annual certification milestones. The 2027 edition runs 6–9 January in Las Vegas. Historically it is where new hub hardware and protocol roadmaps are unveiled, so it sets much of the year's agenda. Z-Wave's 125-device Long Range milestone, for instance, was announced at CES 2026. Registration details are on the CTA site.

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Platform releases · December 2025 – June 2026

Dated by month rather than by day: the source publishes these with relative timestamps (“2 months ago”) and no absolute date, so a day would be a guess.

Hubs Homey · Athom · June 2026

ChatGPT can now control a Homey smart home through an official app

Homey has published an official app inside ChatGPT, reducing what was previously a manual setup to a single step of linking an account. The connection itself is not new — it runs on the same Homey MCP Server that has been available for some time — so what changed is onboarding rather than capability. Querying device status, controlling devices, running Flows and Advanced Flows and activating Moods already worked; renaming devices, moving them between zones and creating or editing Flows are new. Because the endpoint is standard Model Context Protocol at mcp.athom.com, the same functionality is available to Claude and other MCP-capable assistants, so the choice of assistant stays interchangeable. It works across Homey Cloud, Homey Pro, Homey Pro mini and Self-Hosted Server, and anyone who wired up the MCP connection manually needs to do nothing.

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Hubs Homey · Athom · May 2026

Homey’s smart home dashboard comes to Android TV and LG webOS

Homey has released television apps for Android TV and LG’s webOS, designed for a large screen and remote-control navigation rather than touch. Signing in is done by scanning a QR code shown on the television, which avoids typing credentials with a remote. The interface opens on Favourites so a device, Flow or Mood can be triggered immediately, with separate sections for the full device list and for automations that are not favourited. The same interface is also reachable from any browser at homey.tv, which Homey notes includes a car’s built-in browser for one-off actions such as opening a garage door on arrival. The webOS build is limited to LG sets from model year 2021 onward, and availability varies by model and country.

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Hubs Homey · Athom · March 2026

Homey app developers can now write apps in Python

Homey has added Python as a third supported language for building and publishing apps, alongside the existing JavaScript and TypeScript options. Both of those remain available and unchanged; the stated reason for adding Python is reach, since a large pool of developers does not work in JavaScript and previously could not contribute. Apps written with the Python SDK run on Homey Cloud, Homey Pro from 2023 to 2026, Homey Pro mini and Self-Hosted Server. The announcement presents Python as a fully supported publishing path rather than a beta, with documentation on the existing Homey Apps SDK site. For users the relevant consequence is device coverage: on a platform whose value depends on how many brands it can talk to, more contributors is the mechanism by which that list grows.

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Hubs Homey · Athom · December 2025

Homey software can now run on your own hardware, from Raspberry Pi to NAS

Homey Self-Hosted Server is a software-only product that runs the Homey Pro operating system on hardware the customer already owns, with published install guides for Raspberry Pi, macOS, Windows, Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Unraid, Proxmox, Docker and plain Linux. Out of the box it handles LAN, cloud and Matter devices; Thread requires a border router already on the network, and Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth LE, 433 MHz and infrared all require a separately sold Homey Bridge. Connecting more than one Bridge switches on a satellite mode that widens wireless coverage. Feature parity with Homey Pro is claimed, including Flow, Advanced Flow, Dashboards, Energy, Insights and access to the app store and voice assistants. Pricing is a free first month then a monthly fee or a one-off lifetime licence, which places a commercially supported option next to free self-hosted alternatives such as Home Assistant.

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Coverage note: this page reflects what we could verify from named sources for September, August and July 2026. Items reported by an outlet rather than issued as a press release are attributed to that outlet. A production version of this page would pull continuously from publisher feeds and manufacturer newsrooms rather than being compiled by hand.