Release update Ecosystems
Home Assistant 2026.8: what's new, what breaks
The August release is called "Approachable by design", and it means it. New installs stop asking you to remember a port number, the web server settings leave YAML for a proper screen, and Developer Tools is now just Tools. Existing setups carry on exactly as they are.
2026.8 Released 5 August 2026
Update, after one check The headline: new installations drop the ":8123" from the address, and the web server settings that were YAML-only get a screen in the UI. Existing setups keep the port they have always used.
Check first
Robot vacuum batteryUniFi ProtectPaperless-ngxOhmeGardena BluetoothEdifier InfraredScreenLogic
Affected only if you use one of these. None in your setup? You're clear to update.
The headline feature: the end of :8123
Every Home Assistant user has learned the same piece of trivia: the address is not homeassistant.local, it is homeassistant.local:8123. The release notes call it "a little piece of technical trivia that everyone simply had to learn", and 2026.8 does away with it. A new Home Assistant OS installation now answers on the standard web port, so the address is just the hostname.
This only changes new installations. If you already run Home Assistant, the upgrade leaves your port exactly where it is and everything keeps working: your router rules, your bookmarks, your reverse proxy, your companion app. The correct action for an existing setup is none.
If you do want to move the port anyway, there is finally a screen for it. Settings, then System, then Network now carries an HTTP server section covering the port, which network connection Home Assistant listens on, and trusted proxies, all three YAML-only until now. It has a sensible guard built in: change something and Home Assistant applies it, then waits five minutes for you to confirm. Don't confirm, because you have just locked yourself out, and it restores the previous settings on its own. Anything it cannot apply at all falls back immediately. The same instinct runs through the rest of the release: the words "advanced" and "expert" have been stripped from around 43 places across the app, the documentation and the companion apps in favour of saying what the thing actually does, and Developer Tools is now simply Tools.
Six smaller wins
The changes most people will notice day to day. Scan the tags for the areas you use.
Core
One device entry per integration
A physical device exposed by two integrations no longer collapses into a single entry. Each integration keeps its own, and anything already merged is separated automatically when you upgrade. Automations that point at a device by its ID may need a second look, and Home Assistant raises a repair where it can spot one.
Automations
Vibration and moon conditions
Two more purpose-specific pairs are completed: vibration gains conditions to match the triggers it already had, and moon gains a trigger plus matching conditions. The run of semantic triggers that became the default in 2026.7 keeps growing.
Energy
Batteries weighted by size
Give each tracked battery its capacity and the combined state of charge is weighted properly, instead of averaging a small full battery against a large empty one and calling it half. Batteries with no capacity set behave as they did before.
Dashboards
Favourite cards float to the top
Cards can be favourited in the picker, so the handful you actually use sit above the rest. A small follow-on from the entity-first card picker that landed in 2026.6.
Templates
Template entities survive a restart
Fan, cover and device tracker template entities restore their previous state after a restart rather than coming back unknown. The template tool also gains a drag-resizable split view that switches between side by side and stacked.
Entities
You rename entity IDs yourself
The automatic area-based naming introduced earlier in 2026 drew mixed feedback, so this release steps back from it. You rename an entity ID yourself and control how it is ordered. More manual, but predictable.
Integrations: 15 in, 2 out
Removals matter more than additions, because a removal can break an automation or dashboard that references it. They're listed first, with what to do about each.
Removed in 2026.8 2 integrations
| Integration | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Permobil | Discontinued | Permobil retired the API the integration depended on, so it can no longer fetch anything at all. Nothing carries over and there is no replacement. Remove the integration. |
| Volvo On Call | Replaced | Superseded by the newer Volvo integration. Set that up instead if your vehicle is supported. |
Added in 2026.8 15 integrations
Dyson InfraredFuelprices.dkGatusGeoSphere Austria WarningsGoogle HealthHarbor SleepHarman Luxury AudioKarakeepLED InfraredLiteLLMllama.cppLyngdorfMideaNeoPoolScorpionTrack
Breaking changes
7 this month, all narrow. If the summary at the top already cleared you, nothing below applies to your setup.
Breaking changes · check before you update Most setups are unaffected
Robot vacuum battery
The deprecated battery_level property is gone from LG ThinQ, Neato, Romy, Shark IQ, SwitchBot Cloud, Template, TP-Link and Xiaomi Miio vacuums. The same cleanup took device tracker battery attributes in 2026.7.
What to do: point any automation, template or dashboard card at the vacuum's separate battery sensor entity instead.
UniFi Protect
AI Port devices are no longer supported, the event score attribute is gone now that state comes from the public API, and the integration requires UniFi Protect 7.1 or later.
What to do: update the Protect controller to 7.1 or later, then move anything that read detection scores or event attributes onto the new Motion, Smart and Sound detection event entities.
Paperless-ngx
The integration now needs Paperless-ngx 2.19 or later. The same change restores compatibility with Paperless-ngx 3.0.
What to do: upgrade the Paperless-ngx server to 2.19 or later before you update Home Assistant, not after.
Ohme
The Ohme energy sensor has been removed.
What to do: recreate it with an Integration (Riemann sum) helper on the power sensor.
Gardena Bluetooth
The valve's activation reason sensor now reports a fixed set of values rather than free-form text.
What to do: update any automation condition or template that matched the old strings.
Edifier Infrared
The infrared codes for the R2000DB and R2730DB speakers were wrong and have been corrected, with power and mute swapped on the R2730DB. The fix migrates automatically.
What to do: update any automation built on the old, incorrect button mappings.
ScreenLogic
The configurable polling interval option has been removed.
What to do: set the interval with the system-wide polling controls instead, or trigger a refresh with the homeassistant.update_entity action.
Should you update?
Our verdict Update, after one check
Update, after one check. There is nothing risky in 2026.8 for most setups, and the headline change deliberately leaves existing installations alone: your port stays where it is and your bookmarks keep working.
The check is the ledger above. Two of the breaking changes want work done before you update rather than after. Paperless-ngx needs its server on 2.19 or later, and UniFi Protect needs its controller on 7.1. Go the other way round and you are left with a broken integration until you catch up. The vacuum battery_level removal is the one most likely to catch someone quietly, because an automation reading a property that no longer exists does not announce itself.
If none of those touch your setup, take a backup and update. Then look at the Repairs page once afterwards. Splitting merged devices is automatic and safe, but it is exactly the kind of change that surfaces its rough edges there rather than in front of you.
Source: home-assistant.io
Frequently asked questions
When was Home Assistant 2026.8 released?
On 5 August 2026, following the usual first-Wednesday-of-the-month schedule.
Do I have to stop using :8123 after updating?
No. The change only applies to brand-new Home Assistant OS installations. An existing setup keeps the port it has always used, and the upgrade does not touch it.
Can I move my existing install off port 8123?
Yes. Settings, then System, then Network has an HTTP server section for the port, the network connection to listen on, and trusted proxies. Home Assistant asks you to confirm the change within five minutes and rolls back on its own if you don't, so locking yourself out is recoverable.
Why did my robot vacuum's battery percentage stop working?
The deprecated battery_level property was removed from eight vacuum integrations in 2026.8. Point the automation or dashboard card at the vacuum's separate battery sensor entity instead.
Is it safe to update if I use UniFi Protect?
Only once your Protect controller is on 7.1 or later, which the integration now requires. AI Port devices are no longer supported at all, and detection scores and event attributes are gone.
Something broke after an update?
Tell us what changed and what stopped working, and we'll help you get it back.
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