Robot vacuums, automation, and energy: what changes with the Home Assistant update 2026.3

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The update Home Assistant 2026.3 is available and continues the monthly rhythm of the project. This version is not centered on a single big spectacular new feature, but rather on a multitude of concrete improvements from the community. The team has indeed voluntarily focused on integrating pending open-source contributions to enrich the ecosystem. In the end, the result is impressive: new possibilities for robot vacuums, improved automations, an evolved energy dashboard, the integration of an Android wake word and a long list of additional integrations. Let’s take a look at the most notable new features.

Clean a specific room with your robot vacuum

One of the most practical new features concerns robot vacuums. Until now, initiating cleaning of a specific room was not always straightforward from Home Assistant, even though manufacturer apps offered this function.

Version 2026.3 introduces an official system to link the rooms on the robot vacuum map to the zones defined in Home Assistant.

Specifically, if your robot has identified the rooms in your house (living room, kitchen, office…), it is now possible to map them directly with the zones in Home Assistant. Once this correspondence is created, new actions appear in the automations.

You can for example trigger an action like:

clean the office
clean the kitchen
clean the dining room

And the robot will go directly to the specified area.

This also opens the door to very practical scenarios: A scenario can automatically start cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Another can clean the office only on telework days. Or trigger a targeted cleaning when presence detection indicates the whole family is out.

For now, this feature is supported by several popular integrations like Roborock, Ecovacs, and Matter, but more should follow quickly.

More robust automations thanks to “continue on error” mode

Automations gain a new very useful tool: Continue on error.

In Home Assistant, when an action fails in an automation, the execution generally stops immediately. This can pose a problem in certain critical scenarios.

Let’s take a concrete example.

You have a security automation that must:

turn on all the lights
trigger a siren
send a notification to the smartphone

If turning on a lamp fails for any reason (bulb disconnected, device unavailable), the automation could stop before sending the notification.

With this new option, it is now possible to tell Home Assistant to continue execution even if an action fails.

This functionality has already existed in YAML for a long time, but it is now accessible directly in the automation graphical interface.

Result: more reliable scenarios that are easier to construct.

A voice assistant always listening on Android

Another major new feature: the Android app of Home Assistant introduces the local wake word.

Specifically, your smartphone can now listen for a keyword (like “Hey Jarvis”) and trigger the voice assistant without having to touch the screen.

Detection occurs directly on the phone, without going through the cloud. This relies on the open-source engine Micro Wake Word developed for the project.

Once activated, the experience becomes very similar to traditional voice assistants:

You can for example say:

“Hey Jarvis, turn on the living room light”

The phone captures the command, sends it to Home Assistant, and executes the action.

This feature offers several interesting advantages.

It allows you to transform an old smartphone or Android tablet into a wall-mounted voice assistant. Perfect for creating a control point in a room without buying additional hardware.

It also works even without an Internet connection, since the keyword detection is local.

The only downside for now concerns battery consumption. The system can use about 15% of battery per day, as Android does not yet allow the use of specialized voice detection chips.

Note: this function is unfortunately not available on iOS, as Apple does not allow this type of access for third-party applications.

Improvements on the energy dashboard

The energy dashboard is also continuing to evolve.

Several improvements make the interface clearer and easier to use.

The first concerns the organization of data. The main tab is now titled Electricity instead of “Energy” to avoid any confusion with other sources like gas or water.

The graphs also gain in readability. When you hover over a histogram, the exact date now appears in the tooltip, allowing for immediate identification of the corresponding day.

Another interesting new feature: the badges at the top of the dashboard now display instantaneous values such as current power or water flow.

This allows for a quick glance at real-time consumption.

For those using Home Assistant to optimize their energy bill (solar, load shedding, consumption tracking…), these small details make analysis much more comfortable.

A more informative home dashboard

The main dashboard also receives some improvements.

The sidebar can now display:

available updates
repairs to perform
new devices detected

This information appears directly in the system summary.

Another practical detail: open windows can now appear in the security section. A useful reminder before leaving the house.

A customizable footer for dashboards

Home Assistant dashboards also introduce an interesting new feature: the customizable footer.

In addition to the header, it is now possible to add a footer containing any card.

This allows for example to place:

a navigation button
quick controls
a date selector
or any other widget.

This area remains visible at the bottom of the screen and can serve as a permanent shortcut to certain important actions.

A simple improvement… but that opens up many possibilities for organizing interfaces.

Python 3.14: Home Assistant even faster

Under the hood, Home Assistant moves to Python 3.14.

This kind of change may seem trivial, but it has a direct impact on the overall performance of the system.

New versions of Python regularly bring significant optimizations. Since Home Assistant relies entirely on this language, any improvement automatically benefits the entire system.

Result: faster startup, more responsive scripts, and smoother use.

An avalanche of new integrations

As is often the case, the update also brings a long list of new integrations.

Among the most interesting:

Ghost allows you to track the statistics of a newsletter directly in Home Assistant.
The New York public transport (MTA) is now supported.
Home batteries and energy systems continue to arrive in large numbers.
Devices like projectors, refrigerators, or cameras also gain new functionalities.

This version clearly highlights the strength of the ecosystem: the open-source community. Many developers have contributed to enriching the platform, which explains the impressive size of the list of improvements.

An update focused on the community

Version 2026.3 does not seek to impress with a single spectacular feature. Instead, it improves dozens of small details that make Home Assistant more enjoyable to use daily.

From room-by-room control of robot vacuums, the Android voice assistant, more robust automations, and improvements to the energy dashboard, this version brings very concrete tools for automating the home.

And as often with Home Assistant, this is just a preview of what’s coming: several significant evolutions around automation and voice are already in preparation for future updates. We can’t wait!