Infrared is about as old as technology comes. Well, actually, it's not quite that old, but you catch my drift. It has been around for decades. Still, the technology remains incredibly useful, even in 2026, and we've seen Home Assistant work in support because it's still everywhere. TVs, amplifiers, air con units, fans, soundbars, and general remotes. There's a good chance you have a few infrared devices at home right now, and a few may have the ability to connect to Home Assistant. Whereas April's Home Assistant update added support for sending IR commands, this latest release changes the game.

Home Assistant will now be able to detect when a physical remote is used, not just firing IR commands itself. Described as a true "two-way platform," this completely changes infrared and makes it visible to automation. Previously, IR would only be useful for a few things and was always viewed as the smart home's slightly awkward legacy tech that no one really wanted to use or knew what to do with. That could all change now that Home Assistant can really make use of it as a protocol.

Adding IR to Home Assistant

Making dumb devices smart again

Prior to 2026.4, IR support in Home Assistant was sketchy at best, at least officially. With the April update, the team introduced native infrared support and IR proxies, allowing ESPHome hardware with IR transmitters to send commands configured through the platform. It was a sizable leap from what was available prior. The issue with this, however brilliant it was, is that Home Assistant wouldn't know what happened after sending the command. There's no feedback loop. If you use the remote control to carry out a task, Home Assistant would have no idea. That's all changing now.

The previous goal was to bring IR-controlled devices into the smart home without needing to replace them, but now Home Assistant can utilize a receiver event entity, allowing supported IR integrations to expose commands they detect as events. These can then be used in automations just like a standard event trigger. So long as you have an available IR receiver, you can have Home Assistant pick up commands from physical remotes, expose that command as an event entity, and have everything else react to that event. The remote suddenly becomes part of the mix instead of completely bypassing the smart home.

ESPHome supporting this new feature from the gate is vital for the platform since it's relied upon by many tinkerers who create their own smart home devices with single-board computers (SBCs). ESPHome-based IR proxy may now have a clearer upgrade path. Instead of having to completely rethink how to achieve something within the smart home or rely on other hardware, one can now simply add or use an IR receiver, not just an IR LED. LG is one of the first integrations to support two-way infrared within Home Assistant, offering a variety of control inputs to map within the platform.

One giant step for the smart home

One giant leap for infrared devices

It's not perfect, and there's still some work to be done to really make this something special, but we're on the right track. Infrared is still rather rudimentary compared to other protocols. A TV won't send state data back over IR, so Home Assistant doesn't really understand what's going on any better, but this update helps reduce blind spots. If the original remote is used, Home Assistant will now be able to see this and trigger logic around the detected state. For instance, switching inputs could adjust lighting to reflect gaming using a console and using the TV for streaming and media.

But one could take this further than simply dimming lights, closing curtains, or switching on other devices when scenes are adjusted through IR command detection. For instance, if you have any spare remotes in the home, these can now be reprogrammed as Home Assistant controllers, unlocking quick and convenient access to switching Home Assistant scenes without having to fetch the phone or tablet. The best part is that it allows for devices that won't be connected to the network to indirectly interact with it through Home Assistant, effectively intercepting commands and making use of this data.

This is also helped thanks to other improvements made to 2026.6, such as enhanced automation debugging with live condition indication, target counters, and notes to help you keep tabs on what's working and how everything comes together. IR still remains entirely dependent on being within the room of the IR receiver, and there should be a clear line-of-sight for maximum performance and reliability. For now, received commands are simply events and not full state feedback, so it can limit what can be achieved with infrared hardware.

This is great for reducing e-waste

One of the reasons behind this move from the Home Assistant development team is to help provide new life to older hardware and reduce e-waste. Instead of buying a new TV with more advanced features or throwing away an old sound system, these devices can be improved with nothing but a small SBC and an IR receiver for Home Assistant to completely change the way they're interacted with.