Your TV remote is probably older than your smartphone. The AC remote might be a bit younger, but it still sits on a shelf collecting dust. Neither of these remote-operated devices received any firmware updates, a companion app, or Wi-Fi support. Until now, a smart plug was the closest thing to controlling them, but only to control their power state.

Home Assistant’s 2026.4 update adds native Infrared (IR) support. The appliances you own were not dumb — they lacked the right software layer. With a small, affordable IR blaster acting as a bridge, Home Assistant lets you control any device that responds to an infrared remote without any hardware modifications.

Home Assistant changed things for your existing devices

Infrared got upgraded to a first-class citizen

If you’ve been following Home Assistant for a while, it’s a familiar process. When Bluetooth range was limited, Home Assistant solved it with Bluetooth proxies built from cheap ESP32-based devices that served as relays to extend the Bluetooth range. The native infrared control with the 2026.4 update follows the same playbook.

With the new IR control, you can deploy IR proxies, which are essentially ESPHome-powered devices with an IR transmitter. Those proxies send commands on behalf of Home Assistant. Point one at your TV or AC and control it like a remote would, except that it’s now part of your automation, scripts, and dashboard.

So your morning routines can turn the AC off when you leave the house or shut down the kids' TV when they’re past bedtime. You can manage all that without reaching for the remote.

You can buy an IR blaster or build one for a similar price

Your hardware options for IR control

You can buy a commercially available IR blaster, like the Seeed Studio XIAO IR Mate, which sells for $10. It is ESPHome-friendly, and you can flash a custom firmware directly to it. That’s an incredibly cheap way to connect your dumb devices, like TVs, sound bars, and air conditioners, to Home Assistant.

You might need to deploy multiple proxies across the house, and then it can turn on or off fans or AC across the house at once through automation or scripts.

KinCony AG8 is yet another ESPHome-friendly option at $40, but you need to install IR LEDs to make them work with the unit.

The next popular option is the Broadlink RM4 Pro, an IR and RF blaster, which is officially priced at $50. You can get it for less from eBay or Aliexpress. However, this unit is cloud-dependent, though it works with Home Assistant.

You can go the DIY route of building an IR transmitter yourself using an ESP32 board and ESPHome’s ready-made projects page to use an IF & RF proxy. Once flashed, your IR proxy appears in Home Assistant’s Devices section, ready to configure.

IR control still has limits despite the native support

Know them before diving in

There are a few trade-offs, but none of them are dealbreakers. It’s worth knowing them before you set your expectations about IR control in your smart home.

For starters, infrared can’t pass through solid walls or obstructions — just like you can’t use your remote from the other room. The IR blaster needs to be in a clear line of sight of the devices it’s meant to control. So you’ll need more units for a multi-room setup for pointing at target devices.

Secondly, infrared is a one-way protocol where an IR blaster just sends the command but can’t record the response. The Home Assistant can’t confirm if your TV or AC is turned on or off. It just assumes the change in device state is due to the command sent. That works for automation, but it won’t magically turn Home Assistant into a virtual full control box.

Finally, check whether the integration exists for the brand of products you own. The IR blaster enables Home Assistant to work with infrared-supported devices. But it still needs dedicated integration that can help it understand the brand’s IR protocol. Home Assistant can’t decode the IR commands. For that, it needs a manufacturer or community support to write the integrations.

At the time of writing, only official LG integration supports the brand's infrared devices. Integrations from Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Harman, and other product makers aren’t there yet. Community integrations might take a while, but devices with proprietary IR protocols may take longer or never get full support.

The best smart home upgrade is often the least “smart” one

In 2026, the smart home industry races towards Matter, Thread, AI, and Wi-Fi 7. Meanwhile, Home Assistant quietly bet on a 40-year-old protocol that requires no cloud, no app, and no new hardware. And that’s the point. The best smart home upgrades aren’t the ones with the latest technology. Sometimes the best upgrade is making what you already own actually useful.