Purpose‑specific trigger examples and benefits

We’re closing out the final Home Assistant release for 2025 with Frenck and a massive Home Assistant 2025.12. Home Assistant Labs, purpose‑specific triggers and conditions, a smarter automation UI, real‑time power flows in Energy, Android Auto/Widgets improvements, tons of new integrations, and more. Plus hardware talk: ZBT2, Zigbee 4, and Matter.js joining the Open Home Foundation.

Watch this episode on YouTube

https://homeassistant.fm/HA213

Support the Podcast

Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon.

https://homeassistant.fm/patreon

Share your story

We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story.

Chapters

00:00:00 Welcome

00:03:30 Frenck’s streaming cadence and creator burnout

00:06:45 Moving houses: keep or strip the smart home?

00:10:46 EV charger dilemma & e‑waste perspective

00:12:50 2025 recap: guests, sponsors, community

00:15:50 Home Assistant ZBT-2 launch, Zigbee 4 headlines, migrations

00:19:10 Open Home Foundation structure & focus areas

00:22:59 Matter.js joins OHF and why it matters

00:24:59 Arduino policy changes & the ESPHome angle

00:25:34 2025.12 overview and Labs introduction

00:26:44 Home Assistant Labs: opt‑in previews, backups, feedback

00:31:55 Purpose‑specific triggers & conditions explained

00:40:50 New automation UI: target‑first and context‑aware

01:03:17 Home dashboard upgrades & the new For You sidebar

01:13:21 Energy dashboard: live power flows and water devices

01:19:40 Android: Add to Widgets & Android Auto favorites

01:23:13 ESPHome entity IDs standardized for new devices

01:24:17 Pet tech: Tuya litter boxes and assorted updates

01:25:10 OpenAI model update, SQL templates, UI card tweaks

01:27:49 New integrations roundup (Hue BLE, Victron BLE, more)

01:32:18 Template helper deprecation, repairs, migration path

01:35:38 Integration removals: Domino’s & Hive alarm changes

01:36:54 32‑bit/supervised deprecation & migration guidance

01:40:25 CES plans, upcoming episodes

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.

Zooz

If you're looking to upgrade your smart home - you can’t go past Zooz! Zooz offers a range of affordable and innovative devices, including water leak sensors, water valve controllers, smart plugs and scene controllers.

For the best prices on all Zooz products, head over to https://thesmartesthouse.com

Products Discussed

Home Assistant ZBT2 (Zigbee radio): https://amzn.to/4pLxykT

Lutron Caseta light switches: https://amzn.to/48rNmSN

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

Buy Phil a Coffee

Rohan Karamandi

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

Buy Rohan a Coffee

This podcast contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.