Home Assistant 2026.1: SendSpin, new Home Dashboard improvements and presence using labels

Rohan and Phil are here to break down the 2026.1 release. We’re talking Home Dashboard improvements, a new multi-room audio protocol from Music Assistant, and of course some Zigbee quirks thrown into the mix

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Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA216

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Chapters

00:00:00 - New Year, housekeeping, sponsors

00:03:00 - SendSpin: open sync audio arrives

00:10:00 - Cross‑ecosystem sync caveats

00:14:00 - Voice PE audio and DIY speakers

00:16:00 - Listener Q&A and AI log help

00:20:00 - 2026.1 mobile Home dashboard

00:24:00 - Purpose‑specific triggers expansion

00:27:00 - New integrations

00:31:00 - Labels/templates for presence

00:37:00 - Protocol hubs, Matter, graphs, devices

00:41:00 - Breaking changes, EcoWitt PSA, CES

This episode was made possible thanks to our sponsors

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Roborock Q7 robot vacuum: https://amzn.to/4bkyEjo

EcoWitt weather station: https://amzn.to/4jBcX0M

Sonos One: https://amzn.to/4pmsz9H

Hosts

Phil Hawthorne

Website

Smart Home Products

Twitter: @philhawthorne

Bluesky: @philhawthorne.com

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Rohan Karamandi

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Smart Home Products

Twitter: @rohank9

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