Top story for Wednesday, October 7, 2026

ESPHome adds motion sensing through changes in Wi-Fi signals, allowing an ESP32 and an existing access point to detect movement without a separate motion sensor. ESPectre, previously supplied as an external component, joins the built-in components with motion readings, a movement score and a recalibration button.

Home Assistant protects an existing backup when another backup is requested with the same filename. Previously, the new request failed but its error handler also deleted the older file, leaving it listed even though it was gone. Manuel Rüger keeps that file untouched and reports the conflict in his first contribution to Supervisor.

Home Assistant’s iOS ownership plan now proposes a migration window from December 2, 2026, through March 2, 2027. The roadmap proposes an announcement for November 24 and the start of the old app’s wind-down for March 3. These are planning dates; the work remains in Building.

Music Assistant reduces the disk space used by the audio analysis behind Smart Fades and similarity-based listening. In contributor Chris’s production library of 11,600 tracks and 58,000 analysis records, the database files shrink from 3,903 MB to 523 MB—an 87% reduction. Moving and packing the records took about 30 seconds in that test.

Music Assistant’s Android and iPhone app gains a Play announcement control for sending a typed message or your own voice to a speaker. The speaker pauses or lowers its music for the message, then continues afterward.

ESPHome devices gain an option to initiate their own encrypted connection instead of waiting for Home Assistant to reach them. A device can remember the last compatible client and call it back when incoming connections stop, or use a fixed destination when its network blocks incoming access.

Devices built with Matter.js stop exposing certain sensitive list entries from one paired smart-home network to another. The affected handling includes video-session lists and certificate-related lists; a remote read previously returned entries belonging to every network instead of only the requester’s.

Locks built with Matter.js reject remote operations when their operating mode prohibits them, closing a path that previously allowed a controller to select “No remote lock or unlock” and then unlock remotely anyway. Commands without a PIN also stop bypassing a wrong-code lockout.

Music Assistant implements Sendspin’s 1.0 release-candidate protocol, providing the server connection needed by clients using the revised pairing and encrypted-connection design. This completes the Music Assistant side of the C++ client change reported on October 2, while retaining compatibility with older players.