🎁 Get a Free iHost - Help Shape the Future of iHost

[KwayLi99]

Hello Community!

To celebrate the growth of the HA over iHost project and to thank the community for your feedback and support, we’re excited to launch a limited batch of free iHost devices . We’re also calling on Home Assistant users to help shape the future of iHost - the next generation of iHost hardware and features , we want to hear directly from you:

1. Tell us about your current Home Assistant setup
2. How do you plan to use iHost if selected?
3. If you had full control over the next-gen iHost…

Share your insights, inspire the community, and you could win a free iHost device!

---

What’s iHost?

iHost is an edge smart home gateway developed by SONOFF, designed for privacy-first and local automation. It comes with built-in support for:

• Zigbee (EFR32MG21 A020F768IM32-B)
• Wi-Fi + BLE (RTL8723DS)
• Ethernet, USB, and Matter Certificate (CSA official)
• Speaker hardware
• 4 hardware buttons & RGB lightstrip

And now, iHost can run Home Assistant OS smoothly - with full access to the hardware and a growing collection of supported Add-ons!

---

About “HA over iHost”

Thanks to incredible feedback from our community, over 3,000 users have already explored running Home Assistant on their iHost devices. We’ve seen everything from casual Zigbee setups to full-blown Matter bridges

You might be wondering -

"But isn’t iHost still 32-bit? Isn’t armv7 support going away?”

Yes - Home Assistant plans to sunset 32-bit support in late 2025. But don’t worry:

• We’re already working on a next-gen iHost with a 64-bit SoC, larger storage, and 5GHz Wi-Fi - fully aligned with future HA requirements.

• Meanwhile, the current iHost experience is still solid and also desevers to try , especially with the dedicated Add-ons we’ve been building just for it:

  • Matter Bridge/Matter Server
  • Node-RED
  • ESPHome
  • iHost Hardware Control
  • eWeLink Remote Gateway
  • OpenThread Border Router
  • Zigbee/OTBR Multi-PAN

You can explore the project here:
GitHub – iHost-Open-Source-Project/ha-operating-system

---

How to Join

To apply for a free iHost, leave a meaningful comment sharing your Home Assistant experience - and help inspire more HA users in the process.
High-quality responses will be given priority for device selection. Bonus points if you include screenshots, photos, or even a video!

You can structure your reply around these 3 questions:

1. Tell us about your current Home Assistant setup

• Are you running HA on a Green, Yellow, Raspberry Pi, NUC, NAS, VM, or something else?
• Tell us how HA improved your daily life - smart lighting, energy saving, home security, etc.
• Have your family or friends used your setup? What did they think?

2. How do you plan to use iHost if selected?

• As a replacement for an unstable system?
• As a local backup control center?
• As a way to explore tighter Zigbee or Matter integration?

3. If you had full control over the next-gen iHost…

• What features or improvements would you request
• Hardware upgrades? Protocol support? Software integrations?
• What’s missing from current smart home hubs in your view?

Next week , we’ll announce the selected contributors who will receive a free iHost as a thank-you. If the response is strong, we may even expand the number of devices being offered - so don’t hold back!

---

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

– The iHost Open Source Team

[KwayLi99]

Want to learn more about HA over iHost? Check out our in-depth setup guide here:

Home Assistant Over iHost One-Stop Setup Guide

[colla]

My current HA Installation runs on a Synology NAS DS920+

At my home, this is a solution that suits me perfectly, because i hate the public cloud and i can host everything on one device.

So why Ihost?
We have a holiday home abroad. currently with a cloud based zigbee base :-/

A solution that will need to be replaced sooner or later.

I already own an Ihost,so this would be the second but with cubeos which is used by my partner (separate apartment)

Any change is currently impossible.

It would destroy the WAF.

In a few years, it will go to my holiday home if I am not selected now.

My current HA installation is used like most ones for:

control of lighting, pv system, cameras, various sensors (motion detection, door and window sensors, etc.)

Since the HA in my case would be located abroad, special attention must be paid to stability and imitating presence

In addition to the usual use for controlling lighting, etc. while I am at home,

the security aspect of motion detectors, window and door sensors, etc. is important to me. And as well as heating control or, in my case, air conditioning which I use for both heating and cooling

The next Gen Ihost needs definitly a modern architecture and support for future protools like thread. But as far as i know thats already planed

And it needs a long support period!!!

Since we are allowed to make a wish here,

local voice control would of course be desirable, or even the integration of AI that learns from users and interacts independently (It’s probably more of a software issue).

For example, by suggesting new useful scenes.

an AI that evaluates camera images (it would also be nice to upgrade non-AI cameras).

Long software support cycles would also be nice. I think I’m repeating myself.

I don’t know yet how long Ihost will ultimately be supported,

but this wish actually applies to everything on the internet.

Unfortunately, there are already far too many devices that are full of security gaps on the internet due to a lack of manufacturer support.

What’s missing

The HA software is already very adaptable.

Therefore, it can only be a matter of hardware.

Many people are unable to set up an HA installation.

Solutions are needed that work out of the box.

If you want to reach the masses

I already said that the WAF is extremely important.

That’s all from me for now.

[alyusuph]

• Tell us about your current Home Assistant setup
• I have two homes one running HA on Ihost (2Gb) and another one running on HA Green with a Sonoff Zigbee Dongle E, Sonoff TX snd TX Ultimate smart Switches, Sonoff Motion and presence sensors; Sonoff Temp and Hunidity Sensors; Dior and Windows sensors. My setup.is predominantly Sonoff.
• HA has greatly improved my life and that of my Family, we no.longer have to worry about switching On and Off lights, we no.lomger have to activate alarm systems as the alarm systems operate independently and automatically, manage our solar installation, receive various automated voice alerts that enhance self awareness of properties, Current HA setups have simplified our lifves by reducing the burden of managing the two sites and reducing manual operations, now there is no need to switch lights on and off , smart security systems that monitor threats and take action independently depending on security situations, better system awareness through breather light colours, more Intelligent energy monitoring. Etc. many other automations (the list is long).
• The Family enjoys the setup, in fact I wanted to create more simple dashboards for them but they insisted they want to use the detailed dashboard I use for better self-awareness of tge homes.
• How do you plan to use iHost if selected?
• If selected, i Have several options, either Install HA to an additional site or use the Ihost to extend local video recording, enhance AI usage, and energy generation and usage monitoring.

• If you had full control over the next-gen iHost…
My suggestions for future Ihost:
1. Activate speaker and imtegrate microphone to make it a voice input or controlled device (crucial.for LLMs) , can be used for the door bell, alarm.siren etc.
2. Maintain the breathing LED light ; ethernet, wifi, zigbee radios, matter compatible, (do not ⁷reduce existing features) and a more square-ish but tall shape/design, or a wide plastoc base plate at the bottom to add stability when placed on a table- current design difficult to stand on its own with ethernet cables connected. Add SSD drive; expandable storage slots; retain open architecture; 5 G connectivity,

• What’s missing from current smart home hubs in your view?
Current Home hubs still miss internal or ambient temperature monitoring, voice input capabilities to take advantage of AI,.

If I ever get the new Ihost: I will experiment with more advanced setups and uses and replace the current 32Bit system, I.May also replace the HA Green because I predominantly use Sonoff products in my automations.

My old 32 bit Ihost will be used to help friends to adopt home automation.

Additional proposals:
1. A Sonoff Wifi and Zigbee wall light socket with energy monitoring is long overdue.
2. We are waiting for Sonoff wifi and zigbee smart breakers.
3. Please bring black colored Sonoff TX Ultimare Switches. The old black TXs beat the Ultimates in looks in my opinion, shiny black colour adds a.lot of pomp to.it

[SoBal]

My Journey into Smart Homes and the Role iHost Could Play

When it comes to smart homes, I started out with virtually no experience. It all began when we moved into a new apartment with our young children, and I simply wanted a dimmable light for their room. That’s when I got my first Hue starter kit,and the journey took off from there.

Over time, I expanded the system to prevent lights being left on, and introduced one-button shutdowns for the whole apartment. I added motion sensors in transitional rooms, then gradually began exploring other areas of home automation.

After a lot of research, I decided to integrate Sonoff devices into the system. I started by zoning my gas-based heating system using TRVZBs and controlling the boiler with ZBMINIR2 devices (sadly, I still haven’t managed to configure the 4CHPROR3). To improve data precision, I added room temperature sensors, door/window sensors, and more.

Eventually, I collected so many devices that I invested in an NSPanel Pro to manage controls more easily than through the phone. This, along with new hardware, reignited my interest in automation like outdoor temperature-based blinds, lighting with motion triggers, and more.

It became clear that I needed a local server one that would consolidate everything, reduce cloud dependency, and improve responsiveness. After a lot of reading, I chose Home Assistant (HA), which I installed on my Synology NAS. The dashboard became a daily-use feature and helped me achieve what’s humorously called “WAF” (Wife Acceptance Factor). She could now use the system effortlessly.

My growing system pushed me toward improving home security, integrating sensors and fire alarms, and of course, some details I won’t share publicly . But it’s a good feeling to leave the house knowing I’ll get alerts (or even calls) about important events.

As a complete amateur, I’ve had to solve everything step-by-step through intensive research, and I still see huge potential in Home Assistant integrations.

Why I’m Interested in iHost

I’ve been following iHost for some time, mostly because of its local control potential. eWeLink scenes have sometimes been unreliable for me, and I see iHost as a scalable platform. I’m especially curious about iHost OS it’s a fantastic idea for Sonoff devices, even if it’s clear from the forums that there’s still work to do (e.g., device compatibility, update management, etc.).

The Cast feature is another standout. Having a customizable dashboard, especially when paired with a wall-mounted display, could make a big difference. I’m also exploring a standalone HA-over-iHost setup, since running automations on a separate device has always been a goal (though budget constraints pushed it aside). If I had an iHost, I’d finally invest in cameras local video storage is key for me.

Ideas for a Next-Gen iHost

- Hardware upgrades: I tested a second-hand unit and know its limits, but there’s so much more potential in this platform. The current system bottlenecks performance.

- Better HA integration: and full support for other big platforms.

- Hue integration: full bidirectional sync would be a dream.

- Zigbee/Matter/Thread focus: most of my setup uses these protocols. Thread support would be a welcome addition.

- Fix Wi-Fi integration: syncing isn’t the same as native iHost pairing.

- NSPanel Pro sync: full two-way sync is critical; Cast alone doesn’t cut it.

- Unified Zigbee network: it should be possible to avoid building two separate Zigbee networks.

- Camera support: I’d love to see dual TF card slots or 2.5" SATA support for local recording.

- Connectivity: at least Wi-Fi 6 and 1GbE LAN are a must for reliability and future-proofing.

- Device limits: should be removed, or at least significantly increased.

- Long-term support: especially for all Sonoff-branded devices—there are too many “not supported yet” tags today.

- Software & plugins: I started exploring Node-RED, but a native automation/workflow editor would be incredibly useful.

other:

Has Sonoff considered developing an e-paper wall panel that can display HA, eWeLink, or iHost Cast views? That would be a game-changer in terms of usability and energy efficiency.

[mdevilly]

hello, i would like a free iHost because

1. i have 50 sonoff devices that are being managed by ewelink - no local host

2. I would like to implement iHost to manage the devices locally

3. i have done a lot of automation in my home and this would be a nice extension, to integrate all of them using Home Assistant. I have 50 devices that are managed by ewelink, a mitsubishi heat pump, 4 ATC heaters at 2 addresses, ember home heating, 2 eufy video door bells, 1 Ring door bell, a petcube, a 6kw solar panel system, a Secure Control system (remotely manage an immersion system in my holiday home), all based on a Ubiquiti network system. Thank you for your help
   Martin Devilly

mdevilly@hotmail.com

+353 872302690

[Lulu]

Thank you so much for sharing your story and setup! We really enjoyed reading how you’re running HA on your Synology and how much thought you’ve put into stability, WAF, and long-term support. The way you use it for lighting, security, and energy management across different homes is exactly the kind of experience we love to hear about. Your suggestions for future iHost features are very valuable for us.

We’ll be announcing the winners tomorrow — please keep an eye on your messages, and thanks again for being part of this journey with us!

[Lulu]

Really appreciate the detailed look at your HA setup across two homes. It’s amazing to hear how automation has made daily life easier for you and your family — from lighting and alarms to solar management and energy monitoring. We also appreciate your suggestions for future iHost improvements, especially around voice input, storage, and design ideas.

We’ll be sharing the winners tomorrow. Please keep an eye on your messages, and thanks again for being such an active part of the community!

[Lulu]

Thanks a lot for sharing your smart home journey! We love how you’ve put everything together—from lighting and heating to security and dashboards. Your thoughts on iHost’s local control, video storage, and deeper integrations are very valuable, and we really appreciate your ideas for future upgrades.

We’ll be announcing the winners tomorrow — thanks again for being part of this, and please keep an eye on your messages for updates!

[Lulu]

Thanks for sharing your setup, Martin! Managing 50 Sonoff devices along with heating, solar, and security systems is exactly the kind of scenario where iHost really shines—bringing everything together with reliable local control. We truly appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. Winners will be announced tomorrow, so please keep an eye on your messages for updates!

[KwayLi99]

[Winner Announcement]

Thank you all for sharing your amazing Home Assistant setups and ideas for iHost! your feedback is incredibly valuable to us!

We’re excited to announce the list of selected users for this round of iHost giveaways. If your username is on the list below, congratulations!

---

eWeLink Forum

@colla
@alyusuph
@SoBal
@mdevilly

---

Reddit

@Less_Potato_2231
@Senior_Background830

---

HA Community

@RaA11
@Gnnr
@cwwilson08

---

Please check your private messages our team member @Lulu will reach out to collect your email address. All further shipping and follow-up communication will be done via email.
Stay tuned, and thank you again for helping shape the future of iHost!

– The iHost Open Source Team