We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas as we continue to evolve the iHost platform!
1. Supporting 32-bit HA add-ons
All current iHost devices run a 32-bit architecture, which means some Home Assistant add-ons that require 64-bit support aren’t compatible right now. However, we’re actively developing and maintaining versions of key HA add-ons for 32-bit platforms so you can keep using “HA over iHost.”
Which Home Assistant add-on do you most need on 32-bit iHost?
Let us know the name and any specific features you rely on, and we’ll prioritize it in our roadmap.
2. Upcoming 64-bit iHost hardware
Later this year, we plan to launch a new iHost model featuring:
64-bit SoC for full compatibility with modern HA add-ons
Dual-band (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz) Wi-Fi
Expanded eMMC storage for more headroom
We’re aiming to deliver a highly reliable, high-performance smart-home hub—tailored to your needs.
What features or improvements would you like to see in the new hardware?
Any thoughts on connectivity, storage capacity, power management, or other capabilities?
How to share your feedback
Reply below with your top requested 32-bit HA add-on.
Tell us your must-have features for the upcoming 64-bit iHost.
Feel free to discuss and upvote other users’ suggestions.
Your input directly shapes our development priorities—thank you for being part of the iHost community!
One thing that would be interesting would be if the Ewelink addon or another addon could recognize the R5 controls that use the ewelink proprietary connection.
I think what should weigh the most is the lack of matter in HA and node-red. If these plugins were available, you could use the R5 controls together with HA and would probably put HA on iHost for day-to-day use.
When you say R5, you mean “SwitchMan Scene Controller R5”? If you have already added R5 to your eWeLink account. The new eWeLink Smart Home Add-on will definitely support it (though maybe not in the first release). But it’s a long control link (from the R5 to the eWeLink Remote Gateway to eWeLink Cloud to eWeLink Smart Home Add-on to HA) which leads to noticeable control delay. The best way would be HA directly support R5 through BLE, right?
Matter Bridge Add-on is under developing, and we will release 32 bit Node-Red for HA over iHost in a few days (propably today).
We are also considering to bring other 64 bit only HA add-on, such as ESPHome Device Builder, OpenThread Border Router to HA over 32 bit iHost.
Yes, that’s it. The ideal would be for it to work locally, just like it does with iHost, without the need to use the cloud. That’s why I suggested that it work locally with HA since the iHost Bluetooth chip works with HA.
Yes, R5 should technically work locally well on HA over iHost.
As you have also noticed that the eWeLink Remote Protocol which is used by R5 is proprietory and is not publicly available. We will need to find a proper solution to integrate it into HA.
Please be patient and stay tuned, I will update if there is any progress.
It should be able to install Music Assistant Server.
I am glad to say we will cover all of them.
Just one question: would it be better if we bundle all these add-ons in the Home Assistant OS or do you prefer to install these add-ons manually one by one when you need them.