Home Assistant is dropping support for older Apple devices

Home Assistant is dropping support for iOS 15, watchOS 8 and macOS 11 in its Companion app.

Home Assistant, the open-source smart home platform, has built a reputation for keeping legacy hardware functional long after manufacturers typically drop support, a philosophy that shapes how it now handles its own app.

The change lands with Companion app version 2026.8.0, and version 2026.7.1 remains the final release to support those three ageing operating systems across iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac devices.

That timeline follows Apple’s own developer tools, which will stop supporting watchOS 8 and macOS 11 from September this year, making continued builds for those platforms increasingly difficult to maintain.

Fewer than one percent of Home Assistant users currently run these older operating systems, a small enough share that the update lets the team concentrate its resources on the platforms most people actually use.

What this means for existing users

Once version 2026.7.1 is retired, the Companion app will require at least iOS 16.4, watchOS 9, or macOS 12, raising the baseline for future software updates.

Retiring support for the older platforms also removes long-standing constraints that had limited improvements to user experience, stability and performance, including features such as Apple Watch complications and more advanced widgets.

Apple Watch complications and more advanced widget support have been requested features among Home Assistant users for some time, and removing the burden of maintaining older software finally frees up development time to build them.

Owners of unsupported devices will not lose access to Home Assistant entirely, since the web-based frontend remains fully supported and continues to receive monthly updates regardless of the operating system in use.

The last compatible release, version 2026.7.1, will stay available on the App Store, and its source code will remain accessible on GitHub for anyone wanting to compile the app independently.

Home Assistant has not confirmed an exact retirement date for version 2026.7.1, only that it stands as the final build for iOS 15, watchOS 8 and macOS 11 before version 2026.8.0 arrives.