Home Assistant releases 2026.9 update with Modbus and Matter improvements

Home Assistant has released version 2026.9, introducing significant updates to its smart home management capabilities. A major focus of this release is the modernization of Modbus integration, allowing users to configure devices like Fronius and Sofar inverters via the user interface rather than manual YAML configuration.

Connectivity and network management have been enhanced with a new Matter topology map, enabling users to visualize network routers and protocols such as Thread or Wi-Fi. The update also centralizes MQTT supervision and introduces a dedicated menu for USB dongle status.

For cloud subscribers, a new speech-to-text engine powered by Soniox is available for testing, aimed at improving reliability with accents and non-English languages. Additionally, the user interface has been streamlined by merging history and activity pages into a unified panel that provides clearer explanations for state changes and automation triggers.