Feature Request — Implement User-Configurable Auto-Update Options for HAOS

Feature Requests
1

Dear Home Assistant Development Team,

First and foremost, thank you for the extraordinary work you’ve done to make Home Assistant a powerful, privacy-respecting, and community-driven automation platform. It’s one of the most important open-source projects in the smart home space today, and it continues to push boundaries in terms of both flexibility and performance.

I’m writing to formally request the addition of user-configurable auto-update options for HAOS and other critical components including Home Assistant Core, Supervisor, and Add-ons .

:warning: Current Limitation

At present, HAOS does not offer any auto-update feature accessible through the Home Assistant web UI. While some add-ons include individual auto-update toggles, there is no centralized or configurable way to automatically update the OS, Core, or Supervisor components — despite their critical role in system stability and security.

:package: Comparison with Other Operating Systems

Most modern operating systems — even those built for stability and critical deployments — offer robust auto-update systems:

  • Ubuntu includes unattended-upgrades and apt-daily timers that allow for automatic background updates with customizable deferral and rollback options.
  • macOS offers auto-update scheduling for apps and OS patches, including user-controlled options for critical security updates.
  • Windows provides configurable update channels, active hours scheduling, and the ability to defer or pause updates for days, weeks, or even months — all through a user-friendly interface.

These platforms demonstrate that auto-update does not have to compromise user control or system integrity when implemented responsibly.

:white_check_mark: Feature Proposal: Auto-Update Framework for Home Assistant

To align with modern OS design and meet the needs of diverse user environments — including remote systems, rentals, and commercial deployments — I propose a flexible and opt-in auto-update framework with the following capabilities:

Users should be able to:

  1. Enable or disable auto-updates for each major component (HAOS, Core, Supervisor, and Add-ons).
  2. Choose the desired update level :
  • Update to the current stable version
  • Update to the previous minor version
  • Update to the previous major version
  1. Set a deferral period before updates are applied (e.g., 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year after release).
  2. Define an update window (e.g., every Sunday at 2am or weekdays between 1–3am) to avoid downtime during active hours.
  3. Require an automatic snapshot before performing any update, with rollback available in case of failure.

The default behavior should mirror the current state — with auto-updates disabled by default, ensuring users must explicitly opt-in and accept the associated risks. This maintains the existing control-focused ethos of Home Assistant, while offering power users and advanced deployments much-needed automation and consistency.

:shield: Benefits

  • Reduces manual maintenance burden for long-term deployments.
  • Minimizes attack surface by ensuring timely security updates.
  • Enables safer, more predictable update management for power users and businesses.
  • Reduces reliance on third-party scripts or custom automation workarounds.

:pray: Final Thoughts

Home Assistant has always stood apart for its flexibility and user respect. Adding a robust, opt-in auto-update system — especially for HAOS — would bring it in line with modern OS best practices, and ensure continued adoption in more advanced and large-scale environments.

Thank you for considering this proposal. I’d be happy to collaborate further or help test a beta implementation if this feature moves forward.

Warm regards,

Todd

A grateful Home Assistant user and Nabu Casa supporter.

2

Heck no.

The only major issues I’ve ever had were with OS updates (as opposed to core, add-on or 3rd party integration updates). There’s no way I’d recommend anyone do OS updates automatically / unattended.

4 Likes
3

No such thing.

since updates are on a 1 month basis for major versions and basically weekly for bugfix versions having more than a weekly or monthly deferral doesn’t make much sense.

And the deferral of the update past the 1 month time frame only makes the chances of a failure of your HA way more likely.

there are users who wait a few months to update only to realize that they now have a few months of potential breaking changes to deal with before their systems are fully functional again.

If they had allowed an auto update in the middle of the night then they would have woken to a broken system. it only takes once or twice for that to happen to know that it’s easier to just deal with a monthly update and that you should pick a time to update and be present when it happens.

avoiding downtime during active hours isn’t really helpful. Updating your home automation system automatically is completely different than updating your PC.

The PC typically only gets used during normal waking hours so it makes sense to update it outside of those hours.

OTOH, your home automation system is running and busy 24/7.

A failed update on your PC can be dealt with as part of your normal work day.

A failed update in the middle of the night for your home automation system means that all of the automations that were supposed to be happening at those times weren’t. And you have no idea that they aren’t happening until you wake up and try to start your day only then realizing that your HA is broken. Hopefully you have the time to fix it before you go to work. Or not.

Hopefully you can see why auto updates of your HA are different from auto updates of your PC and why it’s generally considered a bad idea.

I guess that if users really want to auto update then there should be a mechanism to do it - user choice and all. But I see the complaints about reliability increasing substantially. Even now when users have to manually update how many posts do you see in the release threads about “something broke in this update and I needed to roll back to fix it”?

If those same users had auto updated in the middle of the night those posts would then be “Aah! I woke up to my HA broken this morning and I have no idea why and I have to go to work so I don’t have time to fix it!! Stupid HA!!”.

There’s no way I would ever use an auto update for HA.

1 Like
4

Then don’t. No one is forcing it on you.

Updates installing automatically or manually won’t change the types of post-install issues you have, which is why I recommended adding delay options.

6

I’m an infrastructure engineer by trade, so there’s no need to explain patching schedules or anything else you said.

But don’t screw it up for those of us who want the option and understand the risks. I’ve been running HA for years and never experienced a bad update so I trust their update mechanisms. And now that onsite and offsite backups are built-in, if something goes wrong, it’s easy to rollback.

Like I said to the other guy, if you don’t like automated updates then don’t use them. It’s that simple.

7

I’m not screwing anything up for anybody. I have no power with HA development so what I say or think means almost nothing.

I was just stating my opinion.

I guess you missed this part of my post.