🎉 "HA over iHost" Open Source Project is Officially Live — Try It Out and Join the Community!

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:tada: “HA over iHost” Open Source Project is Officially Live — Try It Out and Join the Community!

Hello Home Assistant community! :wave:

We’re excited to introduce a new experimental open source project — HA over iHost — an adaptation of Home Assistant Operating System for the SONOFF iHost (RV1109 / RV1126 platform). The project is now officially available. We encourage you to try it, share your thoughts, and participate in its development.

:pushpin: About iHost & Project Background

iHost is a locally focused smart home gateway designed specifically for home automation. It comes equipped with Zigbee, Matter, Wi-Fi, BLE, Ethernet, microphone, and speaker hardware resources, aiming to deliver a stable, flexible, and reliable local smart home solution.

To better meet user needs and expand ecosystem possibilities, we launched the iHost Open Source Project. The goal is to open up the uboot, kernel, and operating system, creating a truly open hardware platform that allows users to freely install any Linux-based system — similar to the experience offered by the Raspberry Pi.

As the first milestone of this initiative, we have released the “HA over iHost” experimental project, which successfully brings the Home Assistant Operating System to iHost, offering users a new way to run HA on local hardware.

:rocket: Why Did We Build HA over iHost?

HA over iHost was not created in a vacuum — it was born from real community needs and user-driven technical exploration .

We’ve seen iHost users deploying HA Core in Docker on the native iHost system to leverage its hardware capabilities alongside Home Assistant. Some advanced users went even further — compiling and modifying the system to run a fully functional Home Assistant Operating System directly on iHost hardware.

We especially thank a GitHub contributor whose early exploration helped inspire this project:
:point_right: This project is a derivative development based on Darkxst’s ha-operating-system project on GitHub. We sincerely appreciate the original author for his foundational contributions.

These community-driven initiatives clearly demonstrate: running Home Assistant on iHost is not only in demand — it’s technically feasible.

So we’ve taken the next step to standardize, open source, and productize the solution — bringing you a maintainable, deeply integrated HA over iHost platform .

:star2: Why Choose iHost?

iHost is more than just a device capable of running Home Assistant — it’s a deeply optimized edge hub designed for local smart home ecosystems. It offers superior cost-performance, connectivity options, and out-of-the-box usability compared to similar products.

:moneybag: 1. Balanced Performance, Affordable Price

  • RV1109 dual-core version (DDR4 2GB): $71.90
  • RV1126 quad-core version (DDR4 4GB): $89.90

:art: 2. Consumer-Grade Industrial Design

  • 5 buttons, 1 RGB light strip
  • Ready for home use

iHost-1000px_02
iHost-1000px_021000Ă—1355 71.1 KB

:package: 3. Plug-and-Play

  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Ethernet Port
    Provides a stable network connection, ideal for local automation scenarios.
  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Zigbee MG21 Chip
    Natively supports ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT without requiring an external dongle, making deployment more convenient.
  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Matter Certificate (CSA Certified)
    iHost comes with an official Matter device certificate issued by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) .
    When used as a Matter Bridge, it is securely recognized and reliably connected by Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa , and other major platforms — providing platform-level trust and a smoother user experience.
  • :white_check_mark: Built-in Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Support
    Powered by the RTL8723DS module , enabling both wireless networking and Bluetooth functionality for more flexible deployments.
  • :white_check_mark: Integrated Speaker and Microphone
    Audio input and output capabilities are built in at the hardware level for future use.

:jigsaw: 4. Companion add-ons

  • Now available:

    • iHost Hardware Control Add-on
      Control physical buttons, RGB indicators, and light strips directly from Home Assistant.
      Map hardware inputs to automations for seamless interaction between physical and virtual environments.

  • Coming soon:

    • MG21 Flashing Add-on : Upgrade MG21 firmware, with optional support for flashing either Zigbee or Thread stacks.
    • Matter Bridge Add-on : Bridge local devices to the Matter ecosystem for cross-platform integration.
    • eWeLink Smart Home Add-on : Connect to the eWeLink cloud to expand device compatibility and control.

We’re not just making iHost capable of running Home Assistant — our goal is to make it a powerful, hardware-integrated edge platform with deep ecosystem compatibility and a smooth user experience, built for smart home enthusiasts with real needs.

:sparkles: How to Get Started?

We currently provide a method for installing the Home Assistant Operating System via TF card , allowing users to switch freely between the original iHost eWeLink CUBE system and Home Assistant .
:point_right: For detailed steps, please refer to the Quick Installation Guide.

We’re also evaluating more convenient startup methods in the future — aiming for a true out-of-the-box experience without requiring a TF card .

Feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments — we’ll actively respond to every message. Developers are also welcome to contribute via PRs or Issues on GitHub.

Thank you for supporting the HA over iHost project.
We believe that, with the help of the community, we can build a smarter, more open, and truly local smart home platform — together.

:warning: Disclaimer

Thank you for your interest in and use of the HA over iHost project! To help users better understand the scope and risks of using this project, we hereby provide the following statement:

:pushpin: 1. Risk Notice

HA over iHost is an open-source experimental project that involves low-level system flashing and switching.
We provide official installation procedures and verified system images, designed with consideration for data isolation and system compatibility .

:warning: Please note:
If you choose to perform system flashing using non-recommended methods — including but not limited to using unofficial images, modifying partition layouts, or replacing the bootloader — you may encounter the following risks:

  • Failure to boot the original iHost system
  • Malfunction or loss of the system switching mechanism
  • Irreversible data loss or corruption

Please carefully read the documentation, review all prerequisites, and back up your data before proceeding. If you are unsure about any step, we strongly recommend consulting the community before continuing.

:hammer_and_wrench: 2. Community-Driven Maintenance

This project is developed and maintained by the open-source community . It is still under active development and may contain instability or limitations.

If you encounter issues or discover bugs, please submit a GitHub Issue or refer to the documentation.
While official technical support is not provided , assistance may be available from other community members based on voluntary contributions.

:wrench: 3. Modification & Redistribution

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License .
You are free to use, modify, and redistribute the project code under the following conditions:

  • You must retain all original copyright and license notices
  • You must clearly indicate the source of the project
  • You must not violate any terms of the Apache-2.0 License

:balance_scale: 4. Limitation of Liability

This project is provided “as is” , without any express or implied warranties — including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

We shall not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages resulting from the use, modification, or deployment of this project.

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Awesome! I can’t wait to use the Matter Server on Home Assistant from iHost, so I’ll be able to migrate completely to iHost.

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@VCTGomes
Thank you for your feedback!

Due to the current 32-bit architecture of the iHost hardware platform, the Home Assistant Matter Server Add-on cannot run on iHost at this time. We’ve received similar requests from other users, and our internal team is actively evaluating potential solutions.

In parallel, we’re planning a hardware upgrade for iHost in the second half of this year, which will include switching to a 64-bit platform, adding support for 5GHz Wi-Fi, expanding eMMC storage, and more. If you have additional suggestions for hardware improvements, we’d love to hear them!

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Why even release a 32-bit device in 2025?

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The ihost device mentioned was released early 2023 and the use of the 32bit (rockchip?) architecture was probably to keep the production costs low as possible :bulb:

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@orange-assistant @StSaens Thank you very much for your interest. As @LonelystartO has mentioned, we are going to do a hardware upgrade for iHost this year, and the iHost Open Source Project will include both.

Home Assistant will be tier one platform in iHost’s support list. We will also support other smart home platforms like ioBroker, openHAB, etc.

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A new version of iHost Hardware Control Add-On has been released.

iHost Hardware Control Add-On now supports:

  • Single click event for 5 iHost buttons (Power, Paring, Mute, Security and Reset).
  • On, Off, Rapid Flashing, Double Flashing for 4 iHost button LED indicators (Power, Paring, Mute, Security).
  • On, Off, Solid Blue, Rapid Flashing Blue, Double Flashing Blue, Double Flashing Blue then Revert, Breathing Blue, Marquee Red and other 16 light effects for iHost Side Strip.
  • Automatically turn off LED indicators when Home Assistant is powered off.
  • Support “Home Assistant is started” as Automation triggers so that users can set whatever indicator light effect when Home Assistant is started.

Combining HA’s Automation and iHost’s buttons and LED indicators, there could be many interesting use cases, for example:

  • Display different colors on side strip according to the outdoor temperature
  • Display solid yellow color on side strip if there is an event happened.
  • Turn off all lights with a single click on iHost Power button.
  • Turn on Zigbee2MQTT bridge Permit join with a single click on iHost Paring button.
  • AND a lot more…
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SONOFF Dongle Flasher For iHost Add-on has just been released. Users can use SONOFF Dongle Flasher For iHost to flash MG21 firmware onto the buildin MG21 SoC on iHost. Currently supported firmwares are Zigbee Coordinator Version 7.4.x which work well with Zigbee2MQTT ember driver.

To migrate other Zigbee2MQTT instance to iHost (running Home Assistant), please refer to How do I move my Zigbee2MQTT instance to a different environment?

Note: the buildin MG21 SoC is located at /dev/ttyS4.

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Hi,

Any comments on the deprecation plans being discussed for armv7 architecture?

These changes would basically make running of HA in a container or with these images of HAOS not supported.

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Thank you very much for your interest.

Yes, HA is discussing to drop support for “armv7” architecture. Here is what I think (just me, not the whole iHost Open Source Project team):

  • It is a discussion, not an offical plan,
  • Frenck initially talked about dropping support for i386 and armhf, not armv7, he added armv7 later,
  • The sunset for supporting those mentioned archtectures are more than 6 months,
  • The more people using HA on iHost and other armv7 SBC, the more chance HA will continue the support,
  • We will provide support for HA over iHost if our users really like it even if HA doesn’t provide the support.

Additional two notes:

  • SONOFF is developing a new iHost model using 64 bit SoC, and is planning to release it within this year. The iHost Open Source Project will also support this new model.
  • iHost Open Source Project will not only support HA over iHost, but also ioBroker, openHAB, Domoticz, etc. over iHost.
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Hello, I have an ihost on which I have ha 12rc1 darkhost which works well but is not stable forced restart every 3 days. I try to install 15.2 no response after an hour… no recovery of the ihost os red light… I am a little lost I managed to install more than 100 devices and 8 live cameras is there a link?

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Hi @RuffusMaximus , thank you very much for trying out.

To run HA over iHost image from iHost Open Source Project, you need to first upgrade the buildin eWeLink CUBE OS on iHost to version 2.5.1. To upgrade eWeLink CUBE OS, you need iHost to boot into eWeLink CUBE OS, so you shouldn’t short contacts on internal MaskROM button which always boots a specific format OS on TF card. When you have eWeLink CUBE OS running on iHost, wait for a few minutes, iHost will automatically download latest eWeLink CUBE OS version, and you can see the upgrade link in the Settings page.

After you have latest eWeLink CUBE OS running, you can then follow the instruction on GitHub - iHost-Open-Source-Project/ha-operating-system

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My ihost is up to date and I installed on an sd the 12 rc1 of darkxst which works well except the fact that it crashes after 4 days that’s why I tried the method described for the 15.2 on an sd but it doesn’t install… After an hour still no interface HA? And unfortunately I don’t know how to go back to the basic interface of iHost?

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Hi! @RuffusMaximus
If you’d like to switch back to the original iHost system (eWeLink CUBE), please follow the instructions here:
:point_right: GitHub - iHost-Open-Source-Project/ha-operating-system

Regarding your issue with installing Home Assistant OS 15.2 from an SD card, here are some steps you can use to troubleshoot:

  1. Check the LED indicator on your iHost
    A normal blue breathing light pattern means HA OS is running.
    :point_right: See LED reference

  2. Check if HA OS got an IP address
    Use your router’s admin page to see if a new IP was assigned to your iHost.

  3. Check if HA Supervisor has started
    Visit http://<iHost IP>:4357 in your browser to view system status.

  4. Check if the Home Assistant web interface is running
    Visit http://<iHost IP>:8123 to see if the HA setup page appears.

Just a reminder: your iHost can only run one system at a time — either eWeLink CUBE OS or Home Assistant OS, not both at once.

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Project Update: Node-RED Now Works on 32-bit iHost

We’re aware that some Home Assistant add-ons don’t work properly on iHost, because the system runs on a 32-bit architecture. Many official add-ons are built for 64-bit only, and fail to install or run.

We’re actively working on this. To help, we’re building 32-bit versions of several commonly used add-ons, so they can run smoothly on HA over iHost.

We’ve started with Node-RED, which is now available in our add-on repository and confirmed to work on iHost.

:point_right: Add-on repository: GitHub - iHost-Open-Source-Project/hassio-ihost-addon: This repository contains a set of Home Assistant add-ons developed specifically for SONOFF iHost.

More add-ons will be supported soon based on what users need most. Feel free to share requests or issues — we’re committed to improving compatibility step by step.

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Want to know how to make the best of LEDs on iHost? SONOFF just published a tutorial that gives many useful examples. Here is the link: Defining Button & Light Feature in iHost Hardware Control Add-on.

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Hi everyone, we have just provided another option to run HA over iHost: Linux with Docker Engine over iHost.

You can follow the instruction for HA over iHost except downloading linux image (ihost-linux-distro-xxx.img.xz) from Releases · iHost-Open-Source-Project/operating-system · GitHub instead of Releases · iHost-Open-Source-Project/ha-operating-system · GitHub

The default Linux OS we provide includes docker engine, so you can install Home Assistant Core using docker command.

Please let us know whether it works for you or what do you think about it.

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New Release: Matter Bridge Add-on for iHost

We’re excited to share that the HA over iHost project now supports the Matter Bridge Add-on.

This add-on exposes Home Assistant devices as Matter-compatible devices, allowing integration with platforms like Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa.

It is based on the official iHost Matter Bridge and is Matter-certified for compatibility and stability.

Supported device types:

  • Switch
  • Plug
  • Light
  • Sensor
  • Curtain
  • Thermostat

Get started here.

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New Release: ESPHome Device Builder for iHost

We’ve completed a 32-bit adaptation of the ESPHome Device Builder add-on for use with HA over iHost.

Since upstream ESPHome no longer provides 32-bit builds, we have created and published a compatible image to support ESPHome development on iHost devices.

You can find it here:
:link: ESPHome Device Builder Add-on (32-bit build)

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I read that SONOFF is planning to release a new 64-bit iHost later this year — if we’ll be able to backup from the current 32-bit iHost and restore it on the new 64-bit version?

Also kinda worried… once the new hardware comes out, will they still support HA over iHost on the current 32-bit models, or will it be phased out?