What is new Light Flashing feature?

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1

Looking at the latest Home Assistant 2026.2.3, there’s this funky light flashing section to the light.turn_off action:

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What does this do exactly? I tried it out, and the light just slowly turned off like normal. No flashing.

2

Pretty useful for people with hearing difficulties, I would think.

3

Do you have a link to the change log or docs - I am rather intrigued how this works…

I noticed it on both the turn_on and turn_off functions, but it’s not clear to me how to leverage it.

4

Can’t speak to the turn_off action, but it’s definitely been a thing with the light.turn_on action for some time (like years?).

5

Light integration docs - turn_on, that’s pre-2026.3.0… I think your light might need to support it natively Edit (mine don’t) much like the effect: (and others) data key.

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Which lights would support it? I have IKEA and Philips Hue Zigbee as well as LIFX.

7

No idea, none of mine react to it.

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I just tried flash with a Philips Hue bulb (model: “White and Color Ambience”). It flashed on/off 15 times for long and once for short.

9

The flash option has always been a bit weird. Different devices respond to it in so many different ways that it can be really frustrating to use if you’re looking for a uniform experience.

Just a few examples of lights I have…

Ecosmart Zigbee bulbs:

  • When light is either on or off:
    • Both “short” and “long” produce a single 1-second long flash then turn the light back on.

Gledopto Zigbee lightbar:

  • When light is either on or off:
    • “short” flashes once then turns the light back on.
    • “long” flashes 15 times then turns the light back on.

ESPHome basic monochromatic light:

  • When light is off:
    • “short” produces a single 1-second long flash and the light stays off.
    • “long” produces a single 10-second long flash and the light stays off.
  • When light is on:
    • No effect, light just stays on without flashing.

None of my lights seem to support flashing with the turn_off action.

10

I have also tried it with a:

Hue white and color ambiance E26/A19 1600lm

Via Zigbee2MQTT and it had no effect.
So I believe it not just the bulb that matters, its also how you are connecting to the bulb.

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11

I think you may be right because I’m using the Philips Hue integration.

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12

After more testing only with light.turn_on, I was able to get my Philips Hue lights (white ambience) flashing with Home Assistant using the ZHA integration. 1 flash for short and 15 for long.

It doesn’t matter if the lights are already on when you call the action, and you don’t need to configure any other settings.

The LIFX bulbs do not flash when turning on. I’m using the Wi-Fi 6 models (latest).

My IKEA TRÅDFRI lights also don’t flash when turning on.