WTF is it with all the ESPHome device updates every single time HA updates?

ESPHome
21

Well pardon me for getting that wrong…I don’t keep track on paper but in my muddled mind I would swear that it feels like that!

Oh, thats not so comforting to know…I’ll be getting rid of the remaining 8 indispensible devices I still have before that happens! Thanks for the headsup.

ESPHome has been a great learning experience but my needs have changed and I can do without all the extra work that comes with it’s maintenance thanks! In most cases these days I have gone for Matter devices and fallen back to my trusty PLC’s which seem like they will outlive me with almost zero upkeep!

1 Like
22

I don’t see what the big deal is about.

I update about 2 to 3 times per year. I almost never run into any issues.

There is absolutely no reason to update ESPHome just because there is a HA update. The two aren’t linked. At least not ever once that I’ve run into.

1 Like
24

I agree with the frustration.

If you want critical security updates and bugfixes you need to do updates (that’s fine). But you only know if there are critical updates if you go through the change notice in great detail every release, which is a real pain in the arse if you have a lot of devices of different types/modules/subcomponents.

So it pushes people that don’t want to micromanage change logs to either always update, or update on a time based period and hope there wasn’t something critical they missed.

Seems sub-optimal. Not the end of the world or anything, but not a great end user experience in my opinion. Your opinion may differ, and that’s cool too (not trying to argue/start a war).

2 Likes
25

So a core update section and a component update section in the release notes could help?

That is a change I could see the benefit of.

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26

Unless you are tongue in cheek, I would have though that having a yaml file you can easily download to a new hardware board and completely replace identical functionality is a very powerful feature.

Even with a possible daily update, how many decades do you think it will take to exhaust the rated flash write capabilities of modern SOCs? I suspect you have been misinformed by unnecessary alarmists. Even your ‘trusty PLCs’ have to store their settings somewhere.

27

There is no requirement to do so, so I am not annoyed by it. I do see there are both too many (that I could care less about) and not soon enough (for the things I want) releases.

I understand your concern and generally agree with it. As one user you only care about the things that you care about and don’t care about the things you are using. The problem is that every user cares about different things and some user probably cares about ever single thing. Since the release has to serve the needs of all users, or distribution would be a nightmare, who’s needs should be prioritized?

When I look at the number of dot release, it seems that it is likely impossible to do enough testing to catch every problem that occurs.

For home automation stuff I feel no need to update to each release and am glad that this project has active development so I don’t have to do it (most of the development) myself. If this isn’t working for you, I am not sure there is a better platform for you. If you do find one be sure to let us know. (I use Tasmota for many devices and I really like it for esp8266 devices. I don’t like its development environment, so started using esphome for some custom sensors with esp32.)

2 Likes
28

I may have something to ease the pain a bit. Updates are not automatic, but I guess could implement this in a next release.
ESPHome Update Manager

EDIT: auto-update implemented now.

4 Likes
29

Neel I totally agree with all your comments :grinning:

Like Steve, I dislike seeing the update notices, so initially did every update as it came out.
Following comments in other threads I now leave the .0 releases each month - of HA and ESPHome - and often the point releases. Currently if there is nothing I need, I do HA updates at the end of the month so I don’t get too far behind.

I do read the release notes … but still find it difficult to understand the cryptic descriptions to know which changes will actually affect me. OTOH I don’t want to read long technical notes - so I’ll take this trade-off.

Steve, it sounds as though you expect someone else to decide what is important for your situation. Sorry, only you know what is important to you.

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30

I took a quick look at the repo and it’s exactly what I need! :grinning:

Please drop a note here once you’ve got everything up and running. :pray:

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31

Great to hear you found what you were looking for! The integration is officially ready to use. You can add it via HACS (Custom Repositories) or clone it from GitHub. I ran tests to remove as many bugs as possible, but if you find any, please open an issue on GitHub or in the EPSHome-Update-Manager topic. Enjoy!

1 Like
32

I’ve just installed it and will try it on two ESPHome devices. What exactly will this do on my devices?

binary_sensor:
  - platform: status
    name: "Status"
33

it will add a sensor called “status” and checks if your device is connected or disconnected, this sensor is then used by the integration to check if the device is online or offline. not required, but convenient.

1 Like
34

Thanks! Claude is down at the moment so I’ve got some free time to try it out! :smiley:

1 Like
35

Btw, I think ESPHome already has a similar sensor used for the offline/online indicators in the ESPHome Builder.

Monsieur Claude is live now…

36

So what happens when there is a breaking change to the ESPHome code?

Does that manager handle that scenario?

I don’t think there’s ever anything related to HA that I would ever want to automatically update. Way too much chance of something going wrong and leaving you with a disabled system that you won’t know about until you have no time at all to fix it.

But that’s just me (and many other experienced users besides).

5 Likes
37

Just stick to the 2 golden rules of any software/firmware:

  • Never activate auto-update.
  • Don’t jump on latest firmware immediately after release .

Because it’s nice to be on the leading edge, but not on the bleeding edge.

I couldn’t agree more :+1:

3 Likes
38

Here is a little automation that keeps me sane. It auto updates all ESP devices after ESPHome updates. You can copy/paste it as is. I stole the core logic from another post a while back, but modified it slightly.

alias: Auto-update ESPHome Devices
description: ""
triggers:
  - entity_id:
      - update.esphome_update
    to: "off"
    trigger: state
    id: ESPHOME_UPDATE
conditions: []
actions:
  - if:
      - condition: trigger
        id:
          - ESPHOME_UPDATE
    then:
      - delay:
          hours: 0
          minutes: 5
          seconds: 0
          milliseconds: 0
  - alias: Update all ESPHome devices in sequence
    repeat:
      for_each: >-
        {{ states.update | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'on') |
        map(attribute='entity_id') | select('in',
        integration_entities('esphome')) | list }}
      sequence:
        - target:
            entity_id: "{{ repeat.item }}"
          action: update.install
          continue_on_error: true
        - wait_template: "{{ is_state(repeat.item, 'off') }}"
          enabled: false
mode: single
39

@finity if there is a compile error in the code because of breaking changes in the update, the update manager will mark this as a fail and stop updating this device.
@Tamsy I agree it’s always risky to jump straightaway on the latest firmware update, I don’t do this either and that’s why the auto update function wasn’t provided in the early versions of the integration, but some do like to update immediately and that’s why I added this option (you don’t have to turn it on if you don’t want to), and then there are those who like to wait a bit before updating, that’s why I added a service for use with an automation so you can still benefit of auto updating but at your terms (any condition, all/some devices, etc…).

The update manager can be used in many different ways and by all types of people :slight_smile:

40

There are breaking changes that still compile just fine but leaves you with nothing working.
I have had that happen a lot of times.
Hence why I never update any ESP devices.
It’s working as it is, no need risk any changes.

1 Like
41

In that case, the update will continue and break your device.
I have 20+ devices and always update all of them at one point in time, except one wich is no longer compatible with the latest esphome version since 2026, the rest is always updating without issues for many years now.
But I agree, it’s always better to not update when it’s not needed, unless you like to find out why things break and try to fix it like me :slight_smile:

On the other hand, a newer version can add helpful features like e.g. ESP32 OTA rollback support since 2026.1.0; When enabled (the default), the bootloader will automatically roll back to the previous firmware if the device crashes or resets before the boot is marked as successful. So sometimes updates can be beneficial even when everything is working fine.