2026.10.4
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Common tasks for every Home Assistant

This section provides tasks that do not depend on a specific Home Assistant installation type or a specific integration. They may be referenced in other procedures.

Backups

To create, store, download, or restore a backup, refer to Backups.

Enabling or disabling entities

Some entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] are disabled by default. When you add a device, many integrations disable some of its less-used entities, such as signal strength.

To enable or disable entities, one at a time or several at once, refer to Disabling or enabling an entity.

Defining a custom polling interval

What is data polling?

Data polling is the process of querying a device or service at regular intervals to check for updates or retrieve data. By defining a custom polling interval, you can control how frequently your system checks for new data, which can help optimize performance and reduce unnecessary network traffic.

Why use an automation instead of changing the integration’s polling configuration?

Creating an automation for polling gives you more flexibility on when to poll:

  • Not all integrations have a configurable polling interval. The Update entity action works with most integrations.
  • An automation allows you to poll whenever you want. For example, if you have a rate-limited solar panel provider with a maximum number of requests per day, you may want to poll less often or stop polling at night, and poll more often during the day.

To define a custom polling interval

If you want to define a specific interval at which your device is being polled for data, you can disable the default polling interval and create your own polling automation.

To turn off the default polling and create your own polling automation, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Settings > Devices & services, and select your integration.
  2. On the integration entry, select the three dots menu, and then select System options.
  3. Turn off Enable polling for changes, and then select Update.
    • If Home Assistant asks you to restart, restart it.
  4. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, and select Create automation > Create new automation.
  5. Add the triggers and conditions for when you want to poll for data.
  6. Select Add action, select By type, select Perform action, and then select + next to Perform action.
  7. Under Action, search for and select the Update entity action.
  8. Under Entities to update, select the entities you want to poll.
    • You can only select entities. Areas, devices, and labels aren’t supported.
  9. Select Save.

Many integrations update their data at most once every 10 seconds. If you poll more often, Home Assistant waits until the 10 seconds have passed before it updates the data again.

Removing an integration instance

If you no longer want to use a device or service in Home Assistant, you can remove its integration instance, including all its devices and entities.

The following steps work for most integrations. Some integrations need more steps, such as resetting the device or deleting credentials. For these steps, refer to the documentation of the integration.

To remove an integration instance from Home Assistant

  1. Go to Settings > Devices & services and select the integration card.
  2. Next to the entry you want to remove, select the three dots menu. Then, select Delete.
    • Depending on the integration, the entries are listed under one of the following headings:
      • Devices
      • Hubs
      • Services
      • Integration entries
  3. To confirm, select Delete.
    • Home Assistant also deletes the devices and entities of the entry.
  4. If Home Assistant asks you to restart, restart Home Assistant.
  5. If Home Assistant asks whether to also delete the application credentials, select Remove or Keep.