Update

An update entityAn 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] is an entity that indicates if an update is available for a device or service. This can be any update, including update of a firmware for a device like a light bulb or router, or software updates for things like add-ons or containers.

For a list of integrationsIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] offering update entities, on the integrations page, select the “Update” category.

The state of an update entity

The state of an update entityAn 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] reflects whether an update is available or not. When the state is On, it means there is an update available; when everything is up-to-date, the state is Off.

In addition, the entity can have the following states:

• Unavailable: The entity is currently unavailable.
• Unknown: The state is not yet known.

The following state attributes are exposed to provide more information on the update state:

• title: The title/name of the available software or firmware. As the device name or entity name can be changed in Home Assistant, this title will provide the actual name of the software or firmware.
• installed_version: The current version that is currently installed and in use.
• latest_version: The latest version that is available for installation.
• skipped_version: If a version update is skipped, this attribute will be set and contains the actual version that was skipped.
• release_summary: A summary of the release notes for the update available.
• release_url: A link to the full release announcement for the update available.

Device class

A device class is a measurement categorization in Home Assistant. It influences how the entity is represented in the dashboard. This can be modified in the customize section. For example, different states may be represented by different icons, colors, or text.

The following device classes are supported for update entities:

• None: A generic software update. This is the default and doesn’t need to be set.
• firmware: This update integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] provides firmwares.

Actions

The update entityAn 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] exposes two actions that can be used to install or skip an offered software update.

Action update.install

The update.install action can be used to install an offered update to the device or service.

This action is only available for an update entityAn 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] if an integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more] provides this capability. Additionally, if allowed by the integrationIntegrations connect and integrate Home Assistant with your devices, services, and more. [Learn more], the action provides for installing a specific version and even could make a backup before installing the update.

Action data attributes

Example action:

action: update.install
target:
  entity_id:
    - update.my_light_bulb

Action update.skip

The update.skip action can be used to skip an offered update to the device or service.

After skipping an offered update, the entityAn 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] will return to the off state, which means there is no update available.

action: update.skip
target:
  entity_id:
    - update.my_light_bulb

Even if an update is skipped and shows as off (meaning no update), if there is a newer version available, calling the update.install action on the entity will still install the latest version.

Action update.clear_skipped

The update.clear_skipped action can be used to remove skipped version marker of a previously skipped an offered update to the device or service.

After skipping an offered update, the entityAn 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] will return to the off state, but will not return to it until a newer version becomes available again.

Using the update.clear_skipped action, the skipped version marker can be removed and thus the entity will return to the on state and the update notification will return.

action: update.clear_skipped
target:
  entity_id:
    - update.my_light_bulb

This can be helpful to, for example, in an automation that weekly unskips all updates you have previously marked as skipped; as a reminder to update.

Example: Sending update available notifications

A common use case for using update entities is to notify you if an update has become available for installation. Using the update entities, this is fairly straightforward to do.

This is a YAML example for an automation that sends out a notification when the update for a light bulb becomes available.

automation:
  - alias: "Send notification when update available"
    triggers:
      - trigger: state
        entity_id: update.my_light_bulb
        to: "on"
    actions:
      - alias: "Send notification to my phone about the update"
        action: notify.iphone
        data:
          title: "New update available"
          message: "New update available for my_light_bulb!"