Home Assistant can now see when you use the physical remote, and it changes everything

Home Assistant 2026.6 introduces IR receiver event entities, enabling the platform to detect commands sent by physical infrared remotes. Previously, Home Assistant could only send IR commands but had no feedback loop when a physical remote was used. Now, supported integrations like ESPHome and LG can expose detected IR commands as event entities, which can trigger automations. This means spare remotes can be reprogrammed as Home Assistant scene controllers, and dumb IR-controlled devices can indirectly interact with the smart home network. The update also supports e-waste reduction by extending the useful life of older hardware. Limitations remain: IR still requires line-of-sight and received commands are events rather than full state feedback.