Home Assistant For SONOFF iHost
- A SONOFF iHost is required.
- Ensure your iHost system version is 2.5.1 or later.
- An (Application Class 2) (A2) card, with a minimum capacity of 32GB, is recommended for better performance, especially on small read&write operations.
- As iHost is based on a 32-bit processor, some Home Assistant features may not be compatible.
- An (Application Class 2) (A2) card, with a minimum capacity of 32GB, is recommended for better performance, especially on small read&write operations. We would suggest using a TF card from SanDisk, Kingston, or Samsung. We have been internally using these brand cards for testing.
- An SD card reader: any standard USB card reader will work if your laptop doesn't have a built-in SD card reader.
- Micro SD card flash tool: Balena Etcher or Raspberry Pi Imager, etc.
- Visit the GitHub project for the HA over iHost corresponding image: iHost-Open-Source-Project.Only the HA over iHost image downloaded from this project is supported.
For a faster and more reliable first-time setup—especially in environments without internet access—we recommend using the CoreBox image.
It comes with the full Home Assistant Core (2025.05.03) pre-installed, allowing Home Assistant to boot in under 3 minutes.
Learn more in the CoreBox section.
Using Balena Etcher or Raspberry Pi Imager to flash the image is highly recommended.
- Insert the Micro SD card into the card reader and connect it to your computer.
- Download and run Etcher.
- Click Flash from file, then select the HA over iHost image file downloaded on your computer.
- Click Select target, then choose the Micro SD card you inserted. *Note: Please ensure you select the right drive!
- Click Flash! to start flashing the HA over iHost image onto the Micro SD card. *Note: Do not remove or use the SD card during the flashing process.
- Insert the SD card into the card reader and connect it to your computer.
- Download and run Raspberry Pi Imager.
- Click CHOOSE DEVICE > No filtering.
- Click CHOOSE OS > Use custom, then select the HA over iHost image file downloaded on your computer.
- Click CHOOSE STORAGE, then choose the Micro SD card you inserted. *Note: Please ensure you select the right Micro SD card!
- Click NEXT > NO, CLEAR SETTINGS, and confirm to erase all settings on the SD card.
- Start flashing the HA over iHost image onto the inserted SD card. *Note: Do not interact with the SD card (e.g., unplugging or modifying files) during the flashing process.
If Zigbee device migration is not needed, skip to the next section.
iHost allows you to export and migrate iHost's Zigbee device data to Home Assistant by downloading the backup file available to restore in Home Assistant integrated with ZHA/Zigbee2MQTT. Only the Zigbee network and device status are migrated. Timers, groups, scenes, and device names are not included. How to restore?
- Insert the pre-flashed Micro SD card into the iHost SD Card slot.
- Connect iHost to a network cable and power it on.
- Within 5 seconds after powering on, quickly and repeatedly press the Mute button (♪) on the top of the iHost until the LED Side Strip enters a BLUE breathing light pattern. This indicates that the system is switching to the Home Assistant OS flashed onto the SD card.
- If the LED indicator shows a BLUE breathing light pattern, you can access your new Home Assistant web interface within the next 10 minutes. The first boot may take longer. On a desktop browser, enter homeassistant.local:8123.
*Note:
- *If you are running an older version of Windows or have stricter network configurations, you may need to access Home Assistant using one of the following URLs: http://homeassistant:8123 or http://X.X.X.X:8123 (replace X.X.X.X with the IP address of your iHost)
- Visit the Supervisor interface (http://<HA_IP or HA_DOMAIN>:4357), a diagnostic tool, to check if the Supervisor has initialized properly during the booting process. It may take some time to download the required image. Once the Supervisor starts, Home Assistant Core will continue to boot. The system is usually accessible within about 1 minute under normal conditions, based on the test results.
- If you still failed to access the Home Assistant interface after a long wait, try pinging the iHost's IP address to check network connectivity.
- To avoid unexpected shutdowns or booting issues, do not unplug the power directly. If iHost fails to boot properly, try to press and hold the top power button for 10 seconds to force shutdown, then press it once to reboot.
- If the LED Side Strip does not show a BLUE breathing light pattern but a RED breathing light pattern after powering on for 5 seconds or after pressing the button multiple times, the boot has failed. Try re-booting the Home Assistant Operating System as follows:
- Power cycle iHost.
- No button press is needed.
- iHost retries to boot Home Assistant Operating System from the SD card.
- If you cannot access Home Assistant web interface within 10 minutes after the operations above, it may be due to an incorrectly flashed image. Try re-flashing the SD card or using a new one.
- To switch back to eWeLink CUBE, follow these steps:
- Power cycle iHost.
- Repeatedly single-press the mute button (♪) within 3 seconds.
- The LED Side Strip will switch to a RED flowing light pattern, confirming the system has switched back to eWeLink CUBE.
- If multiple devices are running Home Assistant Operating System on your network, the hostname [homeassistant.local] may not resolve correctly. You can discover the correct IP address via your router's management interface or by broadcasting mDNS service [_home-assistant._tcp.].
- If the last boot was from the SD Card, and the card is removed without switching back to eWeLink CUBE, the LED Side Strip will show a RED breathing light pattern, indicating Home Assistant Operating System has failed to boot on iHost.
CoreBox is a new HA over iHost image designed for rapid setup, featuring the latest HA Core version (2025.05.03) pre-intergrated.
With CoreBox, you no longer need to wait during initial installation for the device to download HA Core from GitHub. Instead, you can directly boot from the built-in HA Core version, achieving startup within 3 minutes or even faster. CoreBox removes reliance on internet connectivity, allowing easy setup even in offline environments. You can still update to newer HA Core versions from within the system once it’s running.
We’ve been listening closely to your feedback. Many users reported that the original installation process of HA over iHost often failed due to poor or unstable internet, especially during the initial HA Core download. This not only caused frustration but also discouraged many first-time users from continuing.
Even with our online support, troubleshooting network issues and walking through the installation process often took longer than expected — for both users and our team.
So we built CoreBox — a solution designed from the user’s perspective.
With CoreBox, you get:
- A quick and reliable setup experience
- No more delays or failed installations due to network issues
- Confidence that your Home Assistant will run smoothly — anytime, anywhere
Yes! Once HA boots up with the built-in version (2025.5.3), Home Assistant will detect if a newer version is available. You can update HA Core as usual from the Settings > System > Updates page — just like a normal installation.
Once Home Assistant Operating System is successfully running on iHost, you can use the following supported onboard hardwares:
The iHost Hardware Control add-on enables control of iHost's buttons and LED indicators in Home Assistant. It registers them as devices and separate entities, allowing users to use them in automations for more flexible hardware interactions(e.g., triggering the power button entity to power off iHost). For details, refer to the iHost Hardware Control add-on guide.
- Chipset Model: RTL8723DS
- Path: Settings > Devices & Services > Integrations > Bluetooth
- Discovery: Automatic
- Chipset Model: RTL8723DS
- Path: Settings > System > Network > Configure Network Interfaces > WLAN0
- Discovery: Automatic
- Chipset Model: EFR32MG21A020F768IM32-B（RAM 64kB,Flash 768kB）
- Path: Settings > System > Hardware > All Hardware > /dev/ttyS4
- Discovery: Via Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA) or Zigbee2MQTT
- iHost Hardware Control
- SONOFF Dongle Flasher For iHost
- Matter Bridge for iHost
- Node-RED
- ESPHome Device Builder
- eWeLink-Remote
- Matter Server
- OpenThread Border Router
- Silicon Labs Multiprotocol
This project is a derivative development based on Darkxst's [ha-operating-system] project from GitHub. We sincerely appreciate the original author for his foundational contributions.
