The topic Home Assistant OS 18.0 is out, and it’ll stop devouring your RAM on low-end… is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
It’s no secret that we love Home Assistant here at XDA. We’ve been tinkering with it (and its new AI tool) for a while now, and there’s no sign of us stopping. One of our favorite uses for Home Assistant is putting it on a low-end system like a Raspberry Pi and performing smart home actions with it.
Unfortunately, Home Assistant OS doesn’t work so great on systems without a lot of RAM; that is, until now. A new update for the OS has added a new setting that better respects a low amount of RAM on your system.
As spotted by Linuxiac, Home Assistant OS 18.0 has finally been released. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the Home Assistant app getting an update; it’s the OS that keeps everything working. As such, you won’t see this update appear for your regular Home Assistant app.
One of the more exciting changes in Home Assistant OS 18.0 is a change in the default RAM swap size. The OS should now run a lot better on devices with 2GB of RAM or less, and will also take up less needless space on computers with over 12GB of RAM:
The default swap file size was previously set to 33% of the system RAM, which produced a swap file too small to be useful on low-RAM systems and an unnecessarily large one on systems with plenty of RAM. The default size is now clamped between 1 and 4 GB:
That’s not all, though. The update also brings the Linux kernel from version 6.12 to 6.18, and flashing new images has gotten a lot faster. If you want to check out the changelog and download it yourself, head over to the project’s GitHub page.
With the right apps and integrations, Home Assistant is an absolute powerhouse for tinkering enthusiasts