2024.2: Finish sections

source/_posts/2024-02-07-release-20242.markdown

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 ---
 layout: post
-title: "2024.2: Beta release notes"
-description: "The beta release notes for Home Assistant 2024.2"
-date: 2024-01-31 00:00:00
+title: "2024.2: More voice, more icons, more integrations, more... everything!"
+description: "Improved drag 'n drop in automations, proximity, custom Assist responses, export your data, ZHA firmware updates, Matter diagnostics and actions, icons everywhere, and more!"
+date: 2024-02-07 00:00:00
 date_formatted: "Febuary 7, 2024"
 author: Franck Nijhof
 author_twitter: frenck
@@ -15,49 +15,46 @@ og_image: /images/blog/2024-02/social.png
 
 <a href='/integrations/#version/2024.2'><img src='/images/blog/2024-02/social.png' style='border: 0;box-shadow: none;'></a>
 
-<!-- BELOW NEEDS TO BE REMOVED BEFORE THE RELEASE -->
+Home Assistant Core 2024.2! 🥰
 
-These are the beta release notes for Home Assistant Core 2024.2 (and is thus a
-work in progress).
+Undoubtedly, you've heard about last year's ["The Year of the Voice"](/blog/2022/12/20/year-of-voice/).
+2023 might be over, but we are definitely not done with voice yet! This release
+contains some very cool new features for voice.
 
-If you encounter any issues with the beta release, please report them on GitHub:
+Not just that, we've also launched a [voice assistant contest] that you could
+join, and I'm happy to inform you that we will have another voice-related
+[live stream on 21 February 2024, at 12:00 PST / 21:00 CET: Chapter 6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQIv3nsu7dE)!
 
-- Issues with integrations, automations and such (Core related):<br>
-  <https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues>
-- Issues with the frontend/UI/dashboards:<br>
-  <https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/issues>
-- Issues with the documentation:<br>
-  <https://github.com/home-assistant/home-assistant.io/issues>
+But there is more in this release besides voice! Drag 'n drop magic for our
+automation editor, you can now update Zigbee devices directly
+from Home Assistant. We have icons in more places 🤩, and quite a lot of
+new functionality for Matter devices.
 
-Please be sure to include the beta version you are running in the issue
-version field (not title), so we can classify your issue correctly.
+In general, contributions to our open-source project have been amazing this
+month. I've never seen so many contributed bug fixes, improvements, and new
+features in a single release. Like... 19 new integrations! This is,
+without a doubt, the largest release we've ever put out.
+A big shout-out to everyone who helped! ❤️
 
-Issues introduced in the beta are processed with priority.
-
----
-
-<!-- ABOVE NEEDS TO BE REMOVED BEFORE THE RELEASE -->
-
-Home Assistant Core 2024.2! 🎉
-
-Thanks for helping out testing the beta! ❤️
-
-Enjoy the (beta) release!
+Enjoy the release!
 
 ../Frenck
 
+_Oh! And don't forget Valentine's Day is coming up!_ 😘
+
 <!--more-->
 
-- [Improved drag \& drop support for automations](#improved-drag--drop-support-for-automations)
-- [Download data from the history dashboard](#download-data-from-the-history-dashboard)
-- [Shipping on a new Python version](#shipping-on-a-new-python-version)
-- [Update entities for ZHA devices](#update-entities-for-zha-devices)
-- [Matter diagnostics and actions](#matter-diagnostics-and-actions)
+- [Better drag \& drop support for automations](#better-drag--drop-support-for-automations)
+- [Export data from the history dashboard](#export-data-from-the-history-dashboard)
+- [Improved error responses when using Assist](#improved-error-responses-when-using-assist)
+- [Custom Assist responses in automations using the sentence trigger](#custom-assist-responses-in-automations-using-the-sentence-trigger)
 - [All known assist devices](#all-known-assist-devices)
-- [Better errors when using Assist](#better-errors-when-using-assist)
-- [Custom response in the automation editor when using a sentence trigger](#custom-response-in-the-automation-editor-when-using-a-sentence-trigger)
+- [Updating your Zigbee devices](#updating-your-zigbee-devices)
+- [Matter diagnostics and actions](#matter-diagnostics-and-actions)
 - [Icons everywhere](#icons-everywhere)
-- [Integration authentication issues are now shown in the repairs dashboards](#integration-authentication-issues-are-now-shown-in-the-repairs-dashboards)
+- [Integrations with authentication issues are now shown in the repairs dashboards](#integrations-with-authentication-issues-are-now-shown-in-the-repairs-dashboards)
+- [Revamped Proximity integration](#revamped-proximity-integration)
+- [Shipping on a new Python version](#shipping-on-a-new-python-version)
 - [Other noteworthy changes](#other-noteworthy-changes)
 - [New integrations](#new-integrations)
 - [Integrations now available to set up from the UI](#integrations-now-available-to-set-up-from-the-ui)
@@ -71,47 +68,96 @@ Don't forget to [join our release party live stream on YouTube](https://www.yout
 
 <lite-youtube videoid="8-YwXkgD3CY" videotitle="Home Assistant 2024.2 Release Party"></lite-youtube>
 
-## Improved drag & drop support for automations
+## Better drag & drop support for automations
 
-As of this release, dragging and dropping triggers, conditions and actions in
-the automation editor is always possible. Previously, you had to enable
-re-ordering explicitly in the automation editor settings, now it is always
-possible.
+Let's start with some old-fashioned drag 'n drop magic! 🪄
 
-<img class="no-shadow" src='https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/assets/5878303/a75028e9-e5ab-449c-ae6b-a62aeeafa1ac' alt='Temporary screenshot that needs to be replaced.'>
+As of this release, dragging and dropping triggers, conditions, and actions in
+the automation editor are _always_ enabled. Previously, you had to explicitly
+enable re-ordering in the automation editor settings, but now, it is just
+always active.
 
-But what is even more exciting, is that you can now drag and drop elements
-into other nested elements. For example, you can now drag a condition into
-the condition of an if-then or choose action.
+But even more exciting is that you can now drag and drop elements into other
+nested elements! For example, you can now drag a condition into
+the condition of an if-then or choose action. 🤯
 
-<video width="600" controls>
-  <source src="https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/assets/5878303/4be1b5ae-15e4-4e80-b3b9-cd48eb012aac" type="video/mp4">
-</video>
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/dragndrop-nested.gif' alt='Screen recording showing you can now also drag and drop into nested elements in the automation editor.'>
 
-## Download data from the history dashboard
+## Export data from the history dashboard
 
-You can now download the data you are viewing in the history dashboard
-as a CSV file. This allows you to do further analysis on the data, in for
-example Excel, or to visualize it in other ways. Thanks, [@balloob]!
+The following feature might be small, but it is a big deal for many. Home
+Assistant stores your data privately and locally; it is **your data**. To make
+this data more accessible, we've added a new feature to the history dashboard.
 
-<img class="no-shadow" src='https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/assets/1444314/08a785c1-e32b-4caf-96c2-70d4cbcd46e0' alt='Temporary screenshot that needs to be replaced.'>
+You can now download the data you are viewing in the history dashboard. This
+allows you to further analyze the data in, for example, Excel or to visualize
+it in other ways.
+
+The button will export and download the data you currently view in the history
+dashboard as a [CSV file](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values).
+
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/csv-export.png' alt='Screenshot showing the new export button in the top right of the history dashboard.'>
+
+Thanks for this one [@balloob]!
 
 [@balloob]: https://github.com/balloob
 
-## Shipping on a new Python version
+## Improved error responses when using Assist
 
-This release ships running on Python 3.12! In case you are wondering, what is
-that? Well, Python is the programming language Home Assistant is written in.
+If you use [Assist](/voice_control/), our private voice assistant, you may have
+noticed that its responses were not meaningful when something was not understood.
 
-Why it matters? It provides many improvements to the foundation we are building
-Home Assistant on, most noteably: It is faster! 🚀
+Some of the errors encountered while using Assist can easily be fixed on your
+side by adding aliases to entities or areas, exposing entities to Assist,
+or assigning entities and devices to the correct areas.
 
-Don't worry! If you run the Home Assistant Operating System or are using the
-Home Assistant Container installation type: You won’t have to do anything, as we
-handle the upgrade to Python 3.12 for you. Just upgrade Home Assistant as
-you normally would and you are good to go! 😎
+So we are taking the first step to help you fix these errors: as of this release,
+Assist provides much better errors in case your intention is understood,
+but something else is missing (An unknown name, area, device class, or domain).
 
-## Update entities for ZHA devices
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/assist-errors.png' alt='Screenshot showing the new errors assist will return in case the intention is understood, but something else is missing.'>
+
+## Custom Assist responses in automations using the sentence trigger
+
+As almost every component and feature of Home Assistant, Assist can be
+customized and extended to understand more sentences.
+
+A few releases ago, we introduced a very simple way to extend what Assist
+understands: The [sentence trigger](/docs/automation/trigger/#sentence-trigger)
+in our automation engine.
+
+Up until now, using a sentence trigger always led to the same Assist response:
+“Done”. In fact, the only way to define a custom response was to write complex
+custom sentences in YAML.
+
+This release introduces a new action to set a custom response in your
+sentence-triggered automations directly inside the automation editor.
+
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/assist-custom-response-editor.png' alt='Screenshot showing how to build a custom response in our automation editor.'>
+
+The response field accepts templates, so it can be used to build complex
+responses, for example, listing all your room temperatures.
+
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/assist-custom-response.png' alt='Screenshot showing a custom response in Assist.'>
+
+A very cool feature that might come in handy if you build an automation
+blueprint to submit as an entry for our [voice assistant contest](/blog/2024/01/voice-assistant-contest/)!
+
+## All known assist devices
+
+Last addition for voice, we've added a small additional page to give you an
+overview of all the Assist devices you have active in your Home. You can find
+this on the {% my voice_assistants title="Assist configuration dashboard" %}
+by selecting the new "assist devices" button.
+
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/assist-devices.png' alt='Screenshot showing a custom response in Assist.'>
+
+Or, use this My Home Assistant button below to navigate to the voice assistants
+configuration dashboard:
+
+{% my voice_assistants badge %}
+
+## Updating your Zigbee devices
 
 [ZHA](/integrations/zha) (Zigbee Home Automation, our built-in Zigbee integration)
 now provides update entities to Home Assistant!
@@ -119,104 +165,110 @@ now provides update entities to Home Assistant!
 This means you can get notified when a device has a firmware update available,
 and you can trigger the update from Home Assistant!
 
-<img class="no-shadow" src='https://github.com/home-assistant/core/assets/1335687/17420fd3-a054-4683-a950-a47b06b5faf6' alt='Temporary screenshot that needs to be replaced.'>
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/zha-updating-devices.png' alt='Screenshot showing an Zigbee device connected via ZHA being updated.'>
 
 Noticed the weird version numbers? Unfortunately, that is how version numbers
-in the Zigbee standard work and look, we currently have no way to translate
-them to something more human-readable format.
+in the Zigbee standard work and look, we haven't figured out away to translate
+them to something more human-readable format that matches what the manufacturer
+communicates.
 
 Currently, it supports updating Inovelli, OSRAM/Ledvance, Sonoff, and
 ThirdReality devices, and we are looking at adding support for more brands
-in the future.
+in the future. Be aware, Zigbee is a slow protocol, and firmware updates can
+take a long time (sometimes hours).
 
 ## Matter diagnostics and actions
 
-Home Assistant works actively on providing the best support for [Matter](/integrations/matter)
+Home Assistant works actively to provide the best support for [Matter](/integrations/matter)
 devices out of the box. To help with that, we have added more information and
 controls for your Matter devices in the UI.
 
 On the device page of the Matter device in Home Assistant, we will now show
 additional diagnostic information about the device. This information can be
 used to troubleshoot issues with the device or when reporting issues. Some
-examples include: The type of network the device is using, its addresses and IDs,
+examples include the network type the device is uses, its addresses, and IDs,
 device types and its connected [fabrics](/integrations/matter#multi-fabric-join-to-multiple-controllers).
 
-<img class="no-shadow" src='https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/505841299220594748/1202269675736539196/CleanShot_2024-01-31_at_16.10.09.png?ex=65ccd7e3&is=65ba62e3&hm=39f8817abfbae8d3a866dbd3e201a27e445dd3d7cfd60683524bedd03e0985b2&' alt='Temporary screenshot that needs to be replaced.'>
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/matter-diagnostic-information.png' alt='Screenshots showing a matter device in the UI with additional diagnostic information. The other screenshots shows the overflow menu on the device, that provides more actions.'>
 
-Besides more information, there are also new actions you can take on the device.
-For example, ping the device, start comissioning or removing a fabric, or force
-a full device interview to sync all its information.
+Besides more information, you can also take new actions on the device.
+For example, ping the device to check if it is available, force a full
+device interview to sync all its information, remove it from another controller,
+and even a new button to share your Matter device from Home Assistant with
+another Matter controller.
 
-## All known assist devices
-
-We've added a small additional page, to give you insight into the Assist devices
-you have active in your Home. You can find this on the
-{% my voice_assistants title="Assist configuration dashboard" %} by selecting
-the new "assist devices" button.
-
-<img class="no-shadow" src='https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/assets/1444314/1e18d5c0-b5d3-438e-8d98-edbc312dbb01' alt='Temporary screenshot that needs to be replaced.'>
-
-{% my voice_assistants badge %}
-
-## Better errors when using Assist
-
-If you use [Assist](/voice_control/), our private voice assistant, you may have noticed that its responses were not meaningful when something was not understood.
-
-Some of the errors encountered while using Assist can easily be fixed on your side by adding aliases to entities or areas, exposing entities to Assist, or assigning entities and devices to the correct areas.
-
-So we are taking the first step to help you fix these errors: as of this release, Assist provides much better errors in case your intention is understood, but something else is missing (An unknown name, area, device class, or domain).
-
-<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/assist-errors.png' alt='Screenshot showing the new errors assist will return in case the intention is understood, but something else is missing.'>
-
-## Custom response in the automation editor when using a sentence trigger
-
-As almost every component and feature of Home Assistant, Assist can be customized and extended to understand more sentences.
-
-A few releases ago, we introduced a very simple way to extend what Assist understands: The [sentence trigger](/docs/automation/trigger/#sentence-trigger) in our automation engine.
-
-Up until now, using a sentence trigger always led to the same Assist response: “Done”. In fact, the only way to define a custom response was to write complex custom sentences in YAML.
-
-This release introduces a new action to set a custom response in your sentence-triggered automations directly inside the automation editor.
-
-<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/assist-custom-response-editor.png' alt='Screenshot showing how to build a custom response in our automation editor.'>
-
-The response field accepts templates, so it can be used to build complex responses, for example, listing all your room temperatures.
-
-<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/assist-custom-response.png' alt='Screenshot showing a custom response in Assist.'>
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/matter-actions.png' alt='Screenshots the result of pinging a Matter device and sharing a Matter device with another controller.'>
 
 ## Icons everywhere
 
-This release, we completely changed how Home Assistant handles icons. An big
-effort from many people, with almost... no change! That is right, _almost_
-everthing looks just the same as before.
+We completely changed how Home Assistant handles icons under the hood.
+A big effort from many people, with almost... no change! That is
+right, _almost_ everything looks just the same as before. 😁
 
 We did make some improvements! For example, integrations can now
-provide icons for things like fan speeds, or thermostat presets, but also
-actions can now have their own icons to match their specific goal:
+provide icons for things like fan speeds or thermostat presets. Also,
+service call actions can now have their own icon as well:
 
-<img class="no-shadow" src='https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/674164904298676225/1202026201879953408/CleanShot_2024-01-31_at_00.02.502x.png?ex=65cbf523&is=65b98023&hm=8ba42ce1c98c9d92c8033e100913ee843bbb8df7a8d37e97e7c73d4d863dbc98&' alt='Temporary screenshot that needs to be replaced.'>
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/icons-services.png' alt='Screenshots showing that each media player service, now has its own icons matching the action.'>
 
-Areas now have icons! You can set them in the area configuration. They show
-up in the area target pickers/selectors and in the area dashboard itself
+Areas now have icons too! You can set them in the area configuration. They show
+up in the area selectors and in the area dashboard itself
 (in case you didn't upload a picture).
 
-<img class="no-shadow" src='https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/505841299220594748/1202269492701573200/CleanShot_2024-01-31_at_16.09.20.png?ex=65ccd7b8&is=65ba62b8&hm=40f92cd7b6ca3bbe4077d65eacd0b34b1ca1bc4a7545a6df9dcbd091bdf3dc55&' alt='Temporary screenshot that needs to be replaced.'>
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/icons-areas.png' alt='Screenshots the areas dashboard, with new icons used on each area.'>
 
-## Integration authentication issues are now shown in the repairs dashboards
+## Integrations with authentication issues are now shown in the repairs dashboards
 
-When one of your integrations is having authentication issues, Home Assistant
+When one of your integrations has authentication issues, Home Assistant
 will now report this in the {% my repairs title="repairs dashboard" %}.
 
-Previously this was only visible on the integration dashboard, but now it shows
-up in the repairs dashboard as this is the place where Home Assistant reports
+Previously, this was only visible on the integration dashboard, but now it shows
+up in the repairs dashboard, as this is the place where Home Assistant reports
 all issues with your system.
 
-<video width="600" controls>
-  <source src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/505841299220594748/1202269900790571018/CleanShot_2024-01-31_at_14.09.45.mp4?ex=65ccd819&is=65ba6319&hm=275b23b1ba35018d1db79ba9fa4c32fe8093d219ed65ac110dedcbac2efa2738&" type="video/mp4">
-</video>
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/repair-reauth.png' alt='Screenshots showing a repair issue being raised for an integration that needs re-authentication.'>
 
-_(This temporary video is not the best example, as it doesn't really ask for
-new authentication details. We will update this video before the release.)_
+## Revamped Proximity integration
+
+For this release, [@mib1185] completely revamped our [Proximity] integration.
+In case you are unfamiliar with it, it allows you tomonitor the proximity of
+devices (or persons) to a particular [zone]. It provides information on how
+close one is to a zone and if they are traveling towards or away from it.
+
+It is an extremely powerful tool for automations. It allows you to create
+automations based on the proximity of people. For example, if you are within
+a certain range from your home and traveling towards it, you could use
+Home Assistant to turn on the lights, open the garage door, turn up the heating,
+and start your favorite playlist in the living room. Welcome home! 🤗
+
+The best part? This integration is now available to set up from the UI!
+Not just that, but it now uses normal sensor entities that we are all already
+familiar with. This will make automating and displaying the data a breeze!
+
+<img class="no-shadow" src='/images/blog/2024-02/proximity.png' alt='Screenshots of an set up proximity integration, the proximity of a person towards the home zone.'>
+
+Thanks [@mib1185]! You did an outstanding job on this one!
+
+If you are already using this integration, this change will come with the
+deprecation of the old entities. See our [backwards-incompatible changes](#backwards-incompatible-changes)
+for more information.
+
+[@mib1185]: https://github.com/mib1185
+[Proximity]: /integrations/proximity
+[zone]: /integrations/zone
+
+## Shipping on a new Python version
+
+This release ships running on Python 3.12! In case you are wondering, what is
+that? Well, Python is the programming language Home Assistant is written in.
+
+Why it matters? It provides many improvements to the foundation we are building
+Home Assistant on, most notably: It is faster! 🚀
+
+Don't worry! If you run the Home Assistant Operating System or are using the
+Home Assistant Container installation type: You won’t have to do anything, as we
+handle the upgrade to Python 3.12 for you. Just upgrade Home Assistant as
+you normally would, and you are good to go! 😎
 
 ## Other noteworthy changes