How we chose these IR blasters
We ranked each device on four things in this order: whether it controls appliances locally without a vendor cloud, how it appears in Home Assistant, whether you can capture codes from an existing remote, and the UK price. Every integration claim here is taken from the Home Assistant documentation or the maker's own page rather than from reviews alone.
We excluded generic Tuya-cloud IR remotes. Home Assistant's Tuya integration is cloud-based, and its documentation says nothing about IR devices, so we could not confirm they work reliably. Several of the picks also double as another job: if you already run a Zigbee coordinator, see our Home Assistant Zigbee stick guide before buying a second box.
What changed for IR in Home Assistant 2026.4?
Home Assistant 2026.4 added a native Infrared entity platform, so IR hardware is now treated like a proper building block rather than a one-off add-on. The Infrared integration is a building block that you do not add yourself; other integrations use it to create entities, and its docs name ESPHome and SMLIGHT SLZB as providers of emitter entities.
The first device-specific consumer was LG Infrared, which creates a media player and button entities for an LG TV; Samsung Infrared is also listed. IR is one-way, so these use assumed states: Home Assistant cannot see whether the TV actually switched on. Broadlink is not part of the new platform and keeps its own remote entity, which is why it stays the easiest way to learn codes today.
The best IR blasters for Home Assistant in the UK
1. Seeed XIAO Smart IR Mate — best overall
Who it's for: anyone running Home Assistant who wants local, no-cloud IR control and is happy to use ESPHome.
Home Assistant's own 2026.4 release post singles this device out as the quickest way to start, and it can be flashed from a browser through ESPHome's ready-made projects page. It is an ESP32-C3 board with three high-power IR LEDs for 360° coverage, one IR receiver, USB-C power, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE, and retailers list it at about £9–£12.
The catch is software maturity. Each target device needs an integration that knows its protocol, and at launch only LG Infrared existed, so for a Sony soundbar or a Daikin air conditioner you will lean on ESPHome's transmitter protocols (it supports NEC, Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic, Midea, Coolix and others) or raw codes. If that sounds like homework, start with our ESPHome guide for Home Assistant.
2. Broadlink RM4 Mini — best for learning existing remotes
Who it's for: people with a pile of old handsets who want to point, press and capture.
The Broadlink integration lists the RM4 mini, RM4 pro and RM mini 3, is local polling, and exposes a remote entity. You call remote.learn_command, point the original remote at the unit when the LED blinks, then replay the code with remote.send_command. Learned codes are stored in a JSON file under /config/.storage/. The RM4 mini and RM4 pro also get an infrared entity alongside the remote entity.
The catch: the Broadlink app is still needed to join the device to Wi-Fi, and if the device is locked in the app the integration cannot load until you unlock it. The RF entity is only for the RM pro and RM4 pro, so the Mini is IR-only. UK pricing varies by seller, so compare before buying.
3. SwitchBot Hub 2 — best for SwitchBot households
Who it's for: homes already using SwitchBot bots, curtains or locks that want one hub with a temperature and humidity display.
Hub 2 controls IR appliances and adds Matter support. UK reviewer Mighty Gadget found the Matter functionality limited and the hub worthwhile mainly over the older Hub Mini for existing SwitchBot owners, and saw some Wi-Fi connectivity issues. Prices quoted by UK sources ranged from about £64 to £80.
In Home Assistant the story is weaker than the hardware. The local SwitchBot integration lists Hub 2 with limited functionality: it only retrieves sensor data and does not yet support device control. IR control goes through the separate SwitchBot Cloud integration, which is cloud polling and subject to a 10,000-requests-per-day limit. It supports on/off for all appliance types except Others, plus temperature and mode changes for air conditioners.
4. SMLIGHT SLZB-Ultima — best all-in-one for Zigbee users
Who it's for: Zigbee2MQTT or ZHA users who would rather buy one networked box than two.
Home Assistant's SMLIGHT docs say the Ultima carries peripherals other SLZB adapters lack, including an infrared remote controller, an Ambilight LED strip and a buzzer, and that IR emitter and receiver entities are provided to other integrations. It is classified local push and needs core firmware v2.3.6 or newer.
The catch is that IR support is being added progressively, and changing the Bluetooth mode restarts the device, which interrupts its Zigbee or Thread radios. Buy it for the coordinator first and treat the IR as a bonus. The newer Ultima3 is the model the docs describe; check which revision a seller ships.
Which IR blaster should you skip?
Skip a dedicated IR blaster if the appliance already speaks Wi-Fi, Matter or Zigbee. Newer TVs, heat pumps and many portable air conditioners have a proper integration, which reports real state instead of guessing it. Our best air conditioning units guide flags which models have app control, and Matter vs Zigbee vs Z-Wave explains the alternatives.
Do IR blasters work through walls or from another room?
No. Infrared is line of sight, so the blaster must see the appliance's receiver, or at least bounce light off a pale wall or ceiling. The XIAO's 360° LED layout helps with bounce, but a TV in another room needs its own unit. Place it near the appliance rather than the sofa, and keep it away from direct sunlight, which can drown out the signal.
