Dear ioBroker community, another exciting year is drawing to a close, and we would like to take this opportunity to look back together, say thank you, and offer a glimpse into 2026. Your commitment, creativity, and loyalty make ioBroker the vibrant and diverse open-source project it is today, and for that, we are truly grateful.
2025 – a year full of movement
2025 was another very eventful year for the ioBroker ecosystem.
Every month, we discovered new adapters together, installed updates, fixed bugs, and implemented automation ideas.
Currently, 683 adapters are available to the ioBroker community.
All available adapters can be found here as usual: https://www.iobroker.net/#de/adapters
In 2025 alone, 42 new adapters were added. This corresponds to an average of around 3 to 4 new adapters per month, almost one new adapter every week.
Each one of these is the result of dedicated work from the community and contributes to further developing ioBroker and enabling new use cases.
We introduce new adapters and major updates in our Blog posts.
There, we discuss functions and applications in as much detail as possible, often supplemented by information directly from the respective developers.
Changes have been made not only technically, but also at the platform level: ioBroker Forum received a modernized look and internal improvements in 2025.
The new layout provides better clarity, more pleasant usability on mobile devices, and creates a contemporary foundation for future expansions.
Exchange beyond the digital realm
What makes ioBroker special is not just the technology, but above all the people behind it.
In addition to forum, Discord and Facebook, there are Usergroups, meetups and other community activities where you can exchange ideas in person or in small online groups.
Such meetings offer the opportunity to get to know each other, share experiences, learn from one another, or simply talk about smart home technology and ioBroker. Often, new ideas, helpful solutions, or long-term contacts emerge quite naturally.
To our knowledge, the Karlsruhe Round Table meets quite regularly.
A little fun fact: ioBroker also originated in Karlsruhe. Perhaps that will be an additional incentive for some to drop by or even initiate a meeting in their own region.
In addition, there are also regular online meetings: In this Discord channel, for example, dedicated enthusiasts organize an open online meeting every first Monday of the month at 8:30 p.m.
From time to time, in-person meetings also take place. The next one is already planned for January 9, 2026 in Rüsselsheim.
Anyone can participate, regardless of their level of knowledge.
We encourage you to take advantage of these offers or to get involved yourself, whether in person or online.
Personal interaction strengthens the community and makes ioBroker more than just software.
IoBroker at the 2nd Smart Living Forum in Solingen
This year marked our second invitation to the Smart Living Forum in Solingen.
The event took place as part of the project SolingenDigital, which focuses on digital and smart solutions for cities and municipalities.
In addition to the ioBroker team, several ioBroker users were also present, which made the exchange particularly interesting. Discussions about practical use cases, everyday experiences, and new ideas were clearly the focus. Overall, it was a very interesting and valuable event. Blog post to this.
Alexa Skill: An Unexpected Challenge at the End of the Year
One topic that has particularly occupied us, and surely many of you as well, this year has been the Alexa skill.
At the beginning of October, we were completely surprised to learn from Amazon that the existing iobroker.iot skill would no longer be usable for controlling devices from the beginning of November. This information came without prior notice or consultation and caught us just as unprepared as you, the users.
Particularly frustrating: Despite intensive testing and numerous attempts, we were unable to get the existing skill recertified in time for the new Alexa V3 protocol. Amazon cited alleged problems in certain countries without providing any concrete information or allowing any adjustments. A classic dead end, over which we unfortunately had no control.
Reacted in time – new skill as a solution
Fortunately, we had already taken precautions: Development of a new Alexa skill was already underway in parallel. This new skill was successfully certified and extensively tested in the preceding weeks.
This made ioBroker.assistant our future and official Alexa skill.
The old iobroker.iot skill was deactivated in time before its expiry, so there was no unplanned outage, even though the switchover unfortunately involved additional effort for many of you.
We are fully aware that the necessary reconfiguration of devices and routines was a real test of patience for some, especially with larger installations. Unfortunately, this was unavoidable in this case, even though we tried everything to spare you this step.
Thank you for your understanding and support
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all. Thank you for your patience, constructive feedback, testing, and support in the forum.
The new skill now provides a stable foundation for the future and gives us renewed planning security for further developments related to Alexa. As always, the developers are available in the forum for questions, feedback, or problems.
Js-controller 7.x – continuous improvements in the core
The js-controller is the heart of ioBroker. It controls the entire runtime environment, manages adapters and processes, and ensures central communication within the system. Therefore, further developments in this area are of paramount importance.
Stability and security: js-controller 7.0.7
Version 7.0.7 implemented important improvements and bug fixes throughout the year, primarily affecting stability and security:
- Enhanced support for
encryptedNativeandprotectedNative: These fields can now also be used within complex structures and arrays. This increases both the security of sensitive data and the flexibility for adapter developers. - Optimized typing: Improved type definitions facilitate the development of new adapters and contribute to a more stable overall system basis.
Quality and developer focus: js-controller 7.1 (Beta)
At the end of the year, a new version, js-controller 7.1, was released in the beta repository. The changes are intentionally minor, with a clear focus on optimizations, bug fixes, and improvements for developers.
The developers don't currently anticipate any major issues but, as always with beta versions, welcome active feedback from the community.
These adjustments will bring noticeable improvements and greater stability to the daily development work of adapter developers in particular.
Matter – another step forward
Significant progress was also made in the Matter area in 2025. The ioBroker.matter adapter now supports Matter specification 1.4.1 and is therefore technically up to date. Further exciting innovations are already planned for January 2026, including support for Matter specification 1.4.2. This will further expand the integration of modern smart home devices, ensuring ioBroker remains future-proof in this area as well. Matter is a long-term project for us, which we are developing step by step, focusing on stability, practicality, and the real added value for existing ioBroker installations.
Closing Remarks
A year like 2025 shows once again what makes ioBroker special: not individual features, not individual adapters and not individual updates, but the interplay of technology, ideas and people.
ioBroker is a project that is constantly changing and evolving. Some things happen quickly, others take time, discussion, and compromise. That's precisely what's part of an open, open-source project. What's important is that we maintain open communication and treat each other with respect, even when opinions differ.
We would like to thank everyone who has accompanied, helped shape, and supported ioBroker 2025. Whether through development, testing, support, constructive criticism, or simply through active use in everyday life, your work, large or small, is the driving force behind this project.
With this spirit, we move together into the year 2026. We look forward to new ideas, new technology, and many more contributions from the community.
Happy New Year! Stay smart!
Your ioBroker Team