If an old iPad or a cheap Fire tablet hangs on the wall as a Home Assistant panel, check its browser before the November update. On 21 October 2026 the Home Assistant frontend raised its minimum browser versions to Chrome 67, Safari and iOS 15.4, and Firefox 98. Until now the floor was Chrome 59, iOS 12 and Firefox 94. The change is merged into the development branch, so it is set to arrive with Home Assistant 2026.11, and the pull request is marked as a breaking change.
A browser below the new minimum no longer sits on the launch screen forever. It now shows a message explaining that it is not supported.
Which devices fall off
On the Apple side, only devices that stop at iOS 12 are affected, because no Apple device ends its updates anywhere between iOS 12 and 15.8. That means the iPad Air (first generation), iPad mini 2 and 3, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and the sixth-generation iPod touch. On a Mac, Safari 15.4 needs macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer.
Fire tablets are less obvious, because what counts is the version of Amazon's WebView, not the Fire OS number. Tablets whose WebView is still Chromium 59 lose support: the 2015 and 2016 Fire 7, Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 on Fire OS 5, and any tablet still on Fire OS 6.3.0.1. This hits both the Companion app and kiosk browsers such as Fully Kiosk, because they draw the page through that same WebView.
Tablets with WebView 70 or newer keep working. That covers the 2017 models on Fire OS 5.6.4 or later, Fire OS 6.3.1.2 or later, and Fire OS 7. The first-generation Chromecast, stuck on Chrome 70, and Edge 109 on Windows 7 and 8.1 also stay above the line. The author notes that the Chromecast becomes the next hard ceiling for Chrome.
Why the floor moved
Maarten Lakerveld, who wrote the change, says the team kept running into the technical limits of old browsers. Safari 15.4 and Firefox 98 are the first versions with a native <dialog> element, which the side drawer, popovers and dialogs in the interface now rely on. For Firefox the change costs nothing in practice, because every version Mozilla still supports is far above 98.
There is a small bonus for everyone on older hardware that still qualifies. The legacy build, served to older browsers, gets lighter: its JavaScript shrinks by 4.2% in total and the core entry by 15.3%. The modern build does not change.
What to do now
Open the panel's browser or the Companion app on the device and check its version. On a Fire tablet, look at the Amazon WebView version rather than the Fire OS number. If it is below Chrome 67, or the iPad cannot go past iOS 12, plan a replacement before updating to 2026.11 or keep that server on 2026.10 until you do.