SharkIQ Battery Deprecation In Home Assistant: What To Do
Hey guys! Today, we're diving deep into an important update regarding the SharkIQ integration in Home Assistant. If you're using a Shark IQ robot vacuum with Home Assistant, you'll want to pay close attention. There's a deprecation notice you need to be aware of, and we're here to break it all down for you in a friendly, easy-to-understand way.
What's the Issue? The Battery Level Deprecation
So, what's the big deal? Well, in Home Assistant Core 2025.8, some changes have been made that affect how battery information is handled for vacuum entities, specifically the battery_level and battery_icon properties within the StateVacuumEntity. These properties are now deprecated. This means that while they still work for now, they will eventually be removed in a future update (Home Assistant 2026.8). It's like a heads-up that you need to update your setup to avoid any issues down the road.
Why the Change? Understanding the Deprecation
You might be wondering, "Why the change?" It's a valid question! The Home Assistant developers are always working to improve the system and make it more consistent and efficient. Deprecating the battery_level and battery_icon properties is part of a larger effort to standardize how battery information is handled across different devices and integrations. By moving to a separate sensor with the battery sensor device class, Home Assistant can provide a more unified and reliable way to track battery levels.
Think of it this way: instead of the vacuum integration directly reporting the battery level, it will now use a dedicated sensor entity specifically designed for battery monitoring. This allows for greater flexibility and consistency. For example, you can customize the icon used for the battery sensor if the default one doesn't quite fit your needs. You can also add a binary sensor with the charging device class to easily track whether your SharkIQ is currently charging or not. This gives you more granular control and visibility over your device's status.
The one-year deprecation period is designed to give integration developers (like the one for SharkIQ) time to adjust their code and implement the new approach. This ensures a smooth transition for users and prevents things from breaking unexpectedly. It also gives you, the user, time to understand the changes and make any necessary adjustments to your Home Assistant configuration.
The Technical Details: What Needs to Change?
Okay, let's get a little more technical. The main takeaway is that the battery_level and battery_icon properties will need to be replaced with a separate sensor entity. This sensor should have the battery sensor device class. This tells Home Assistant that this sensor is specifically for reporting battery levels.
Optionally, you can also create a binary sensor with the charging device class. This sensor would indicate whether the vacuum is currently charging or not. This is a great way to get a clear visual indication of your vacuum's charging status in your Home Assistant dashboard.
For developers, this means updating the SharkIQ integration to create these new sensor entities and remove the deprecated properties. For users, it might mean updating your Lovelace dashboards or automations to use the new sensor entities instead of the old properties. Don't worry; we'll walk through some examples later on.
Identifying the Issue: Home Assistant Logs
How do you know if you're affected by this deprecation? Home Assistant is pretty good at letting you know when something needs attention. You'll likely see warning messages in your logs similar to these:
Logger: homeassistant.helpers.frame
Source: helpers/frame.py:307
First occurred: 3:59:00 PM (2 occurrences)
Last logged: 3:59:00 PM
Detected that integration 'sharkiq' is setting the battery_level which has been deprecated. Integration sharkiq should implement a sensor instead with a correct device class and link it to the same device. This will stop working in Home Assistant 2026.8, please create a bug report at https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22integration%3A+sharkiq%22
Detected that integration 'sharkiq' is setting the battery supported feature which has been deprecated. Integration sharkiq should remove this as part of migrating the battery level and icon to a sensor. This will stop working in Home Assistant 2026.8, please create a bug report at https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22integration%3A+sharkiq%22
These logs are your friend! They clearly state that the sharkiq integration is using deprecated features and that action needs to be taken. The logs also helpfully provide a link to create a bug report on GitHub, which is a great way to let the integration developers know about the issue.
Checking Your Home Assistant Version
It's also important to know which version of Home Assistant Core you're running. This issue specifically applies to core-2025.8.0 and later. If you're on an older version, you won't see these warnings yet, but it's still a good idea to plan for the update. To check your Home Assistant version, go to the Configuration panel in your Home Assistant interface, then click on
