News from the ESP32 ecosystem

ESP-IDF 5.5.6: flash reads and image processing on the industrial test bench

ESP-IDF 5.5.6 changes flash memory read behavior and allows the image processor to be fed with data from memory. For equipment developers, this opens up testing options and requires reviewing dependencies before updating firmware.

A Game Engine For Microcontrollers

If you wanted to make a game that ran on a commodity microcontroller, you could be forgiven for not knowing where to start. Never fear, for [Fedyfausto] has just the …read more

ESP-Mosaico: what AI-assisted creation changes in ESP32 prototyping

ESP-Mosaico combines ESP32-S31, a display and expansion modules with artificial intelligence-assisted programming tools. For product developers, the approach brings code generation closer to on-device testing; equipment already installed does not need to change.

ToughC5 with ESP32-C5: how to separate acquisition, display, and networking in industrial telemetry

The M5Stack ToughC5 combines ESP32-C5, a touchscreen, and RS-485 in a compact device. For industrial telemetry developers, it brings data acquisition and local visualization together; reliability depends on how the software handles communication failures and stale data.

ESPHome 2026.10.1

[esp32_hosted] Keep the OTA watchdog timeout through the coprocessor end call esphome#21300 by @swoboda1337; [core] Emit generated lambda code after the user includes esphome#21307 by @bdraco; [light] Add a StringRef overload for LightCall::set_effect esphome#21358 by @bdraco; [mqtt] Resend the fan state when its first publish fails esphome#21328 by @bdraco

Adafruit Metro ESP32-P4 Hydra – An Arduino UNO-shaped ESP32-P4 + ESP32-C6 board with WiFi 6, MIPI interfaces

Adafruit has launched the Metro ESP32-P4 Hydra, an Arduino UNO-shaped development board with ESP32-P4, 16MB PSRAM, and 16MB NOR flash, and an ESP32-C6 for WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 LE, Thread, and Zigbee connectivity. Other features include Raspberry Pi-compatible MIPI DSI and CSI interfaces, a USB 2...

LILYGO T-Halow P4: how to integrate ESP32 and Wi-Fi HaLow into industrial telemetry

The T-Halow P4 brings together ESP32-P4, ESP32-C6 and a Wi-Fi HaLow module on a compact board. For developers of industrial telemetry systems, it offers a foundation for experimenting with wireless communication across large areas, with work required on electrical integration, software and field validation.

Deki Engine – ESP32 gets an open source Unity-style editor and C++ 2D game engine

Deki Engine is an open-source modular C++ engine with a Unity-style visual editor for embedded devices, currently optimized for ESP32 platforms such as LilyGO T-Deck Plus, T-Display S3 AMOLED, and soon Elecrow CrowPanel Advanced 7″ ESP32-P4. The editor is available for Windows and Linux with a co...

LILYGO T-Halow P4 – An M.2 2280 board with ESP32-P4, WiFi HaLow, and ESP32-C6

LILYGO T-Halow P4 is a compact M.2 development board that combines an ESP32-P4 MCU, an ESP32-C6 wireless co-processor, and a Taixin TX-AH WiFi HaLow module for long-range wireless connectivity. The board measures just 80 x 22mm (M.2 2280) and uses an M.2 B-key connector to expose GPIO pins and ot...

LR2021-SDR: what access to the radio signal adds to the ESP32 workbench

LR2021-SDR lets you extract radio samples from a LoRa transceiver and analyze them in software. For developers of ESP32-based sensors, it opens up an avenue for bench investigation; the experimental tuning range does not equate to guaranteed field performance.

Rotary encoder with 1.8-inch touch display gets upgrade to ESP32-S31 SoC

Following our coverage of a 4.3-inch ESP32-S31 display development board, a Facebook reader pointed out the GUITION JC3636F118C-I-YR1 rotary encoder with a built-in 1.8-inch touchscreen display. It appears to be an update to an earlier ESP32-S3 model, now equipped with an ESP32-S31NRV16 WiFi 6, B...

ESP-Mosaico – An ESP32-S31-based modular development platform for AI-assisted hardware creation

Espressif Systems ESP-Mosaico is an ESP32-S31 development platform with a 480 × 480 OLED touchscreen, haptic feedback, a built-in battery, USB Type-C connectivity, and expansion I/O. It’s specifically designed for AI hardware integration and targets magnetic expansion toys, motion sensing, square...

5 GHz Drone Video, With An ESP32

With the ESP32 series of microcontrollers having had hidden software-defined radio (SDR) facility revealed, we’re now moving on from the announcement into projects making use of the finding. [Twotoz] has …read more

Building a Simple Internet Radio

Broadcast radio isn’t as popular as it once was, its popularity suffering in turn due to technologies like MP3 players and music streaming services. If you don’t fancy either of …read more

ESP-Mosaico: Espressif's modular board with ESP32-S31, an AMOLED display, and a focus on AI agents

Meet ESP-Mosaico from Espressif: ESP32-S31, a 480x480 AMOLED display, automatically detected modules, and development with Chat Coding, Vibe Coding, or ESP-IDF.

ESPHome 2026.10.0

Semtech LR2021 LoRa chip gets the SDR treatment, supports 100 MHz to 2.74 GHz

Earlier this month, we saw how the humble ESP32-S3 could be turned into an SDR transmitter and receiver; then we saw developer h0m3us3r release the w1700k-sdr project, which turns a Gemtek W1700K Wi-Fi 7 router into a wideband SDR receiver. The LR2021-SDR open-source project by Samuel Reynolds (S...

Wireless-Tag WT32P4C5-43S: a display and two ESP32 chips for developing industrial interfaces

The WT32P4C5-43S brings together a touchscreen, ESP32-P4 and ESP32-C5 on a development board. For those building connected panels, this integration simplifies initial assembly and introduces an important task: coordinating the graphical interface and communication between two processors.

M5Stack PaperDIY Kits pair an ESP32-S3 MCU with a 4.7-inch e-Paper display

M5Stack has released the PaperDIY series, an updated version of its 2020 M5Paper ESP32 development kit, featuring an ESP32-S3 MCU and a 4.7-inch e-paper display with 16 levels of gray. It comes in two versions: the PaperDIY Complete Kit, which ships factory-assembled in a 3D-printed enclosure, an...

2026 Retrocomputing Challenge: Dollhouse Arcade Cabinet Runs Remote DOS Games

Classic DOS games never ran from within stand-up arcade cabinets in dollhouses, but [Juha Lilja] imagines a world in which they did. His Micro DOS arcade cabinet is described as …read more

Seeed Studio XIAO IPS display series features ESP32-S3 or nRF52840 SoC with 0.96-inch to 1.47-inch LCD options

Seeed Studio has introduced the XIAO IPS touch display series, a family of six compact development boards built around the XIAO ESP32-S3 Plus or XIAO nRF52840 Plus MCU, with 0.96-inch, 1.14-inch, and 1.47-inch IPS color displays. All six boards include a 6-axis IMU, a PDM digital microphone, user...

W1700K SDR: a router as a test bench for investigating industrial wireless networks

The W1700K SDR turns a compatible router into a software-defined radio receiver, sending samples to a computer for analysis. For developers of ESP32-based equipment, it offers a potential bench tool for investigating the wireless environment and relating it to communication failures.

Infrared Signal Reader with ESP32 and LCD Display: Decoding Remote Controls

ESP-IDF v5.5.6

Peripheral Drivers/ISP: Added support for RAW image input from memory, allowing ISP to process images without a sensor interface. (1a1a5aa6); Peripheral Drivers/SPI Flash: Now cache won't be disabled while calling read APIs on other chips than ESP32. (2fe57115)

W1700K SDR turns a Wi-Fi 7 router into a 320 MSps software-defined radio receiver

Just a few days ago, we wrote about the ESP-SDR project, which turned an ESP32 into an SDR receiver (and now SDR transmitter), but the data was streamed over UART, which couldn’t keep up with the sample rate. Now, developer h0m3us3r has released w1700k-sdr, also an open-source project that turns ...

Pager Converted to Meshtastic Node

Text messaging has been around on cellular networks en masse for around three decades now. It’s so common that it’s difficult to remember a time without it. Its two-way quick …read more

Building An M7 Pan Tilt Head Controller

The Soonpho M7 Pan Tilt Head is a useful photography tool for remotely aiming a decently-sized camera. Only, [Kyle Housley] wanted a little more control than was available out of …read more

So You Want To Make Your SDR Work On Other Frequencies

Perhaps the most exciting news of the past few weeks in the world of hardware hacking has been the unlocking of hidden SDR functionality in the Wi-Fi radios found on …read more

AI Controls iPhone Via ESP32

Do you want to get an AI agent to do something to an iPhone? You could try and jailbreak the device and do some heavy software hacking, or… you could …read more

VIEWE launches 4.3-inch ESP32-S31 display development board

VIEWE has introduced the PLCM-UES31S043H800V480C-U, a 4.3-inch smart display module that appears to be the first third-party development board powered by the new ESP32-S31 MCU. The board includes a 4.3-inch display with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 LE and Classic, and IEEE 802.15.4 for Zigbee a...

VIEWE with ESP32-S31 and a 4.3-inch display: what to evaluate when building an industrial panel

VIEWE has introduced a board with ESP32-S31 and a 4.3-inch display, combining processing and wireless communication. For developers of operator panels, it offers a prototyping option that should be evaluated based on software support and integration with the equipment.

ESP-SDR Can Now Transmit

Well, that was fast! Last week, we reported on two apparently simultaneous hacks using the 2.4 GHz radio inside many ESP32 variants that enabled raw access to the radio samples, …read more

Facebook releases Muse Gadgets SDK for ESP32 and Raspberry Pi/Linux-based devices

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has released the open-source Muse Gadgets SDK, designed to work with ESP32 boards or Linux-based SBCs like a Raspberry Pi. This requires some explanation… I’ve been on holiday for a while, so I’m not up to date on everything, but apparently Meta released Muse on S...

Wireless-Tag WT32P4C5-43S – A fully integrated 4.3-inch ESP32-P4 and ESP32-C5 touch display devkit

Wireless-Tag WT32P4C5-43S (ZX4D30CE405-V1.3) is a fully integrated 4.3-inch touch display development board that combines an ESP32-P4 MCU with an ESP32-C5 wireless module supporting dual-band WiFi 6 (2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth LE, and 802.15.4 connectivity. Unlike previous ESP32-P4 + ESP32-C5 solution...

M5Stack ToughC5: ESP32 with a display and RS-485 to bring telemetry closer to the field

The ToughC5 combines ESP32-C5, a touchscreen, RS-485 and dual-band Wi-Fi in an enclosed device. For telemetry developers, this combination can reduce assembly work; industrial adoption still requires evaluating electrical protection, installation and software.

M5Stack ToughC5 weatherproof ESP32-C5 IoT controller offers dual-band Wi-Fi 6, BLE 5, and Zigbee/Thread

M5Stack has just introduced the ToughC5, a rugged, weatherproof outdoor IoT controller built around the ESP32-C5. The device features a bright 2.0-inch capacitive touch IPS display and RS485 connectivity. The ToughC5 is an upgrade to the ESP32-base3d M5Stack TOUGH introduced in 2021, with the upg...

The Power of Dual-Core: Fractal Rendering with ESP32

Your ESP32 has two brains. Did you know that? Inside the chip is a dual-core processor called Xtensa LX6, with each core running at 240MHz. And most surprisingly: in the vast majority of Arduino projects, only one of them is used. The other sits idle, waiting for work that never comes. In...

Open-source ESP32-C3 DNS ad blocker supports up to over 500,000 domains without PSRAM

Developed by Zed (M-Abozaid), the esp32-c3-adblock is an open-source, Pi-hole-style DNS ad blocker that runs on a $2 ESP32-C3 microcontroller board/module without requiring PSRAM. It blocks ads and tracking domains across devices on a home or small office network by filtering DNS requests. Instea...

Q8botOne – A palm-sized open-source quadruped robot with ESP32-C3, DYNAMIXEL smart actuators (Crowdfunding)

ZeroWire Robotics Q8botOne is an open-source, palm-sized quadruped robot built around an ESP32-C3 MCU and ROBOTIS DYNAMIXEL smart actuators. Designed with a unique wire-free architecture, the robot integrates all components onto a central printed circuit board also used as the structural chassis....

LILYGO T-Dongle-C5: where an ESP32 with dual-band Wi-Fi helps on the industrial workbench

The T-Dongle-C5 combines ESP32-C5, Wi-Fi on 2.4 and 5 GHz, and microSD storage in a USB form factor. For connected-device developers, it is a compact option for experimenting with communication and logging events; its form factor does not automatically make it industrial equipment.

ESP32 As Your Raspberry Pi’s Linux Wireless Co-processor

A laptop with no wireless connectivity feels like a rarity – but when you shop for powerful Linux single-board computers (SBCs), it is pretty common to see one skimp on …read more

Two Microcontrollers Talking, All It Needs is an LED

There are some projects that seem at first sight to be easy, but anyone who tries them finds a whole heap of unexpected problems and turns to the off-the-shelf device. …read more

ESP-SDR: the ESP32 radio as a tool for investigating the wireless environment

ESP-SDR lets you use the integrated radio in compatible ESP32 models to observe signals and explore their spectrum. For wireless device developers, it opens up an opportunity for bench investigation; for those maintaining equipment in the field, it does not represent a mandatory upgrade.

ESP-SDR firmware turns ESP32 into a 2.4/5 GHz Software-Defined Radio (SDR)

We have seen ESP32s used for everything from simple IoT devices to AI, audio, and vision projects. But while looking for a new project, I found out about ESP-SDR firmware, which turns the ESP32 into a native Software-Defined Radio (SDR) without additional hardware. This open-source firmware bypas...

ESP32-C61 certifications: check the exact module before selecting hardware

Espressif's official records identify certifications for different ESP32-C61 modules. Learn how to organize this documentation when selecting hardware for IIoT and avoid conclusions that certificate titles do not support.

The ESP32, An SDR In Itself

Perhaps the most famous of all the software-defined radio (SDR) receivers is the RTL-SDR, a digital TV receiver on which an undocumented feature was found. Perhaps other radio-enabled chips also …read more

ESP Family: Get to Know the ESP8266, ESP32, and Their Main Variants

Introduction Automation, robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT) projects are increasingly prevalent in the world of electronics, requiring microcontrollers capable of providing processing power, connectivity, and various communication features. In this context, the ESP family, developed by Espressif...

LakeShark firmware turns LilyGO T-Display P4 into a handheld ESP32-P4 SDR scanner

LakeShark is open-source firmware by Samuel Reynolds (SAMS0N1TE) that turns the ESP32-P4-based LilyGO T-Display P4 into a handheld SDR scanner. Paired with an RTL-SDR Blog V3 or V4 dongle, it supports P25 Phase I trunking, analog FM/AM, POCSAG pager decoding, and 1090 MHz ADS-B reception directly...

The Whole Computer Is Vim

Love it or hate it, Vim, the vi-compatible minimalist editor, is a common denominator between a huge array of operating systems. If you need to edit a file, it’s usually …read more

Elgato Key Lights Get Matter Upgrade

[Michael H Thiesen] had a couple of Elgato Key Lights in his home streaming setup. The only problem was that they would stop responding regularly, requiring a power cycle to …read more

ESP32-C5 devkit features 3.5-inch touch LCD, optional camera and battery

Waveshare ESP32-C5-Touch-LCD-3.5 is another ESP32-C5 devkit with a built-in display, but equipped with a larger 3.5-inch color touch LCD and an optional BF3901 low-resolution (0.08 MP) camera and/or a 500 mAh battery. It also features a speaker connector and a built-in microphone for voice intera...

XIAOML Kit: A Seeed Studio Kit with ESP32-S3, Camera, Microphone, and IMU for the Machine Learning Systems Book

Discover Seeed Studio's XIAOML Kit, featuring XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense, a 6-axis IMU, and OLED, created for the labs in Harvard's Machine Learning Systems book.

ESPHome 2026.9.1

[mipi_dsi] Let IDF pick the DPHY PLL reference clock esphome#18984 by @elwinloomis; [ota] Skip the web_server plaintext warning when web_server ota is disabled esphome#19348 by @bdraco; [mixer] Don't discard a start request while reaping a stopped task esphome#19368 by @rexmoriarty; [esp32][rp2] Print the previous boot crash report before the logger reads it esphome#19351 by @bdraco

An IR Blaster Project, in a Nutshell

The speed that computers have gotten smaller is a bit mind-bending. Most of us now walk around with computers in our pockets that would have rivaled the supercomputers from a …read more

LILYGO T-Dongle-C5 – An ESP32-C5 USB dongle with microSD card slot, optional 0.96-inch OLED

LILYGO T-Dongle-C5 is an ESP32-C5 dual-band WiFi 6, BLE, and 802.15.4 USB dongle that builds upon the earlier ESP32-S3-based T-Dongle-S3 board. The new board still features an optional 0.96-inch color display, a microSD card slot, and a USB-A male port. The main differences are support for dual-b...

ESP-IDF 5.2 on ESP32: how to plan migration in light of the end-of-life notice

The end-of-life notice for the ESP-IDF 5.2 branch and the security fixes in version 5.2.8 call for separate decisions. Learn how to organize a firmware inventory and define migration criteria for ESP32 projects used in IIoT.

KryonOS turns ESP32 boards into JavaScript-powered mini computer

KryonOS is a small JavaScript-powered OS that turns a supported ESP32 development board with a touchscreen into a standalone computer with its own graphical interface, application launcher, and file storage. It provides the basic software environment needed to use the board without writing and fl...

A Pocket-Sized Digital Fish Tank

The problem with trying to make a fish tank fit in your pocket is that you’ll either end up with water everywhere or a bunch of dead fish. Perhaps that’s …read more

Cheap Yellow Display Dreams of PDA

Everybody loves the Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) ESP32 dev boards, so why not treat yours to a little PDA? That’s right: turn it into a Portable Digital Assistant and relive …read more

2WD Robot Car with ESP32-C3 and Web Joystick

Handheld Scanner is a Radio Multi-tool

These days, it’s possible to cram a whole lot of radio functionality into a very compact device. A great example of that is the LakeShark scanner from [SAMS0N1TE]. The LakeShark …read more

ESP32 with a web interface: how to validate crash fixes before updating

Arduino ESP32 3.3.12 and ESP-IDF v5.3.6 document fixes related to web servers and crashes. Understand the scope of the notes and organize bench validation for operator interfaces, WebSocket, and provisioning in IIoT projects.

OpenMote – An ESP32-S3 programmable universal remote in a Wiimote shell (Crowdfunding)

Hat & Hammer has launched the OpenMote, an ESP32-S3-powered programmable universal remote that adopts the familiar, nostalgic form factor of a Nintendo Wiimote. It features WiFi, Bluetooth LE, an infrared (IR) transceiver, a 6-axis IMU, and Home Assistant integration, letting it control smart hom...

Arduino ESP32 3.3.12

fix(webserver): Harden security and fix hangs; ci(upload): Optimize scripts and upload test; build(deps): bump cryptography from 48.0.1 to 50.0.0 in /tests by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/pull/12804; docs(compatibility): Add notes on ESP8266 compatibility

ESPHome 2026.9.0

ESP-IDF v5.3.6

Application Utilities/ESP HTTP Server: Fixed a null pointer dereference issue in the websocket server that could lead to a crash when handling specific client headers. (d1894abd); Application Utilities/Protocomm: Fixed several issues in the protocomm module that could lead to device crashes during provisioning, including username length validation and null pointer dereferences. (1fcc9049)

ESPHome on ESP32: regression tests for Wi-Fi, OneWire, and LVGL interfaces

The ESPHome 2026.8.1 and 2026.8.2 release notes document fixes for Wi-Fi, OneWire, component configuration, and LVGL events. See how to turn these changes into a test plan for ESP32 projects without attributing guarantees to these releases that the sources do not provide.

PlatformIO 6.2.0: prepare your ESP32 workbench to build, flash, and monitor

PlatformIO Core 6.2.0 requires Python 3.9 or later, adds an option to set the upload and monitoring ports, and removes the PVS-Studio integration. See how to incorporate these changes into your development workflow for ESP32 IIoT projects.

ESP-IDF v5.2.8

BLE/NimBLE: Pull upstream changes for fixes of various CVEs (7cb3f681) [CVE-2026-45811, CVE-2026-45815, CVE-2026-45816, CVE-2026-46452]

PlatformIO v6.2.0

Dropped support for Python 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8, requiring Python 3.9 or newer to run PlatformIO Core (issue #5414); Removed support for static code analysis via PVS-Studio following its deprecation by the vendor (pull #5360); Added a new -p, --port option to the pio run command, allowing users to set both upload_port and monitor_port simultaneously for a more streamlined workflow (pull #5429)

ESP-IDF v6.0.3

Peripheral Drivers/DMA2D Added a new DMA2D-based asynchronous color conversion driver API, espasynccolorconvert, enabling efficient RGB and YUV format conversions. (7a627c71); Peripheral Drivers/ISP Added support for RAW image input from memory, allowing ISP to process images without a sensor interface and simplifying parameter debugging. (80f969e2)

ESPHome 2026.8.2

[espidf] Always reconfigure after component discovery esphome#18730 by @bdraco; [gpio] Fix onewire reset busy-waiting with interrupts off when delay wraps esphome#18733 by @bdraco; Bump bundled esphome-device-builder to 1.13.0 esphome#18743 by [@esphome[bot]](https://github.com/apps/esphome); [lvgl] Fix onvalue/onupdate triggers for LVGL select entities esphome#18778 by @clydebarrow

ESP-IDF v6.1

Added preview support for ESP32-S31, please help refer to ESP32-S31 support status for details; System Hardware/PSRAM: Introduced CONFIGSPIRAMENCEXEMPT to enable the carving of a designated unencrypted PSRAM region, which is accessible through the new MALLOCCAPSPIRAMNOENC to avoid encryption related alignment considerations (48113889); Wi-Fi: Added support for OWE-Only in SoftAP mode (f7a5ef7a)

ESPHome 2026.8.1

[wifi] Take the lwIP core lock around sntpservermodedhcp() esphome#18511 by @SoundGoof; Bump bundled esphome-device-builder to 1.12.1 esphome#18541 by [@esphome[bot]](https://github.com/apps/esphome); [nrf52] Rebuild the Python env when its interpreter symlink dangles esphome#18540 by @bdraco

ESPHome 2026.8.0

ESPHome 2026.7.4

ESPHome 2026.7.3

ESPHome 2026.7.2

Arduino ESP32 3.3.11

ESPHome 2026.7.1

ESP-IDF v5.5.5

Documentation for IDF v5.5.5 is available at https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v5.5.5/

ESP-IDF v6.0.2

Documentation for IDF v6.0.2 is available at https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v6.0.2/

Arduino ESP32 3.3.10

Arduino ESP32 3.3.9