New Year, New Tech: 5 Crestron Upgrades to Jumpstart 2026
Begin 2026 with Smart, Practical Upgrades for Your Home
A new year brings a fresh start, and there’s no better time to make your home easier to manage. Crestron’s latest updates for 2026 put even more power in your hands, making the smart home experience even smarter and more simplified.
Whether you’re new to Crestron automation or you haven’t upgraded in a few years, discover the possibilities for the new year!
SEE ALSO: Mastering Crestron: Why Riordan Brothers Excels at Complex Integrations
1. Unified Shading Control: Shades Now as Simple as Lights
If you’ve lived with smart shades, you know the old routine—jumping from room to room in the app, hunting for each window’s controls. With the latest Crestron Home OS, all of your shades now appear together on a dedicated shading tile, front and center.
The update gives you a bird’s-eye view of every shade in the house, so you can adjust one room, an entire floor, or every window at once. It’s the same intuitive control Crestron brought to lighting, now applied to shading. Plus, Crestron’s new Horizontal Sheer Shades offer both style and practical light management—great for living areas or bedrooms where you want soft daylight without glare.
Expert tip: When planning your renovation, ask us about shade grouping and preset scenes for privacy, energy savings, or “movie night”— all ready from the home screen.
2. The New Cevo Mini Remote: Powerful Simplicity in the Palm of Your Hand
Wall controls and apps have their place, but sometimes nothing beats a well-designed remote. The new Crestron Cevo Mini Remote features a metal-and-glass design that feels right at home in high-end interiors. Each press gives a gentle tactile response, so you’re never guessing if a command registered.
Fewer buttons mean less confusion, and every control can be customized. We can assign your most-used scenes (like “Evening,” “Party,” or “All Off”) to dedicated spots, and switch between audio or streaming sources in one touch. The Cevo Mini charges via USB-C or wireless, and it’s made for rooms where you want style and reliability without the bulk.
3. Crestron’s Updated Keypads and Dimmers
Not every moment calls for a phone or remote. Crestron’s new Cameo and Horizon wall keypads are a sleek replacement for cluttered on/off switches, with clean lines and no-fuss operation. Homeowners appreciate the wide range of finish options, including new metal styles.
Beyond appearances, the tech inside is quietly powerful: RGB backlighting offers clear, readable labels day or night, and flexible button layouts let you choose what’s most useful, whether it’s controlling shades, lights, or even starting a custom scene as you walk through the door. For retrofit projects, dimmers no longer require a neutral wire, making upgrades smoother in older homes.
4. Whole-Home Audio: Now More Intuitive
Music is a daily companion in many homes, but grouped audio zones can be tricky. With the latest Crestron Home OS update, it’s finally easy to manage music in multiple rooms.
When you power down audio in one room, the system asks if you’d like to turn off just that space or the entire group—no more hunting for which speaker is still playing. It’s a small change that streamlines everyday living, especially when entertaining or moving between indoor and outdoor zones.
5. Circadian Lighting: Support Wellness Without Thinking About It
Lighting can shape how you feel throughout the day. Crestron’s circadian lighting features automatically adjust brightness and color temperature to match natural daylight, helping you wake up energized and wind down comfortably at night. You can customize these schedules or let them run on autopilot, extending the benefit to every room where you have Crestron dimmers.
Paired with keypads, the lighting controls visually reflect the current setting, and these cycles can even sync to third-party lighting brands for more flexibility. If wellness and health are part of your New Year’s resolutions, see how bio-centric lighting can help.
Upgrade Your Everyday in 2026
With each new feature, Crestron’s platform focuses on what truly matters: comfort, convenience, and seamless living. If you’re starting a renovation or home improvement project on the Cape, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, or the Greater Boston area, now is the time to plan technology that will work for you, not against you.
Ready to see what’s possible? Contact Riordan Brothers for a free consultation.
