nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0 Release Notes

nRF Connect SDK delivers reference software and supporting libraries for developing low-power wireless applications with Nordic Semiconductor products in the nRF52, nRF53, nRF54, nRF70, and nRF91 Series. The SDK includes open source projects (TF-M, MCUboot, OpenThread, Matter, and the Zephyr RTOS), which are continuously integrated and redistributed with the SDK.

Release notes might refer to “experimental” support for features, which indicates that the feature is incomplete in functionality or verification, and can be expected to change in future releases. To learn more, see Software maturity levels.

Highlights

Added the following features as supported:

  • nRF54L Series:

    • This is the first release of nRF Connect SDK that brings comprehensive support for nRF54L15 DK and nRF54L15 SoC. nRF54L15 DK is now publicly available. See the nRF54L15 DK page for distributors with stock.

    • The protocols include Bluetooth® LE 6.0, Bluetooth Mesh, 2.4 GHz proprietary Enhanced ShockBurst (ESB), Thread 1.4, Matter-over-Thread, Sidewalk, and Google Find My Device.

    • For members signed up for both Apple MFi program and Apple Find My.

    • All standard SoC peripherals.

    • Device Firmware Update (DFU) provided by single-stage immutable bootloader MCUboot.

    • PSA Crypto APIs (HW accelerated) for cryptographic operations and key storage.

    • Wi-Fi® Scan, Wi-Fi: Shell, and Wi-Fi: Station in combination with nRF7002 EB.

    • nPM1300 PMIC.

  • Bluetooth LE:

    • LE Power Control that was introduced in nRF Connect SDK 2.2.0 as experimental, is now supported. This feature automatically adjusts the signal strength between devices, enhancing connection reliability and power efficiency.

    • Connection subrating that was introduced in nRF Connect SDK 2.7.0 as experimental, is now supported. This feature offers a highly flexible way to change between high and low duty cycle connections without changing the connection interval, and is showcased in the sample Bluetooth: Connection Subrating.

    • nRF Connect SDK 2.8.0 is qualifiable for the Bluetooth LE core 6.0 specifications.

  • Bluetooth Mesh:

    • The Subnet Bridge profile, part of Bluetooth Mesh Protocol Specification version 1.1, is now qualified.

  • Thread:

    • Thread 1.4 is now supported on nRF52840, nRF5340, and nRF54L15 devices. It brings new features such as Thread credential sharing, enhanced internet connectivity, Thread-over-infrastructure, and secure commissioning at scale with TCAT. For more information about Thread 1.4, see the Thread Group’s Whitepaper.

  • Sidewalk:

    • Sidewalk version 1.17 is now supported on nRF52840, nRF5340, and nRF54L15 devices. It brings improvements in metrics and capability reporting, and enables an end point to limit the uplink traffic (End Points traffic threshold).

  • Cellular IoT:

    • Thingy:91 X cellular IoT prototyping platform based on the nRF9151 System in Package (SiP), which includes the nRF7002 Wi-Fi 6 companion IC for Wi-Fi locationing.

Added the following features as experimental:

  • nRF54L Series:

  • LE Audio:

    • The nRF Auraconfig sample, which implements the BIS gateway mode for the nRF Audio applications and can act as an Auracast™ broadcaster if you are using pre-sets compatible with Auracast. It features a shell interface that allows you to configure the broadcast source in many different ways.

  • Bluetooth LE:

    • Channel Sounding, which enables accurate and secure distance measuring with built-in security features and seamless interoperability.

  • Wi-Fi :

    • Offloaded raw transmit beaconing, allowing the beaconing to be done autonomously by nRF70 Series companion devices instead of being triggered by the host. This simplifies the host application firmware.

    • Enterprise mode for station EAP-TLS, which allows nRF70 Series companion devices to connect to Wi-Fi enterprise installations using EAP-TLS.

  • DECT NR+:

    • A new sample nRF91x1: DECT NR+ Shell that demonstrates how to setup a DECT NR+ application and enables testing various modem features and performance.

  • nRF Cloud:

    • SMP FOTA, which allows updating a companion device such as an nRF52 Series device running MCUboot from a FOTA image received by an nRF91 Series device from the cloud. This is showcased in the Cellular: nRF Cloud REST FOTA sample.

  • Bootloaders and DFU:

    • MCUboot image compression on nRF52840, nRF5340, and nRF54L15 targets. This feature uses LZMA2 to compress the candidate image by ~30%, which gives more space for the application as it allows slot 1 (DFU slot) to be ~70% the size of slot 0 (application slot).

Improved:

  • Wi-Fi:

    • Overall improvements that will bring increased connection stability and better interoperability with Access Points (APs).

    • Significant reduction in the boot-up current on nRF70 Series devices for passive scanning use case, by skipping TX calibration, as TX is not required for passive scanning operation. Boot up current drops from ~270 mA to ~80 mA.

Deprecated:

  • Zigbee R22, which will be removed no earlier than after the next two releases, as per our deprecation policy. As a result, nRF52833, nRF52840, and nRF5340 devices are not recommended for new Zigbee designs. Support for Zigbee R23 will be available for the nRF54L Series devices as an Add-on.

Sign up for the nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0 webinar to learn more about the new features.

Release tag

The release tag for the nRF Connect SDK manifest repository (https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-nrf) is v2.8.0. Check the west.yml file for the corresponding tags in the project repositories.

To use this release, check out the tag in the manifest repository and run west update. See Install the nRF Connect SDK code and toolchain and Updating the repositories for more information.

For information on the included repositories and revisions, see Repositories and revisions for v2.8.0.

Integration test results

The integration test results for this tag can be found in the following external artifactory:

IDE and tool support

nRF Connect extension for Visual Studio Code is the recommended IDE for nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0. See the Installation section for more information about supported operating systems and toolchain.

Supported modem firmware

See the following documentation for an overview of which modem firmware versions have been tested with this version of the nRF Connect SDK:

Use the latest version of the nRF Programmer app of nRF Connect for Desktop to update the modem firmware. See the Programming nRF91 Series DK firmware page for instructions.

Known issues

Known issues are only tracked for the latest official release. See known issues for nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0 for the list of issues valid for the latest release.

Migration notes

See the Migration guide for nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0 for the changes required or recommended when migrating your application from nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 to nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0.

Changelog

The following sections provide detailed lists of changes by component.

IDE, OS, and tool support

Board support

  • Added support for the Thingy:91 X board, which uses the nordic,pm-ext-flash node instead of external flash device name in static partitions.

  • Updated nRF54L15 Series devices to support different revisions of DKs and PDKs. For more information, see nRF54L15 revisions.

Build and configuration system

Bootloaders and DFU

  • Added:

  • Updated the procedure for signing the application image built for booting by MCUboot in direct-xip mode with revert support. Now, the Intel HEX file of the application image automatically receives a confirmation flag.

  • Fixed an issue with direct-xip (with revert) images not being marked as confirmed.

  • Removed the secure bootloader Kconfig option CONFIG_SECURE_BOOT_DEBUG and replaced with usage of logging subsystem.

See also the MCUboot documentation.

SUIT DFU for nRF54H20

  • Added:

    • Semantic versioning.

    • Support for push-mode DFU to external flash.

    • ZIP file to allow to update using raw DFU caches.

    • Option to build custom SUIT recovery image (for example, without radio core)

    • Extended SUIT SMP commands to nRF Util and nRF Connect Device Manager.

  • Updated:

    • The Confirm SMP command is now needed to trigger SUIT DFU.

    • Configuration options and SUIT manifests.

  • Fixed:

    • An issue where usage of nrfutil device recover leads to setting SUIT recovery.

    • An issue where envelopes with SUIT components not needed for particular roles are not rejected as candidates.

    • An issue where a duplicate class ID in MPI leads to cyclic SDFW resets.

    • An issue where leftover data in SUIT storage prevents writing to SUIT storage for a new application or radio image.

    • An issue where smp_transfer west flash fails with cyclic resets afterwards.

    • An issue where the suit-generator generation of installed manifest images for custom manifest class ID is not possible.

    • An issue where manifest could declare any INSTLD_MFST component regardless of its class ID.

Developing with nRF91 Series

Developing with nRF70 Series

Developing with nRF54L Series

Security

  • Added:

    • The CONFIG_CRACEN_IKG_SEED_KMU_SLOT Kconfig option to allow customization of the KMU slot used to store CRACEN’s Internal Key Generator (IKG) seed. The default IKG seed slot is now 183 (previously 0).

    • TF-M support for the nRF54L15 DK (board target nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp/ns), replacing the nRF54L15 PDK (board target nrf54l15pdk/nrf54l15/cpuapp/ns).

    • The west ncs-provision command, which allows to provision signature verification keys to the nRF54L15 SoC over the J-Link interface.

  • Deprecated legacy Mbed TLS crypto toolbox APIs that are enabled when the CONFIG_NORDIC_SECURITY_BACKEND Kconfig option is set. Use the nRF Security (enabled with the CONFIG_NRF_SECURITY Kconfig option) and PSA crypto APIs instead.

Protocols

This section provides detailed lists of changes by protocol. See Samples for lists of changes for the protocol-related samples.

Amazon Sidewalk

  • Added:

    • Support for the nRF54L15 DK.

    • Protection mechanism for Sidewalk keys in non-volatile memory (secure storage).

    • Amazon Sidewalk libraries v1.17.

    • New CLI commands:

      • Commands for testing Sidewalk Bulk Data Transfer.

      • A command for entering the Nordic DFU state.

      • A command for retrieving the device ID.

  • Updated:

    • The manufacturing storage module.

    • The SPI driver:

      • The recommended pin configuration has been changed for the nRF54L15 device.

      • The chip select pin control has been moved to the SPI driver.

      • The nrfx driver is directly used for the nRF52840 device.

    • The Sidewalk event module for the application.

    • The Sidewalk version print information.

  • Removed the deprecated Bluetooth LE address type configuration.

Bluetooth LE

  • Added functions bt_hci_err_to_str() and bt_security_err_to_str() to allow printing error codes as strings. Each function returns string representations of the error codes when the corresponding Kconfig option, CONFIG_BT_HCI_ERR_TO_STR or CONFIG_BT_SECURITY_ERR_TO_STR, is enabled. The Bluetooth samples and nRF Audio applications are updated to use these new functions.

  • Updated:

    • The SoftDevice Controller library to automatically select the CONFIG_BT_LL_SOFTDEVICE_MULTIROLE Kconfig option when using coexistence based on CONFIG_MPSL_CX for nRF52 Series devices.

    • The Bluetooth HCI driver is now present as a devicetree node in the device tree. The SoftDevice Controller driver uses a devicetree node named bt_hci_sdc with a devicetree binding compatible with nordic,bt-hci-sdc. The Zephyr Bluetooth LE Controller uses a devicetree node named bt_hci_controller with a devicetree binding compatible with zephyr,bt-hci-ll-sw-split. You need to update applications using the Zephyr Bluetooth Controller (see the migration guide).

    • Host calls in GATT Discovery Manager (DM) callbacks are now scheduled in a workqueue. The CONFIG_BT_GATT_DM_WORKQ_CHOICE Kconfig option allows you to select the workqueue implementation. You can select either a workqueue specific to GATT DM (default) or the system workqueue. You can use the system workqueue if creating a new thread is not viable due to memory constraints, but it is not recommended to have potential blocking calls in the system workqueue.

  • Fixed an issue where the Bluetooth subsystem deadlocked when a Bluetooth link was lost during data transfer. In this scenario, the disconnected event was never delivered to the application. The issue only occurred when the CONFIG_BT_HCI_ACL_FLOW_CONTROL Kconfig option was enabled. This option is enabled by default on the nRF5340 DK.

Bluetooth Mesh

Matter

  • Added:

  • Updated:

    • The default Trusted Storage AEAD key to Hardware Unique Key (HUK) for supported nRF54L Series devices.

    • Renamed the CONFIG_CHIP_FACTORY_RESET_ERASE_NVS Kconfig option to CONFIG_CHIP_FACTORY_RESET_ERASE_SETTINGS. The new Kconfig option now works for both NVS and ZMS file system backends.

    • The firmware version format used for informational purposes when using the VERSION file. The format now includes the optional EXTRAVERSION component.

    • Storing the Device Attestation Certificates private key in the Trusted Storage library to be enabled for all platforms that support the PSA crypto API. See DAC in Trusted Storage library for more information.

    • The stack sizes for OpenThread and CHIP (Matter) threads to increase them for the targets using the CRACEN crypto backend.

    • The IPv6 multicast subscription mechanism for Wi-Fi to enable the MLDv2 join procedure and improve reliability in multicast communication.

    • Storing the Device Attestation Certificates private key in the Key Management Unit (KMU) to be enabled for nRF54L Series devices. See DAC in Key Management Unit (KMU) for more information.

Matter fork

The Matter fork in the nRF Connect SDK (sdk-connectedhomeip) contains all commits from the upstream Matter repository up to, and including, the v1.3.0.0 tag.

Thread

  • Added the OpenThread build report and described how to use it.

  • Updated the default Trusted Storage AEAD key to Hardware Unique Key (HUK) for supported nRF54L Series devices.

Zigbee

  • Updated:

    • ZBOSS Zigbee stack to v3.11.5.0 and platform v5.1.6 (v3.11.5.0+5.1.6). They contain a fix for the ZBOSS traces. For details, see ZBOSS changelog.

    • ZBOSS Network Co-processor Host package to the new version v2.2.4.

  • Fixed the zb_add_ota_header.py script not being able to handle an APPLICATION_VERSION_STRING which includes a tweak, such as 1.0.0+3.

Wi-Fi

Applications

This section provides detailed lists of changes by application.

Machine learning

  • Added:

    • Support for the nRF54L15 DK (nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp).

    • Support for sampling ADXL362 sensor from PPR core on the nRF54H20 DK.

Asset Tracker v2

  • Added a note that the Asset Tracker v2 application is in the maintenance mode and that it is recommended to use the nRF Cloud multi-service sample instead.

Connectivity bridge

  • Updated the new nrfx UARTE driver implementation by setting the CONFIG_UART_NRFX_UARTE_LEGACY_SHIM Kconfig option to n. This resolves an issue where data from UART0 ends up in UART1 sometimes after the device was reset.

Matter bridge

  • Added:

    • The CONFIG_NCS_SAMPLE_MATTER_ZAP_FILES_PATH Kconfig option that specifies ZAP files location for the application. By default, the option points to the src/default_zap directory and can be changed to any path relative to application’s location that contains the ZAP file and zap-generated directory.

    • Experimental support for the nRF54H20 DK board.

    • Optional smart plug device functionality.

    • Experimental support for the Thread protocol.

    • The Bluetooth LE and Thread coexistence page.

nRF5340 Audio

  • Added:

    • The functions bt_hci_err_to_str() and bt_security_err_to_str() that are used to allow printing error codes as strings. Each function returns string representations of the error codes when the corresponding Kconfig option, CONFIG_BT_HCI_ERR_TO_STR or CONFIG_BT_SECURITY_ERR_TO_STR, is enabled.

    • CSIS to the BIS sink if the scan delegator feature, CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_SCAN_DELEGATOR, is enabled. Once a phone is connected to a BIS sink, the phone will find and connect to the second headset. Also, the phone can control the BIS headset in a group and deliver the PAST to both headsets at the same time.

    • Create CIG after reading the PACS from the first connected unicast server.

    • A minimal scan delegator to the unicast server if the feature, CONFIG_BT_AUDIO_SCAN_DELEGATOR, is enabled.

    • Available or support context type to PACS in broadcast sink and unicast client if the feature, CONFIG_BT_PAC_SRC_NOTIFIABLE is enabled.

    • The nRF Auraconfig sample.

  • Updated the nRF Audio overview and firmware architecture documentation page with the Source file architecture section.

  • Removed the EXPERIMENTAL flag from the sample rate converter.

nRF Desktop

  • Added:

    • Support for the nRF54L15 DK (board target nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp), replacing the nRF54L15 PDK (board target nrf54l15pdk/nrf54l15/cpuapp).

    • A debug configuration enabling the Fast Pair feature on the nRF54L15 DK with the nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp board target.

    • An application versioning using the VERSION file. The versioning is only applied to the application configurations that use the MCUboot bootloader.

    • The CONFIG_DESKTOP_USB_HID_REPORT_SENT_ON_SOF Kconfig option to USB state module. The option allows to synchronize providing HID data with USB Start of Frame (SOF). The feature reduces the negative impact of jitter related to USB polls, but it also increases HID data latency. For details, see USB Start of Frame (SOF) synchronization.

    • Local HID report buffering in USB state module. This ensures that the memory buffer passed to the USB next stack is valid until a HID report is sent and allows to enqueue up to two HID input reports for a USB HID instance (used only when CONFIG_DESKTOP_USB_HID_REPORT_SENT_ON_SOF Kconfig option is enabled).

    • Bootup logs with the manifest semantic version information to Device Firmware Upgrade MCUmgr module when the module is used for SUIT DFU and the SDFW supports semantic versioning (requires v0.6.2 and higher).

    • Manifest semantic version information to the firmware information response in Device Firmware Upgrade module when the module is used for SUIT DFU and the SDFW supports semantic versioning (requires v0.6.2 and higher).

    • A missing DTS node compatible with zephyr,hid-device to the nRF52840 DK in the MCUboot QSPI configuration. This ensures support for HID over USB when the USB next stack is selected.

    • Partial erase feature as implied in the USB next stack (CONFIG_DESKTOP_USB_STACK_NEXT) for the nRF SoC flash driver (CONFIG_SOC_FLASH_NRF_PARTIAL_ERASE). This is done to improve stability of the USB next stack. The partial erase feature works around device errors that might be reported by Windows USB host in Device Manager if USB cable is connected while erasing secondary image slot in the background.

    • As implied in the Bluetooth connectivity support (CONFIG_DESKTOP_BT), a separate workqueue is used for connection TX notify processing (CONFIG_BT_CONN_TX_NOTIFY_WQ) if MPSL is used for synchronization between the flash memory driver and radio (CONFIG_SOC_FLASH_NRF_RADIO_SYNC_MPSL). This is done to work around the timeout in MPSL flash synchronization (NCSDK-29354 known issue). See Known issues for details.

    • Note informing about dfu_application.zip format version 1 support as part of nRF Desktop: fwupd support. The format version 1 is supported by the fwupd since the 1.9.25 release.

    • DVFS module that can be used on the nRF54H20 SoC. The module is responsible for switching the frequency and voltage according to the application’s needs. The module ensures that lowest DVFS frequency and voltage are used unless computing-intensive operation requests higher frequency and voltage. The module listens to Event Manager events and applies DVFS frequency according to the application state.

    • Handling of hid_report_subscriber_event to HID forward module. Handling the hid_report_subscriber_event allows to take into account the maximum number of reports with different IDs, which can be processed by the subscriber (hid_report_subscriber_event.report_max).

    • HID report queue utility, which is integrated in HID forward module. The utility can be used by an application module to simplify enqueuing HID input reports received from connected HID peripherals before providing them to HID subscriber. The HID report queue utility is used to locally enqueue reports at the source to prevent HID report drops. The CONFIG_DESKTOP_HID_FORWARD_MAX_ENQUEUED_REPORTS Kconfig option was removed, use CONFIG_DESKTOP_HID_REPORTQ_MAX_ENQUEUED_REPORTS instead.

    • The Kconfig option CONFIG_DESKTOP_HID_FORWARD_SUBSCRIBER_COUNT that configures the number of HID subscribers in HID forward module. The value of the Kconfig option must match the number of USB HID class instances.

    • Bluetooth LE Low Latency Packet Mode (LLPM) dependency (CONFIG_CAF_BLE_USE_LLPM) to High frequency clock lock hotfix module. Using LLPM connection parameters reduces HID data latency far more significantly than enabling the hotfix.

  • Updated:

    • The CONFIG_BT_ADV_PROV_TX_POWER_CORRECTION_VAL Kconfig option value in configurations with the Fast Pair support. The value is now aligned with the Fast Pair requirements.

    • The CONFIG_NRF_RRAM_WRITE_BUFFER_SIZE Kconfig option value in the nRF54L15 DK configurations to ensure short write slots. It prevents timeouts in the MPSL flash synchronization caused by allocating long write slots while maintaining a Bluetooth LE connection with short intervals and no connection latency.

    • The method of obtaining hardware ID using Zephyr’s Hardware Information on the nRF54H20 DK. Replaced the custom implementation of the z_impl_hwinfo_get_device_id() function in the nRF Desktop application with the native Zephyr driver function that now supports the nRF54H20 DK board target. Removed the CONFIG_DESKTOP_HWINFO_BLE_ADDRESS_FICR_POSTFIX Kconfig option as a postfix constant is no longer needed for the Zephyr native driver. The driver uses BLE.ADDR, BLE.IR, and BLE.ER fields of the Factory Information Configuration Registers (FICR) to provide 8 bytes of unique hardware ID.

    • The Device Firmware Upgrade MCUmgr module to recognize the MCUmgr custom group ID (CONFIG_MGMT_GROUP_ID_SUIT) from the SUITFU subsystem (CONFIG_MGMT_SUITFU) as a DFU-related command group.

    • All build configurations with the DFU over MCUmgr support to require encryption for operations on the Bluetooth GATT SMP service (see the CONFIG_MCUMGR_TRANSPORT_BT_PERM_RW_ENCRYPT Kconfig option). The Bluetooth pairing procedure of the unpaired Bluetooth peers must now be performed before the DFU operation.

    • The Device Firmware Upgrade MCUmgr module to enable the MCUmgr handler that is used to report the bootloader information (see the CONFIG_MCUMGR_GRP_OS_BOOTLOADER_INFO Kconfig option).

    • The MCUboot image configurations for the nRF54L15 DK board to enable Link Time Optimization (LTO) (see the CONFIG_LTO Kconfig option) and reduce the memory footprint of the bootloader.

    • The partition memory configurations for the nRF54L15 DK board to optimize the size of the MCUboot bootloader partition.

    • The Constant latency hotfix module to use the nrfx_power_constlat_mode_request() and nrfx_power_constlat_mode_free() functions instead of nrf_power_task_trigger() to control requesting Constant Latency sub-power mode. This ensures correct behavior if another source requests Constant Latency sub-power mode through the nrfx API.

    • The CONFIG_DESKTOP_CONSTLAT_DISABLE_ON_STANDBY Kconfig option depends on CONFIG_CAF_PM_EVENTS. CAF Power Management events support is necessary to disable constant latency interrupts on standby.

    • The main application’s configuration directory (APPLICATION_CONFIG_DIR CMake option) is set only in the CMakeLists.txt file of the application. Configuration directories used for other built images and sysbuild are set through sysbuild’s CMakeLists.txt file.

  • Deprecated the High frequency clock lock hotfix module. Use the CONFIG_DESKTOP_BLE_LOW_LATENCY_LOCK Kconfig option instead. Setting the peripheral latency Bluetooth LE connection parameter to 0 for a connection that uses Low Latency Packet Mode connection interval on peripheral leads to keeping the high frequency clock enabled. That mitigates the extra HID report latency caused by the high frequency clock startup delay.

  • Removed support for the nRF54L15 PDK revision v0.2.x.

Serial LTE modem

  • Added:

    • DTLS support for the #XUDPSVR and #XSSOCKET (UDP server sockets) AT commands when the overlay-native_tls.conf configuration file is used.

    • The CONFIG_SLM_PPP_FALLBACK_MTU Kconfig option that is used to control the MTU used by PPP when the cellular link MTU is not returned by the modem in response to the AT+CGCONTRDP=0 AT command.

    • Handler for new nRF Cloud event type NRF_CLOUD_EVT_RX_DATA_DISCON.

    • Support for socket option AT_SO_IPV6_DELAYED_ADDR_REFRESH.

  • Updated:

    • AT string parsing to utilize the AT parser library instead of the AT command parser library.

    • The #XUDPCLI and #XSSOCKET (UDP client sockets) AT commands to use Zephyr’s Mbed TLS with DTLS when the overlay-native_tls.conf configuration file is used.

  • Fixed reading network registration status with AT+CEREG when the CONFIG_SLM_AUTO_CONNECT option is enabled.

  • Removed:

    • Support for the overlay-native_tls.conf configuration file with the thingy91/nrf9160/ns board target.

    • Support for deprecated RAI socket options AT_SO_RAI_LAST, AT_SO_RAI_NO_DATA, AT_SO_RAI_ONE_RESP, AT_SO_RAI_ONGOING, and AT_SO_RAI_WAIT_MORE.

    • The #XCARRIERCFG="bootstrap_smartcard" AT command.

Thingy:53: Matter weather station

  • Added the CONFIG_NCS_SAMPLE_MATTER_ZAP_FILES_PATH Kconfig option, which specifies ZAP files location for the application. By default, the option points to the src/default_zap directory and can be changed to any path relative to application’s location that contains the ZAP file and zap-generated directory.

Samples

This section provides detailed lists of changes by sample.

Bluetooth samples

Bluetooth Fast Pair samples

  • Added support for the nRF54L15 DK (board target nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp), replacing the nRF54L15 PDK (board target nrf54l15pdk/nrf54l15/cpuapp).

  • Updated:

  • Bluetooth Fast Pair: Locator tag sample:

    • Added:

      • LED indication on development kits for the Fast Pair advertising state.

      • An application versioning using the VERSION file.

      • The DFU support, which can be enabled using the SB_CONFIG_APP_DFU sysbuild Kconfig option. DFU is available for all supported targets except the debug configurations of nRF52 DK and nRF52833 DK due to size constraints.

      • An application module for the DULT motion detector feature and the new UI for supported board targets to interact with this feature. The development kit board targets simulate the motion with the button presses. The Thingy:53 target uses a 6-axis IMU with gyroscope to detect motion.

    • Updated:

      • The IPC radio firmware image configuration by splitting it into the debug and release configurations.

      • The location of the sample configuration. It has been moved from the root sample directory to the dedicated folder (locator_tag/configuration).

      • The fp_adv module to use the trigger requests for the Fast Pair advertising state instead of setting the Fast Pair advertising mode directly.

Bluetooth Mesh samples

Cellular samples

  • Added the Cellular: UICC LwM2M sample.

  • Cellular: Full modem firmware update using SMP Server sample:

    • Removed the unused AT command parser library.

  • Cellular: Modem Shell sample:

    • Added link modem command for initializing and shutting down the modem.

    • Updated to use the AT parser library instead of the AT command parser library.

  • Cellular: nRF Cloud REST FOTA sample:

    • Added:

      • Support for setting the FOTA update check interval using the config section in the shadow.

      • Support for SMP FOTA on the nRF9160 DK.

    • Removed redundant logging that is now done by the nRF Cloud library.

  • nRF Cloud multi-service sample:

    • Added:

      • The CONFIG_TEST_COUNTER_MULTIPLIER Kconfig option to multiply the number of test counter messages sent, for testing purposes.

      • A handler for new nRF Cloud event type NRF_CLOUD_EVT_RX_DATA_DISCON to stop sensors and location services.

      • Board support files to enable Wi-Fi scanning for the Thingy:91 X.

      • The CONFIG_SEND_ONLINE_ALERT Kconfig option to enable calling the nrf_cloud_alert function on startup.

      • Logging of the reset reason code.

      • The CONFIG_POST_PROVISIONING_INTERVAL_M Kconfig option to reduce the provisioning connection interval once the device successfully connects.

    • Updated:

      • Wi-Fi overlays from newlibc to picolib.

      • Handling of JITP association to improve speed and reliability.

      • Renamed the overlay_nrf7002ek_wifi_no_lte.conf overlay to overlay_nrf700x_wifi_mqtt_no_lte.conf.

      • Renamed the overlay_nrf7002ek_wifi_coap_no_lte.conf overlay to overlay_nrf700x_wifi_coap_no_lte.conf.

      • The value of the CONFIG_COAP_EXTENDED_OPTIONS_LEN_VALUE Kconfig option in the overlay_coap.conf file. A larger value is required now that the CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_COAP_DOWNLOADS Kconfig option is enabled.

      • Handling of credentials check to disable network if not using the provisioning service.

    • Fixed an issue where the accepted shadow was not marked as received because the config section did not yet exist in the shadow.

    • Removed redundant logging that is now done by the nRF Cloud library.

  • Cellular: nRF Cloud REST Device Message sample:

    • Added:

      • Support for dictionary logs using REST.

      • The CONFIG_SEND_ONLINE_ALERT Kconfig option to enable calling the nrf_cloud_alert function on startup.

      • Logging of the reset reason code.

    • Updated:

      • Credentials check to also see if AWS root CA cert is likely present.

      • Credentials check failure to disable network if not using the provisioning service.

    • Removed redundant logging that is now done by the nRF Cloud library.

  • Cellular: nRF Cloud REST cellular location sample:

    • Removed redundant logging that is now done by the nRF Cloud library.

  • Cellular: SMP Server sample:

    • Added sysbuild configuration files.

Cryptography samples

  • Added support for the nRF54L15 DK (board target nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp/ns), replacing the nRF54L15 PDK (board target nrf54l15pdk/nrf54l15/cpuapp/ns).

Debug samples

DECT NR+ samples

Edge Impulse samples

  • Added support for the nRF54L15 DK board in the following samples:

    • Edge Impulse: Data forwarder

    • Edge Impulse: Wrapper

Matter samples

  • Added:

    • The CONFIG_NCS_SAMPLE_MATTER_ZAP_FILES_PATH Kconfig option, which specifies ZAP files location for the sample. By default, the option points to the src/default_zap directory and can be changed to any path relative to sample’s location that contains the ZAP file and zap-generated directory.

    • Support for the nRF54L15 DK, replacing the nRF54L15 PDK.

    • Support for Trusted Firmware-M on the nRF54L15 SoC.

    • The Matter: Smoke CO Alarm sample that demonstrates implementation of Matter Smoke CO alarm device type.

    • The CONFIG_NCS_SAMPLE_MATTER_LEDS Kconfig option, which can be used to disable the LEDs in the Matter sample or application.

  • Updated:

  • Matter: Door lock sample:

    • Added Matter Lock schedule snippet and updated the documentation to use the snippet.

    • Updated:

      • The low power configuration to be enabled for the nRF54L15 DK target.

      • The Link-Time Optimization (LTO) to be enabled for the nRF7002 DK target.

  • Matter: Smoke CO Alarm sample:

    • Updated the low power configuration to be enabled for the nRF54L15 DK target.

  • Matter: Template sample:

    • Updated the DAC private key migration from factory data to KMU to be enabled for the nRF54L Series SoCs by default.

  • Matter: Window covering sample:

    • Updated the low power configuration to be enabled for the nRF54L15 DK target.

Networking samples

nRF5340 samples

Peripheral samples

  • IEEE 802.15.4 Sniffer sample:

    • Added sysbuild configuration for nRF5340.

    • Increased the number of RX buffers to reduce the chances of frame drops during high traffic periods.

    • Disabled the nRF Connect SDK boot banner.

    • Fixed the dBm value reported for captured frames.

  • IEEE 802.15.4 PHY test tool sample:

    • Added build configuration for the nRF54H20.

  • Radio test (short-range) sample:

    • Added packet reception limit for the start_rx command.

PMIC samples

Protocols serialization samples

Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M) samples

  • Added support for the nRF54L15 DK (nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp/ns), replacing the nRF54L15 PDK (nrf54l15pdk/nrf54l15/cpuapp/ns).

  • TF-M: PSA template sample:

    • Added support for updating the network core on the nRF5340 DK.

Thread samples

Zigbee samples

  • Zigbee light switch sample:

    • Added the option to configure transmission power.

    • Fixed the FOTA configuration for the nRF5340 DK.

Wi-Fi samples

  • Added:

    • The Wi-Fi: Offloaded raw TX sample that demonstrates offloaded raw transmit beaconing, allowing the beaconing to be done autonomously by nRF7002 instead of being triggered by the host. This allows using simpler hosts as it requires less processing from the host side.

  • Wi-Fi: Radio test (Multi domain) sample:

    • Added capture timeout as a parameter for packet capture.

    • Expanded the scope of wifi_radio_test show_config subcommand and rectified the behavior of wifi_radio_test tx_pkt_preamble subcommand.

  • Wi-Fi: SoftAP based provision sample:

  • Wi-Fi: Shell sample:

    • Added:

      • Support for running the full stack on the Thingy:91 X. This is a special configuration that uses the nRF5340 as the host chip instead of the nRF9151.

      • Overlay to support Enterprise mode.

Other samples

Drivers

This section provides detailed lists of changes by driver.

Wi-Fi drivers

  • The nRF70 Series Wi-Fi driver has been upstreamed to Zephyr, so the source code has been removed from the nRF Connect SDK. However, the driver documentation remains available within the nRF Connect SDK documentation.

Libraries

This section provides detailed lists of changes by library.

Binary libraries

Bluetooth libraries and services

Common Application Framework

Debug libraries

DFU libraries

  • Added the subsys_suit library that provides functionality to a local domain for managing the update based on the SUIT manifest.

  • DFU target library:

    • Added SUIT cache processing to the DFU Target SUIT library, as described in the lib_dfu_target_suit_style_update section.

    • Updated the DFU Target SUIT implementation to the newest version of the SUIT.

Modem libraries

Multiprotocol Service Layer libraries

  • Added a 1-wire coexistence implementation that you can enable using the Kconfig option CONFIG_MPSL_CX_1WIRE.

  • Updated the name of the Kconfig option CONFIG_MPSL_CX_THREAD to CONFIG_MPSL_CX_3WIRE to better indicate multiprotocol compatibility.

  • Fixed an issue where the HFXO would be left on after uninitializing MPSL when the RC oscillator was used as the Low Frequency clock source (DRGN-22809).

  • Deprecated the Kconfig option CONFIG_MPSL_CX_BT_1WIRE.

Libraries for networking

Libraries for NFC

  • Added an experimental serialization of NFC tag 2 and tag 4 APIs.

  • Fixed a potential issue with handling data pointers in the function ring_buf_get_data() in the platform_internal_thread file.

nRF RPC libraries

  • Added:

    • An experimental serialization of OpenThread APIs.

    • The logging backend that sends logs through nRF RPC events.

  • Updated the internal Bluetooth serialization API and Bluetooth callback proxy API to become part of the public NRF RPC API.

Other libraries

Security libraries

  • nRF Security library:

    • Added the CONFIG_PSA_WANT_ALG_SP800_108_COUNTER_CMAC Kconfig option to key derivation function configurations in Configuring PSA Crypto API. The Kconfig option enables support for the derivation function SP 800-108r1 CMAC in counter mode, which is supported by the CRACEN driver.

    • Removed the Kconfig options CONFIG_PSA_WANT_ALG_CFB and CONFIG_PSA_WANT_ALG_OFB since the Cipher Feedback (CFB) mode and the Output Feedback (OFB) mode are not tested in the test framework.

  • Trusted storage library:

    • Added support for Zephyr Memory Storage (ZMS), as an alternative to the NVS file system.

sdk-nrfxlib

See the changelog for each library in the nrfxlib documentation for additional information.

Scripts

This section provides detailed lists of changes by script.

MCUboot

The MCUboot fork in nRF Connect SDK (sdk-mcuboot) contains all commits from the upstream MCUboot repository up to and including a4eda30f5b0cfd0cf15512be9dcd559239dbfc91, with some nRF Connect SDK specific additions.

The code for integrating MCUboot into nRF Connect SDK is located in the ncs/nrf/modules/mcuboot folder.

The following list summarizes both the main changes inherited from upstream MCUboot and the main changes applied to the nRF Connect SDK specific additions:

  • Added:

    • Compressed firmware update support.

    • Support for handling SHA512 by serial recovery protocol.

    • Support for ED25519 ‘PURE’ signature (CONFIG_BOOT_SIGNATURE_TYPE_PURE in MCUboot).

    • Integration of PSA crypto API as cryptographic backend for integration with cryptographic acceleration on the nRF54L15 SoC (CONFIG_BOOT_USE_PSA_CRYPTO in MCUboot).

    • Support for signature verification using hardware cryptography (Cracken) on the nRF54L15 SoC. This is supported either for the ED25519 ‘PURE’ signature or the ED25519 signature.

    • Support for storing signature verification keys in hardware KMU on the nRF54L15 SoC. See Kconfig option CONFIG_BOOT_SIGNATURE_USING_KMU in MCUboot for details.

    • Integration of nRF54L15 SoC’s HW cryptography (SB_CONFIG_BOOT_SIGNATURE_TYPE_ED25519), KMU sysbuild configuration (SB_CONFIG_MCUBOOT_SIGNATURE_USING_KMU), and signing script (SB_CONFIG_BOOT_SIGNATURE_TYPE_PURE) for building and signing the application in a project.

  • Updated the immutable bootloader to now be protected using the Hardware flash write protection library on the nRF54L15 SoC (SB_CONFIG_MCUBOOT_FPROTECT_ALLOW_COMBINED_REGIONS and the CONFIG_FPROTECT_ALLOW_COMBINED_REGIONS Kconfig option).

  • Fixed:

    • An issue with wrong network core address checking in MCUboot for nRF5340 network core firmware updates.

    • An issue with MCUboot updates in MCUboot when a swap mode was selected, which could lead to possible data corruption by implementing additional NSIB-specific (overwrite-only) upgrade mode for sysbuild.

    • Multiple issues with checking firmware update slot selection in MCUboot for sysbuild.

    • An issue with MCUboot cleanup unused slots feature, which could lead to possible empty firmware update of the main image and bricking the device for sysbuild.

Zephyr

The Zephyr fork in nRF Connect SDK (sdk-zephyr) contains all commits from the upstream Zephyr repository up to and including beb733919d8d64a778a11bd5e7d5cbe5ae27b8ee, with some nRF Connect SDK specific additions.

For the list of upstream Zephyr commits (not including cherry-picked commits) incorporated into nRF Connect SDK since the most recent release, run the following command from the ncs/zephyr repository (after running west update):

git log --oneline beb733919d ^ea02b93eea

For the list of nRF Connect SDK specific commits, including commits cherry-picked from upstream, run:

git log --oneline manifest-rev ^beb733919d

The current nRF Connect SDK main branch is based on revision beb733919d of Zephyr.

Note

For possible breaking changes and changes between the latest Zephyr release and the current Zephyr version, refer to the Zephyr release notes.

Trusted Firmware-M

  • Added a possibility to read UICR.OTP registers through platform services.

  • Updated the TF-M version to v2.1.0.

Mbed TLS

  • Updated the Mbed TLS version to v3.6.2.

Documentation