nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0 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

This major release of nRF Connect SDK introduces significant changes that can break backward compatibility for existing projects. Refer to the Migration notes for nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0 for further information.

The SDK can be installed using any one of the following options:

Starting with this release, the SDK installation using the Toolchain Manager app is not supported.

Added the following features as supported:

  • Bluetooth®:

    • Channel Sounding Controller and Host will be Bluetooth qualified for the nRF54L Series.

    • The Bluetooth: Channel Sounding Initiator with Ranging Requestor sample now includes an IFFT algorithm for Phase-Based Ranging, providing a viable distance measurement result for basic ranging applications. Results from the illustrative MCPD algorithm from the nRF Connect SDK 2.9.0 release, which is shown alongside the IFFT result, are still not recommended for ranging.

    • Bluetooth controller and host qualified for the nRF54H20.

  • Matter:

    • Matter 1.4.1: Matter commissioning using NFC tag can be officially certified now.

    • Matter: Manufacturer-specific sample: Dedicated sample, containing documentation and a preview PC app, facilitating creation and modification of manufacturer specific clusters.

  • PMIC:

    • nPM2100 and nPM2100 EK:

      • Added support for nPM2100, which is a PMIC designed for primary (non-rechargeable) batteries in an extremely compact form factor. It has an ultra-efficient boost regulator, a dual purpose LDO/load switch, two GPIOs, an ADC, and other features.

      • nPM2100: Fuel gauge sample, demonstrating how to calculate the state of charge of a supported primary cell battery using the nPM2100 and the nRF Fuel Gauge library.

      • nPM2100: One button sample, demonstrating how to support wake-up, shutdown, and user interactions through a single button connected to the nPM2100.

  • nRF54L Series:

    • nRF54L10 and nRF54L05 are added as supported targets in the nRF Desktop application.

    • MCUboot image compression is now supported on nRF54L15 and nRF54L10.

    • nRF21540 GPIO support on nRF54L Series.

Added the following features as experimental:

  • nRF54L Series:

    • Bootloader and Device Firmware Update (DFU):

      • Support for nRF Secure Immutable Bootloader as first stage immutable bootloader.

      • Support for encrypted DFU with ECIES x25519 encryption using MCUboot.

    • QSPI external memory interface provided by sQSPI Soft Peripheral, which utilizes the nRF54L15 FLPR coprocessor.

    • Coprocessor High Performance Framework, a framework designed to facilitate the creation and integration of software peripherals using the nRF54L15 FLPR coprocessor.

Improved:

  • Wi-Fi®:

    • Up to 25 kB reduction in the RAM footprint of the Wi-Fi stack on nRF5340 and nRF54L15 hosts, for Wi-Fi applications with low throughput requirements.

    • Added support for the runtime certificate update for WPA Enterprise security.

  • nRF54H20:

    • Significantly improved support for multiple hardware features.

  • LE Audio:

    • The following LE Audio roles are now qualified. Refer to the ICS details in the product listing for a complete overview of which profiles, services and features are included in the qualification. The LE Audio profiles and services run on top of the qualified Nordic BLE Host and Controller.

      • Unicast Client Source (base stations).

      • Broadcast Source (broadcasters/Auracasters).

      • Unicast Server Source (microphones).

  • nRF Desktop:

    • Support for Bluetooth LE legacy pairing is no longer enabled by default, because it is not secure.

    • Enabled Link Time Optimization (LTO) for images built by Sysbuild (System build).

Removed:

  • Hardware model v1, which was deprecated in nRF Connect SDK 2.7.0, has now been removed. Existing projects must transition to hardware model v2.

  • Multi-image builds functionality (parent-child images), which was deprecated in nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 has now been removed. Existing projects must transition to Sysbuild (System build).

  • Zigbee R22, which was deprecated in nRF Connect SDK 2.8.0, has now been removed. Support for Zigbee R22 and Zigbee R23 is available as an nRF Connect SDK Add-on.

  • Asset Tracker v2 application is now removed. The application is replaced by Asset Tracker Template, which will be available as an nRF Connect SDK Add-on.

  • The application configurations for the nRF52810 Desktop Mouse board in nRF Desktop has been removed.

  • Amazon Sidewalk has been removed from nRF Connect SDK and is now available as an Add-on.

Sign up for the nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0 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 v3.0.0. 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 v3.0.0.

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 v3.0.0. 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 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 v3.0.0 for the list of issues valid for the latest release.

Migration notes

See the Migration guide for nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0 for the changes required or recommended when migrating your application from nRF Connect SDK v2.9.0 to nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0.

Changelog

The following sections provide detailed lists of changes by component.

IDE, OS, and tool support

  • Updated:

    • The required SEGGER J-Link version to v8.18.

    • The Installation page with the following:

      • The Install prerequisites section with a list valid for both development environments. The list now includes nRF Util as an additional requirement for west runner for the nRF Connect for VS Code, and the Windows-only requirement to install SEGGER USB Driver for J-Link for both development environments.

      • The command-line instructions now use the nrfutil sdk-manager command instead of the nrfutil toolchain-manager command. You can read more about the new command in the nRF Util documentation.

    • Mentions of commands that use tools from the nRF Command Line Tools to use nRF Util. The nRF Command Line Tools have been archived and replaced by nRF Util. No further updates will be made to the nRF Command Line Tools. Last supported operating systems are Windows 10, Linux Ubuntu 22.04, and macOS 13. The nRF Command Line Tools will remain available for download, but do not install the SEGGER J-Link version they provide if you have a newer version installed.

  • Removed the Toolchain Manager app section from the following pages:

    The app no longer provides the latest toolchain and nRF Connect SDK versions for installation.

Board support

  • Removed support for the nRF52810 Desktop Mouse board (nrf52810dmouse/nrf52810).

Build and configuration system

  • Removed support for the deprecated multi-image builds (parent-child images) functionality. All nRF Connect SDK projects must now use Sysbuild (System build). See Migrating from multi-image builds to sysbuild for an overview of differences with parent-child image and how to migrate.

  • Updated:

    • The default runner for the west flash command to nRF Util instead of nrfjprog that is part of the archived nRF Command Line Tools. For more information, see the Build system section and the Selecting west runner section on the programming page.

      Note

      For nRF Connect SDK 3.0.0, use the nrfutil-device v2.8.8.

    • Erasing the external memory when programming a new firmware image with the west flash series now always correctly honors the --erase flag (and its absence) both when using the nrfjprog and nrfutil backends. Before this release, the nrfjprog backend would always erase only the sectors of the external flash used by the new firmware, and the nrfutil backend would always erase the whole external flash.

    • west ncs-provision command was ported onto newest nrfutil device provisioning command. User must update nrfutil-device to v2.8.8 for this nRF Connect SDK release.

    • The CONFIG_NRF53_MULTI_IMAGE_UPDATE Kconfig option no longer depends on external flash (NCSIDB-1232).

    • The static partition manager file for network core images can now be set (NCSIDB-1442).

    • QSPI XIP support has been extended to include building with TF-M on the nRF5340 device. An instance of TF-M can now be part of the internal NVM application image.

Bootloader and DFU

  • Added experimental support nRF Secure Immutable Bootloader for the nRF54L15 SoC. On nRF54L SoCs, NSIB uses KMU for authentication key storage. It supports keys revocation scheme and it can be protected using immutable-boot region SoC’s hardware feature.

  • Updated by improving DFU timing performance on the nRF54L SoC by applying optimal RRAMC buffering.

Developing with nRF70 Series

Developing with nRF54L Series

  • Added:

    • HMAC SHA-256 with a 128-bit key type to KMU, as detailed in the Key types that can be stored in the KMU documentation section.

    • A workaround for nRF54L15 Errata 30. Use CONFIG_CLOCK_CONTROL_NRF_HF_CALIBRATION=y to explicitly activate the workaround. A consequence of activating the workaround might be increased power consumption due to periodic CPU wake-up, so use it only if errata conditions are met. The workaround is already included in the MPSL component, so the solution is applicable only if your application does not use MPSL.

Developing with nRF54H Series

Developing with Front-End Modules

  • Added support for the following:

  • Fixed an issue for the nRF21540 Front-End Module (for GPIO and GPIO+SPI modes) when spurious emission occurred due to late activation of the TX_EN pin. The PDN pin is now activated earlier by the call to the mpsl_fem_enable() function. The TX_EN pin is now activated 15 µs earlier during the ramp-up of the radio.

Developing with PMICs

Security

Protocols

Bluetooth LE

  • Updated the Bluetooth LE SoftDevice Controller driver to make the hci_vs_sdc_llpm_mode_set() function return an error if Low Latency Packet Mode (LLPM) is not supported or not enabled in the Bluetooth LE Controller driver configuration (CONFIG_BT_CTLR_SDC_LLPM).

  • Fixed:

    • An issue where a flash operation executed on the system workqueue might result in -ETIMEDOUT, if there is an active Bluetooth LE connection.

    • An issue where Bluetooth applications built with the nordic-bt-rpc snippet (in the Bluetooth Low Energy Remote Procedure Call configuration) did not work on the nRF54H20 devices due to incorrect memory mapping.

  • Removed the HCI_LE_Read_Local_P-256_Public_Key and HCI_LE_Generate_DHKey commands emulation from the HCI driver.

Bluetooth Mesh

Enhanced ShockBurst (ESB)

  • Added:

    • Loading of radio trims and a fix of a hardware errata for the nRF54H20 SoC to improve the RF performance.

    • Workaround for the hardware errata HMPAN-216 for the nRF54H20 SoC.

Matter

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 5fd234d4f14e1225533eaea85854f160bbd0fd55 commit from the v1.4-branch. The following list summarizes the most important changes inherited from the upstream Matter:

  • Added:

    • Enhanced Setup Flow that allows the standard Matter commissioning process to enable display and acknowledgment of device makers’ legal terms and conditions before the device setup.

    • Onboarding Payload in NFC tags.

    • Large messages over TCP.

    • New kFactoryReset event that is posted during a factory reset. The application can register a handler and perform additional cleanup

Thread

Zigbee

  • Removed all Zigbee resources. They are now available as separate Zigbee R22 and Zigbee R23 add-on repositories.

Wi-Fi

Applications

IPC radio firmware

  • Updated:

    • The application to enable the Zephyr Memory Storage (ZMS) file system in all devices that contain MRAM, such as the nRF54H Series devices.

    • The documentation of applications and samples that use the IPC radio firmware as a companion component to mention its usage when built with Sysbuild.

  • Fixed a performance issue where the IPC radio firmware application could drop HCI packets in case of high data traffic.

Machine learning

Matter bridge

  • Updated by enabling Link Time Optimization (LTO) by default for the release configuration.

  • Removed support for the nRF54H20 devices.

nRF5340 Audio

  • Added more information on new DNs and QDIDs.

  • Updated:

    • The documentation for Building and running nRF Audio applications with cross-links and additional information.

    • The buildprog.py script is an app-specific script for building and programming multiple kits and cores with various audio application configurations. The script will be deprecated in a future release. The audio applications will gradually shift to using only standard tools for building and programming development kits.

    • The nRF Audio application’s script for building and programming now builds into a directory for each transport, device type, core, and version combination.

    • The build system to use overlay files for each of the four applications instead of using Kconfig.default.

    • The buildprog.py script to demand argument --transport to set either unicast or broadcast.

  • Fixed:

    • The static random address for the broadcast source and unicast server.

    • The time sync issue that occasionally caused a 1 ms difference between the Left/Right headset.

nRF Desktop

  • Added:

    • System power management for the nRF54H20 DK board target on the application and radio cores.

    • Application configurations for the nRF54L05 and nRF54L10 SoCs (emulated on the nRF54L15 DK). The configurations are supported through nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp board targets. For details, see the nRF Desktop: Board configuration.

    • The dongle_small configuration for the nRF52833 DK. The configuration enables logs and mimics the dongle configuration used for small SoCs.

    • Requirement for zero latency in Zephyr’s System Power Management while USB is active (CONFIG_DESKTOP_USB_PM_REQ_NO_PM_LATENCY Kconfig option of the USB state power manager module). The feature is enabled by default if Zephyr power management (CONFIG_PM) is enabled. It prevents entering power states that introduce wakeup latency and ensures high performance.

    • Static Partition Manager memory maps for single-image configurations (without bootloader and separate radio/network core image). In the nRF Connect SDK, the Partition Manager is enabled by default for single-image sysbuild builds. The static memory map ensures control over settings partition placement and size. The introduced static memory maps might not be consistent with the storage_partition defined by the board-level DTS configuration.

    • Support for GATT long (reliable) writes (CONFIG_BT_ATT_PREPARE_COUNT) to Fast Pair and Works With ChromeBook (WWCB) configurations. This allows performing fwupd DFU image upload over Bluetooth LE with GATT clients that do not perform MTU exchange (for example, ChromeOS using the Floss Bluetooth stack).

    • The dongle and release_dongle application configurations for the nRF54H20 DK (nrf54h20dk/nrf54h20/cpuapp). The configurations act as a HID dongle.

  • Updated:

    • RTT (CONFIG_USE_SEGGER_RTT) is disabled in the MCUboot configuration of the nRF52840 DK (mcuboot_smp file suffix). Using RTT for logs in both the application and the bootloader leads to crashes. The MCUboot bootloader provides logs over UART.

    • The Failsafe module to use the Zephyr Hardware Information driver for getting and clearing the reset reason information (see the hwinfo_get_reset_cause() and hwinfo_clear_reset_cause() functions). The Zephyr Hardware Information driver replaces the dependency on the nrfx reset reason helper (see the nrfx_reset_reason_get() and nrfx_reset_reason_clear() functions).

    • The release configuration for the nRF54H20 DK board target to enable the Failsafe module (see the CONFIG_DESKTOP_FAILSAFE_ENABLE Kconfig option).

    • By enabling Link Time Optimization (CONFIG_LTO and CONFIG_ISR_TABLES_LOCAL_DECLARATION) by default for an nRF Desktop application image. LTO was also explicitly enabled in configurations of other images built by sysbuild (bootloader, network core image).

    • Application configurations for nRF54L05, nRF54L10, and nRF54L15 SoCs to use Fast Pair PSA cryptography (CONFIG_BT_FAST_PAIR_CRYPTO_PSA). Using PSA cryptography improves security and reduces memory footprint. Also, increased the size of the Bluetooth receiving thread stack (CONFIG_BT_RX_STACK_SIZE) to prevent stack overflows.

    • Application configurations for the nRF52820 SoC to reduce memory footprint:

    • Application configurations for HID peripherals by increasing the following thread stack sizes to prevent stack overflows during the settings_load() operation:

      This change results from the Bluetooth subsystem transition to the PSA cryptographic API. The GATT database hash calculation now requires a larger stack size.

    • Support for Bluetooth LE legacy pairing is no longer enabled by default, because it is not secure. Using Bluetooth LE legacy pairing introduces, among others, a risk of passive eavesdropping. Supporting Bluetooth LE legacy pairing makes devices vulnerable to downgrade attacks. The CONFIG_BT_SMP_SC_PAIR_ONLY Kconfig option is enabled by default in Zephyr. If you still need to support the Bluetooth LE legacy pairing, you need to disable the option in the configuration.

    • HID state module and Function key module to use bsearch() implementation from the C library. This simplifies maintenance and allows you to use Picolibc (CONFIG_PICOLIBC).

    • The IPC radio image configurations of the nRF5340 DK to use Picolibc (CONFIG_PICOLIBC). This aligns the configurations with the IPC radio image configurations of the nRF54H20 DK. Picolibc is used by default in Zephyr.

    • The nRF Desktop application image configurations to use Picolibc (CONFIG_PICOLIBC) by default. Using the minimal libc implementation (CONFIG_MINIMAL_LIBC) no longer decreases the memory footprint of the application image for most of the configurations.

    • By enabling USB Start of Frame (SOF) synchronization (CONFIG_DESKTOP_USB_HID_REPORT_SENT_ON_SOF Kconfig option) by default on the nRF54H Series SoC (CONFIG_SOC_SERIES_NRF54HX). The negative impact of USB polling jitter is more visible in case of USB High-Speed.

    • The Fast Pair sysbuild configurations to align the application with the sysbuild Kconfig changes for controlling the Fast Pair provisioning process. The Nordic device models intended for demonstration purposes are now supplied by default in the nRF Desktop Fast Pair configurations.

    • The DVFS module to no longer consume the ble_peer_conn_params_event event. This allows to propagate the event to further listeners of the same or lower priority. This prevents an issue where Bluetooth LE latency module is not informed about the connection parameter update (it might cause missing connection latency updates).

    • The Low Latency Packet Mode (LLPM) dependency in the Bluetooth LE connection parameters module. The module relies on the CONFIG_CAF_BLE_USE_LLPM Kconfig option. This allows using the module also when the Bluetooth LE controller is not part of the main application.

    • By enabling the CONFIG_DESKTOP_CONFIG_CHANNEL_OUT_REPORT Kconfig option for the nRF54H20 DK. The option mitigates HID report rate drops during DFU image transfer through the nRF Desktop dongle.

    • By explicitly enabling the CONFIG_BT_CTLR_ASSERT_HANDLER Kconfig option in IPC radio image configurations of the nRF54H20 DK. This is done to use an assertion handler defined by the IPC radio image.

    • By disabling the UDC DWC2 DMA support (CONFIG_UDC_DWC2_DMA) on the nRF54H20 DK. The DMA support is experimental, and disabling the feature improves USB HID stability. Since nRF Desktop uses only small HID reports (report size is smaller than 64 bytes), the DMA does not improve performance.

    • The nRF Desktop device names to remove the``52`` infix, because the nRF Desktop application supports other SoC Series also. This change breaks backwards compatibility. Peripherals using firmware from the nRF Connect SDK v3.0.0 (or newer) will not pair with dongles using firmware from an older nRF Connect SDK release and the other way around. The HID configurator script has also been aligned to the new naming scheme.

  • Removed:

    • Application configurations for the nRF52810 Desktop Mouse board (nrf52810dmouse/nrf52810). The board is no longer supported in the nRF Connect SDK.

Serial LTE modem

  • Added:

    • A new page nRF91 Series SiP as a modem for Linux device.

    • An overlay file overlay-memfault.conf to enable Memfault. See Memfault for more information about Memfault features in nRF Connect SDK.

  • Updated the application to use the Downloader library instead of the deprecated Download client library.

Thingy:53: Matter weather station

  • Updated by enabling Link Time Optimization (LTO) by default for the release configuration.

Samples

This section provides detailed lists of changes by sample.

Bluetooth samples

Bluetooth Mesh samples

Bluetooth Fast Pair samples

  • Added experimental support for the nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp board targets in all Fast Pair samples.

  • Updated:

    • The non-secure target (nrf5340dk/nrf5340/cpuapp/ns and thingy53/nrf5340/cpuapp/ns) configurations of all Fast Pair samples to use configurable TF-M profile instead of the predefined minimal TF-M profile. This change results from the Bluetooth subsystem transition to the PSA cryptographic standard. The Bluetooth stack can now use the PSA crypto API in the non-secure domain as all necessary TF-M partitions are configured properly.

    • The configuration of all Fast Pair samples by increasing the following thread stack sizes to prevent stack overflows:

      This change results from the Bluetooth subsystem transition to the PSA cryptographic API.

    • The sysbuild configurations in samples to align them with the sysbuild Kconfig changes for controlling the Fast Pair provisioning process.

  • Removed a separate workqueue for connection TX notify processing (CONFIG_BT_CONN_TX_NOTIFY_WQ) from configurations. The MPSL flash synchronization issue (NCSDK-29354 in the Known issues) is fixed. The workaround is no longer needed.

  • Bluetooth Fast Pair: Locator tag sample:

    • Added:

      • Experimental support for the nRF54H20 DK board target.

      • Support for firmware update intents on the Android platform. The configuration of the default device model in the Google Nearby Console has been updated to properly support this feature. See the sample documentation for more information. Integrated the new connection authentication callback from the FMDN module and the Device Information Service (DIS) to support firmware version read operation over the Firmware Revision characteristic. Updated the sample documentation with a new section Android notifications about firmware updates that contains the description of this feature and a new testing procedure that demonstrates how this feature works. For further details on the Android intent feature for firmware updates, see the Firmware update intent section of the Fast Pair integration guide.

    • Updated:

      • The partition layout for the nrf5340dk/nrf5340/cpuapp/ns and thingy53/nrf5340/cpuapp/ns board targets to accommodate the partitions needed due to a change in the TF-M profile configuration.

      • The debug (default) configuration of the main image to enable the Link Time Optimization (LTO) with the CONFIG_LTO Kconfig option. This change ensures consistency with the sample release configuration that has the LTO feature enabled by default.

      • The nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp board target configuration to enable hardware cryptography for the MCUboot bootloader. The application image is verified using a pure ED25519 signature and the public key used by MCUboot for validating the application image is securely stored in the Key Management Unit (KMU) hardware peripheral. Support for the nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp board targets, which is added to this sample in this release iteration, also includes the same MCUboot bootloader configuration with the hardware cryptography enabled.

        The change modifies the memory partition layout for the nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp board target and changes the MCUboot image signing algorithm. Because of that, the application images built for the nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp board target from this nRF Connect SDK release are not compatible with the MCUboot bootloader built from previous releases. It is highly recommended to use hardware cryptography for the nRF54L Series SoC for improved security.

      • The configurations for board targets with the MCUboot bootloader support to use a non-default signature key file (the SB_CONFIG_BOOT_SIGNATURE_KEY_FILE Kconfig option). The application uses a unique signature key file for each board target, which is defined at the same directory level as the target sysbuild configuration file. This modification changes the key set that is used by the MCUboot DFU solution. Because of that, the application images from this nRF Connect SDK release are not compatible with the MCUboot bootloader built from previous releases.

      • The MCUboot DFU signature type to the Elliptic curve digital signatures with curve P-256 (ECDSA P256 - the SB_CONFIG_BOOT_SIGNATURE_TYPE_ECDSA_P256 Kconfig option) for the nrf52840dk/nrf52840 board target. This is done to use Cryptocell 310 for image signature verification. This change breaks the backwards compatibility, as performing DFU from an old signature type to a new one is impossible.

Cellular samples

  • Updated the following samples to use the Downloader library instead of the Download client library:

  • Cellular: Modem Shell sample:

    • Added support for setting and getting socket options using the sock option set and sock option get commands.

    • Removed the CONFIG_MOSH_LINK Kconfig option. The link control functionality is now always enabled and cannot be disabled.

  • nRF Cloud multi-service sample:

    • Fixed:

      • Wrong header naming in provisioning_support.h file, which was causing build errors when sample_reboot.h was included in other source files.

      • An issue with an uninitialized variable in the handle_at_cmd_requests() function.

      • An issue with a very small CONFIG_COAP_EXTENDED_OPTIONS_LEN_VALUE Kconfig value in the overlay-coap_nrf_provisioning.conf file.

      • Slow Wi-Fi connectivity startup by selecting TFM_SFN instead of TFM_IPC.

      • The size of TLS credentials buffer for Wi-Fi connectivity to allow installing both AWS and CoAP CA certificates.

      • Build issues with Wi-Fi configuration using CoAP.

  • LTE Sensor Gateway sample:

    • Fixed an issue with devicetree configuration after HCI updates in sdk-zephyr.

  • Cellular: PDN sample:

    • Added dynamic PDN information.

Cryptography samples

Edge Impulse samples

  • Added support for the nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp board targets in all Edge Impulse samples.

Enhanced ShockBurst samples

  • Added support for the nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp board targets in all ESB samples.

Matter samples

  • Added Matter: Manufacturer-specific sample that demonstrates an implementation of custom manufacturer-specific clusters used by the application layer.

  • Matter: Template sample:

    • Updated:

      • The documentation with instructions on how to build the sample on the nRF54L15 DK with support for Matter OTA DFU and DFU over Bluetooth SMP, and using internal RRAM only.

      • Link Time Optimization (LTO) to be enabled by default for the release configuration and nrf7002dk/nrf5340/cpuapp board target.

    • Removed support for nRF54H20 devices.

  • Matter: Door lock sample:

    • Updated the API of AppTask, BoltLockManager, and AccessManager to provide additional information for the LockOperation event.

    • Removed support for nRF54H20 devices.

Networking samples

NFC samples

nRF5340 samples

Peripheral samples

  • Radio test (short-range) sample:

    • Added:

      • Loading of radio trims and a fix of a hardware errata for the nRF54H20 SoC to improve the RF performance.

      • Workaround for the hardware errata HMPAN-216 for the nRF54H20 SoC.

PMIC samples

  • Added:

    • The nPM2100: One button sample that demonstrates how to support wake-up, shutdown, and user interactions through a single button connected to the nPM2100 PMIC.

    • The nPM2100: Fuel gauge sample that demonstrates how to calculate the battery state of charge of primary cell batteries using the nRF Fuel Gauge library.

  • nPM1300: Fuel gauge sample:

    • Updated to accommodate API changes in nRF Fuel Gauge library v1.0.0.

SDFW samples

  • Removed the SDFW: Service Framework Client sample as all services demonstrated by the sample have been removed.

SUIT samples

  • Added the nrf54h_suit_ab_sample sample that demonstrates how to perform A/B updates using SUIT manifests.

  • nrf54h_suit_sample sample:

    • Updated:

      • The memory maps to cover the entire available MRAM memory.

      • The memory maps to place recovery firmware on lower addresses than the main firmware.

      • By enabling secure entropy source in all main Bluetooth-enabled sample variants (except recovery firmware).

      • By extending the manifests to process the suit-payload-fetch sequence of the Nordic top update candidate.

      • By extending the manifests with build-time checks for consistency between MPI and envelope signing configuration.

      • By migrating to the new JEDEC SPI-NOR flash driver that supports octal SPI transfer mode.

Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M) samples

Thread samples

  • Thread: CLI sample:

    • Removed support for the nRF54H20 DK.

Zigbee samples

  • Removed all Zigbee samples. They are now available as separate Zigbee R22 and Zigbee R23 add-on repositories.

Wi-Fi samples

Other samples

  • Added Application JWT sample that demonstrates how the application core can generate a signed JWT.

  • CoreMark sample:

    • Added:

      • Support for the nRF54L05 and nRF54L10 SoCs (emulated on nRF54L15 DK).

      • FLPR core support for the nRF54L15 DK and nRF54H20 DK board targets.

    • Removed the following compiler options that were set in the CONFIG_COMPILER_OPT Kconfig option:

      • -fno-pie

      • -fno-pic

      • -ffunction-sections

      • -fdata-sections

      These options are enabled by default in Zephyr and do not need to be set with the dedicated Kconfig option.

  • CAF: Sensor manager sample:

    • Added low power configuration for the nRF54H20 DK board target.

Drivers

This section provides detailed lists of changes by driver.

  • Added a flash_ipuc that allows to manage SUIT IPUC memory through the Zephyr flash API.

Wi-Fi drivers

  • Added:

    • Advanced debug shell for reading and writing registers and memory of the nRF70 Series chip. The debug shell can be enabled using the CONFIG_NRF70_DEBUG_SHELL Kconfig option.

    • A new shell command nrf70 util rpu_stats_mem to retrieve the RPU statistics even when the RPU processors are not functional (for example, if the LMAC processor has crashed).

  • Updated the wifi_util shell command, which is now renamed to nrf70 util.

Libraries

This section provides detailed lists of changes by library.

Binary libraries

  • LwM2M carrier library:

    • Updated:

      • The library to v3.7.0. See the Changelog for detailed information.

      • The glue to use the Downloader library instead of the deprecated Download client library.

Bluetooth libraries and services

  • Added the Bluetooth Channel Sounding Distance Estimation library.

  • Google Fast Pair Service (GFPS) library:

    • Added:

      • A restriction on the CONFIG_BT_FAST_PAIR_FMDN_TX_POWER Kconfig option in the Find My Device Network (FMDN) extension configuration. You must set this Kconfig option now to 0 at minimum as the Fast Pair specification requires that the conducted Bluetooth transmit power for FMDN advertisements must not be lower than 0 dBm.

      • A new information callback, bt_fast_pair_fmdn_info_cb.conn_authenticated, to the FMDN extension API. In the FMDN context, this change is required to support firmware update intents on the Android platform. For further details on the Android intent feature for firmware updates, see the Firmware update intent section in the Fast Pair integration guide.

      • A workaround for the issue where the FMDN clock value might not be correctly set after the system reboot for nRF54L Series devices. For details, see the NCSDK-32268 known issue in the Known issues page.

      • A new function bt_fast_pair_fmdn_is_provisioned() for the FMDN extension API. This function can be used to synchronously check the current FMDN provisioning state. For more details, see the Provisioning state section in the Fast Pair integration guide.

    • Updated:

    • Removed the sysbuild control over the CONFIG_BT_FAST_PAIR Kconfig option that is defined in the main (default) image. Sysbuild no longer sets the value of this Kconfig option.

  • Wi-Fi provisioning Bluetooth LE transport library:

  • Bluetooth Mesh libraries:

    • Fixed an issue in the Light Lightness Control Server model to automatically resume the Lightness Controller after recalling a scene (NCSDK-30033 known issue).

Common Application Framework

  • CAF: Buttons module:

    • Added:

      • The possibility of using more GPIOs. Earlier, only GPIO0 and GPIO1 devices were supported. Now, the generic solution supports all GPIOs available in the DTS.

      • The power_off_event handling to prevent entering system off state with GPIO interrupt disabled. Entering system off state with GPIO interrupt disabled would make CAF Buttons unable to trigger wakeup from the system off state on button press.

  • CAF: Power manager module:

    • Updated:

DFU libraries

  • Added:

    • Support for manifest-controlled variables that allow to control manifest logic based on previous evaluations as well as store integer values inside the SUIT non-volatile memory region.

    • Support for In-place Updateable Components (IPUC) that allow to cross memory permission boundaries to update inactive memory regions from the main application.

  • Full modem firmware update from flash device:

    • Regenerated the zcbor-generated code files using v0.9.0.

  • subsys_suit:

    • Added:

      • Support for manifest-controlled variables, that allow to control manifest logic based on previous evaluations as well as store integer values inside the SUIT non-volatile memory region.

      • Support for in-place updateable components (IPUC) that allows to cross memory permission boundaries to update inactive memory regions from the main application.

      • Support for IPUC in SUIT manifests that makes possible the following:

        • To fetch payloads directly into an IPUC.

        • To declare an IPUC as DFU cache area.

        • To trigger Nordic firmware updates from an IPUC-based DFU cache area.

      • Support for IPUC in DFU protocols that makes possible the following:

        • To write into IPUC using SMP image command group.

        • To write into IPUC using SUIT SMP cache raw upload commands.

        • To write into IPUC using SUIT dfu_target<lib_dfu_target_suit_style_update> library.

      • Possibilities for the following:

        • To copy binaries into radio local RAM memory from SUIT radio manifests.

        • To specify the minimal Nordic top manifest version in the VERSION file.

        • To block independent updates of Nordic manifests using the CONFIG_SUIT_NORDIC_TOP_INDEPENDENT_UPDATE_FORBIDDEN Kconfig option.

    • Updated by moving the MPI configuration from local Kconfig options to sysbuild.

Modem libraries

  • Deprecated the AT parameters library.

  • PDN library:

  • LTE link control library:

    • Added sending of LTE_LC_EVT_NEIGHBOR_CELL_MEAS event with current_cell set to LTE_LC_CELL_EUTRAN_ID_INVALID in case an error occurs while parsing the %NCELLMEAS notification.

    • Fixed handling of %NCELLMEAS notification with status 2 (measurement interrupted) and no cells.

  • Modem key management library:

    • Added:

      • The modem_key_mgmt_digest() function that would retrieve the SHA1 digest of a credential from the modem.

      • The modem_key_mgmt_list() function that would retrieve the security tag and type of every credential stored in the modem.

    • Fixed:

      • An issue with the modem_key_mgmt_clear() function where it returned -ENOENT when the credential was cleared.

      • A race condition in several functions where +CMEE error notifications could be disabled by one function before the other one got a chance to run its command.

      • An issue with the modem_key_mgmt_clear() function where +CMEE error notifications were not restored to their original state if the AT%CMNG AT command failed.

      • The modem_key_mgmt_clear() function to lock the shared scratch buffer.

  • Modem library integration layer:

    • Updated the Network interface driver to automatically set the actual link Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) on the network interface when PDN connectivity is gained.

    • Fixed a bug where various subsystems would be erroneously initialized during a failed initialization of the library.

  • Location library:

    • Removed support for HERE location services.

  • AT Host library:

    • Fixed a bug where AT responses would erroneously be written to the logging UART instead of being written to the chosen ncs,at-host-uart UART device when the CONFIG_LOG_BACKEND_UART Kconfig option was set.

  • Modem information library:

  • Modem SLM library:

    • Updated:

      • By renaming the CONFIG_MODEM_SLM_WAKEUP_PIN and CONFIG_MODEM_SLM_WAKEUP_TIME Kconfig options to CONFIG_MODEM_SLM_POWER_PIN and CONFIG_MODEM_SLM_POWER_PIN_TIME, respectively.

      • By renaming the modem_slm_wake_up function to modem_slm_power_pin_toggle.

Multiprotocol Service Layer libraries

  • Added:

    • Integration with the nrf2 clock control driver for the nRF54H20 SoC.

    • Integration with Zephyr’s system power management for the nRF54H20 SoC.

    • Global domain HSFLL120 320MHz frequency request if MPSL is enabled. The high frequency in global domain is required to ensure that fetching instructions from L2-cache and MRAM is as fast as possible. It is needed for the radio protocols to operate correctly.

    • MRAM always-on request for scheduled radio events. It is needed to avoid MRAM wake-up latency for radio protocols.

Libraries for networking

Other libraries

  • Added new library Application JWT library.

  • Distance Measurement library:

    • Updated the default timeslot duration to avoid an overstay assert when the ranging failed.

  • Removed the unused SDFW services echo_service, reset_evt_service, and sdfw_update_service.

Libraries for Zigbee

  • Removed Zigbee libraries. They are now available as separate Zigbee R22 and Zigbee R23 add-on repositories.

Scripts

This section provides detailed lists of changes by script.

  • HID configurator for nRF Desktop:

    • Removed HID device type mapping for Development Kits. A Development Kit may use various HID roles (depending on configuration). Assigning a fixed type for each board might be misleading. HID device type is still defined for boards that are always configured as the same HID device type.

Integrations

This section provides detailed lists of changes by integration.

Google Fast Pair integration

  • Added:

    • Instructions on how to provision the Fast Pair data onto devices without the Partition Manager support, specifically for the nRF54H20 DK.

    • Information on how to support the firmware update intent feature on the Android platform. Expanded the documentation for the Fast Pair devices with the FMDN extension, which requires additional steps to support this feature.

  • Updated:

Memfault integration

sdk-nrfxlib

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

  • Added Soft peripherals.

  • Removed the Zboss documentation. It is now available in separate Zigbee R22 and Zigbee R23 add-on repositories (depending on the device you are working with).

MCUboot

The MCUboot fork in nRF Connect SDK (sdk-mcuboot) contains all commits from the upstream MCUboot repository up to and including 1b2fc096d9a683a7481b13749d01ca8fa78e7afd, 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:

  • Fixed an issue where an unusable secondary slot was cleared three times instead of once during cleanup.

  • Added keys revocation scheme support for nRF54L SoCs, see CONFIG_BOOT_KEYS_REVOCATION MCUboot Kconfig option.

  • Improved time performance of firmware update by usage of best RRAM write operation buffering on nRF54L SoCs.

  • Introduced improved swap algorithm: swap-using-offset, see CONFIG_BOOT_SWAP_USING_OFFSET MCUboot Kconfig option.

  • Image compression support has been brought to production quality.

  • Experimental support has been added for encrypted DFU with ECIES x25519 encryption using MCUboot for nRF54L SoCs.

Zephyr

The Zephyr fork in nRF Connect SDK (sdk-zephyr) contains all commits from the upstream Zephyr repository up to and including fdeb7350171279d4637c536fcceaad3fbb775392, 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 fdeb735017 ^beb733919d

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

git log --oneline manifest-rev ^fdeb735017

The current nRF Connect SDK main branch is based on revision fdeb735017 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.

Additions specific to nRF Connect SDK

The new ZMS settings backend is not backward compatible with the old version.

Using the new backend, you can now enable some performance optimizations using the following Kconfig options:

  • CONFIG_SETTINGS_ZMS_LL_CACHE - Used for caching the linked list nodes related to Settings Key/Value entries.

  • CONFIG_SETTINGS_ZMS_LL_CACHE_SIZE - Specifies the size of the linked list cache (each entry occupies 8 Bytes of RAM).

  • CONFIG_SETTINGS_ZMS_NO_LL_DELETE - Disables deleting the linked list nodes when deleting a Settings Key. Use this option only when the application is always using the same Settings Keys. When the application uses random Keys, enabling this option could lead to incrementing the linked list nodes without corresponding Keys and cause excessive delays to loading of the Keys. Use this option only to accelerate the delete operation for a fixed set of Settings elements.

  • CONFIG_SETTINGS_ZMS_LOAD_SUBTREE_PATH - First loads the subtree path passed in the argument, then continues to load all the Keys in the same subtree if the handler returns a zero value.

  • Using the settings_load_one() function to retrieve the value of a known Key is recommended with ZMS as it improves the read performance a lot.

  • To get the value length of a Settings entry, it is recommended to use the settings_get_val_len() function.

Documentation