#32: IDF v5.5 Released

Espressif has released v5.5 as the latest stable release of IDF. The full changelog can be found here:

https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/releases/tag/v5.5

This release will be supported through January 21, 2028. Version 5.5 is listed as a “minor update for ESP-IDF v5.4” and Espressif expects this release is “mostly compatible with apps written for ESP-IDF v5.4”.

Notable Changes

• Vendor-specific HCI commands are disabled by default. This is in response to the false panic around a “backdoor” hack to ESP32.
• New log mechanism (Log v2) that supports centralized log formatting from a single handler
• Breaking changes to MbedTLS flow if you are not using the esp-tls abstraction layer
• MbedTLS was updated to version 3.6.3
• Fixed a bug that caused some chips to crash when running at 240MHz
• Long list of Bluetooth fixes in Bluedroid and NimBLE

Should You Update?

The general answer to this is always going to be “yes” since it’s considered latest stable. However, anytime you move versions of IDF you should do a complete regression test and ensure you understand all changes you are pulling in. This can be extremely time consuming and if you don’t really need any of the changes it can be more work than it’s worth from a business standpoint.

That said, here are some general points to help with that decision. You should consider updating to this version of IDF if:

• You need one of the actual bug fixes listed in the changelog
• You want the newer version of MbedTLS

If you do update, make sure you review the Major Changes -> Breaking Changes section of the release notes to ensure you are properly handling those scenarios if they apply to your firmware.

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