What’s new in nRF Connect SDK v3.3.0?

nRF Connect SDK is a unified and flexible software development kit for building products based on all of Nordic’s nRF54, nRF53, nRF52, nRF70 and nRF91 Series wireless devices. It is based on the open source Zephyr project combined with Nordic proprietary software, offered as a single package optimized for Nordic’s portfolio of wireless products.

In this blog post, we will cover the new features introduced in the latest v3.3.0 release in April 2026. This update brings official support for the newly released devices of the nRF54L Series (nRF54LS05A, nRF54LS05B). It also has quite a few features updated to Supported across the entire Nordic portfolio, and is enhanced by a new Add-On for Aliro, a new specification of the CSA that was launched in February 2026.

Bluetooth

There are several additions in Bluetooth, starting with the experimental support of the nRF54LS05A and nRF54L05B devices. These parts are ideal for simple, entry level Bluetooth LE products. For more complex and demanding designs, the nRF54LM20B, with more memory and its Axon NPU technology is now fully supported, making it suitable for new product designs, specially those doing EdgeAI.

In terms of features, Bluetooth LE Quality of Service module is now fully supported for production. This feature allows devices to analyze the RF channels and avoid the ones that are more congested, helping to improve the connection quality and achieve higher report rates.

There are also two new experimental features. The first one is the LE Flushable ACL Data feature, including the LE Read and Write Automatic Flush Timeout HCI commands. This is a feature of the Bluetooth Core 6.2 specification, and allows the host to drop packets from the transmission queue if they are not transmitted before a predefined timeout. Although it is a requirement for Short Connection Intervals, it can also improve performance for any low latency applications. You can find more information about the feature itself in the DevZone blog post: What’s new in Bluetooth Core 6.2: An overview.

The second is Direct Test Mode, a feature that can be used to control the implementation under test (IUT) and provide reports back to the Lower or Upper Tester when performing the RFPHY testing for certifications. This can help you to carry out conformance tests using dedicated test equipment and validate your products before starting a formal certification process, or simply evaluate and characterize their RF performance for your product specifications.

Matter

Matter is a technical standard for smart home and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It aims to improve interoperability and compatibility between different manufacturers and security, and always allowing local control as an option.

The new SDK release increases the support level of Matter over Thread for the nRF54LM20A and nRF54LM20B SoCs from Experimental to Supported, making it suitable for use in production code. The same applies to the use of Matter over Wi-Fi for the nRF54LM20B, used in combination with the nRF7002 EBII shield.

Aligned with this release, the nRF Door Lock and Access Control Add-on is now generally available. This Add-on provides a complete reference for building Aliro- and Matter-compatible locks and access control readers for both residential and commercial applications.

Aliro is a new, standardized, and interoperable communication protocol for digital access control, developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), that enables smartphones, wearables, and other devices to operate as a digital key across different manufacturers. Similar to how Matter connects smart home devices, Aliro creates a unified standard for smart locks.

The Add-On reference design integrates multiple wireless technologies, including Bluetooth Low Energy, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), NFC, Thread, and Wi-Fi, allowing you to choose the appropriate technology for your specific use case.

There is also a new version of the “Matter Cluster Editor” app (v1.0.1). This app provides a graphical user interface for creating and editing Matter clusters, extensions, and device types in accordance with the Matter Data Model. And there is a new version of the “Matter Quick Start” app (v1.1.0), which can help and guide you in the installation procedures of Matter accessory devices.

Wi-Fi

Getting into the the Wi-Fi section, Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (WPA3-SAE) using PSA APIs is now fully supported. WPA3 replaces WPA2’s handshake mechanism with SAE, which is a password-authenticated key exchange protocol. Unlike the 4-way handshake, SAE is resistant to offline dictionary attacks and provides stronger protection even if a weak password is used.

The nRF7002 DK now also supports Wi-Fi Direct operation mode. This allows two Wi-Fi devices to establish a direct peer to peer connection, without the need for an intermediary access point. This feature has been added to the Wi-Fi: WFA QuickTrack control application, which means you can build your product using it as part of the qualified solution, simplifying the certification process and reducing testing times.

Finally, the Zephyr app zperf was updated to enable Raw TX throughput testing.

DECT NR+

Going into long range communications, the new modem firmware v2.0.0 now has support for star topology network, implementing a subset of the MAC and DLC layers, making networking with NR+ simpler and easier. You can read more about the network topologies in this DECT NR+ blog post: DECT NR+: A technical dive into non-cellular 5G.

nRF Cloud

And after long range, we go to cloud features. The diagnostic module now has support for a CoAP client. This enables uploading data using UDP as the transport protocol, which is simpler and more power efficient, and can be the only available option in some LTE-M or NB-IoT networks.

There is also support for new metrics for the nPM1300 and nPM1304 PMICs, including fuel gauge integration and battery heartbeat, which improves the observability of the battery lifecycle of devices in the field.

Partition Manager deprecation

The Partition Manager is a component in the nRF Connect SDK that handles the flash memory partitioning at build time. This functionality has now been replaced by Zephyr’s default devicetree-based flash partitioning when multi-image builds are involved. This was done to better align the nRF Connect SDK with upstream Zephyr, eliminate extra steps in the build process, and simplify the development and maintenance.

It is recommended that all new designs with Nordic devices are built with DTS instead of Partition Manager. Partition Manager will be removed from future nRF Connect SDK releases, following the usual deprecation policy and timelines - marked as deprecated in the next two releases, and removed in the following one.

At this first transition step, the nRF Connect SDK v3.3.0 supports DTS in MCUboot and TF-M.

MCUboot

And now that we mentioned the bootloader, the Single slot DFU is now fully supported for production code, as well as the option to upload the Loader itself. These two features allow to have a common upgrade process with the NCS Bare Metal option now. Single Slot DFU overwrites the existing application directly with the new application image in the same bank. This offers more non-volatile memory for the application at the cost of not retaining the old application image during the flashing process.

The RAM Load mode, which was experimental in previous releases, is also now fully supported. In this mode instead of booting the image from the NVM slot, the bootloader in the RAM load mode copies the image from the non-volatile memory (NVM) to the RAM and boots it from there. As code execution from the RAM is generally faster, you can use this mode to speed up the code execution for the application image.

Closing

And that’s a wrap! As usual, the DevAcademy courses will be updated to reflect the changes in this new version. If you have specific questions or doubts, please feel free to comment in this blog post, or alternatively go to DevZone and submit them in a support ticket. Finally don’t forget to check all the new product and tool related news at our main website.