An Android tablet as a wall panel for Home Assistant

A tablet by the front door is the one control point in the house that also works for people who do not have your app: lights, heating, waste collection, who is home and who is at the door. The temptation is to reuse that old iPad from the drawer, but you will come back on that. Older iOS versions load modern dashboards slowly, and nobody uses a wall panel that makes them wait two seconds. An affordable Android tablet from this year is the better call.

Its own user

Create a user in Home Assistant for the wall panel, without admin rights, and sign in on the tablet with the Companion app as that user. The panel then only sees what it needs to, and you can set a different default dashboard per user. There is a side benefit: anyone who can reach your tablet still cannot reach your settings.

Kiosk mode

With Kiosk Mode from HACS you hide the header and sidebar for users without admin rights, while you keep everything as an admin. Put the configuration at the top of the dashboard through Edit dashboard → Raw configuration editor:

kiosk_mode:
  non_admin_settings:
    hide_header: true
    hide_sidebar: true

Combine that with a kiosk app on Android that pins the Companion app and keeps the screen awake.

Theme

A wall panel is on all day, so an always dark theme is easier on the eye in a hallway. On an OLED screen it also saves power and reduces burn-in.

Doorbell full-screen

Have the tablet jump straight to the camera when someone rings. Create a deurbel view with nothing but the camera card on it and send the tablet there with a command notification; the Android Companion app then opens that page itself:

- action: notify.mobile_app_wandtablet
  data:
    message: command_webview
    data:
      command: /dashboard-thuis/deurbel

Send it back to the home screen the same way after a minute, or your hallway will spend the rest of the evening staring at an empty doorstep. How to pair the doorbell itself is covered in the article on the Reolink doorbell.

Power

A tablet permanently on the charger will cost you the battery within a year or two. Hang it on a smart plug and only charge between 20 % and 80 %:

- alias: Wandtablet laden
  triggers:
    - trigger: numeric_state
      entity_id: sensor.wandtablet_battery_level
      below: 20
      id: laden
    - trigger: numeric_state
      entity_id: sensor.wandtablet_battery_level
      above: 80
      id: stoppen
  actions:
    - action: "switch.turn_{{ 'on' if trigger.id == 'laden' else 'off' }}"
      target:
        entity_id: switch.hal_tablet_stekker

Frequently asked questions

Which tablet is suitable? A recent mid-range Android tablet is plenty. More important than speed is that it still gets updates and that the Companion app runs smoothly on it.

Can I use an old iPad? You can, but older iOS versions load modern dashboards slowly. Keep the dashboard simple for a tablet like that and leave camera feeds off it.

How do I stop someone changing settings? Use a user without admin rights combined with Kiosk Mode, and pin the tablet in the app so nobody reaches the Android home screen.