A Fully Kiosk alternative that does not need a tablet

Fully Kiosk Browser is the usual way people put a Home Assistant dashboard on the wall. It is an Android app that locks a tablet to a single web page, hides the browser, and keeps the screen awake. It works, and the developer has done good work. The trouble is not the app. The trouble is the tablet underneath it.

A tablet was built to be charged, used, and put down. Leave one plugged into the wall all day and the battery slowly swells behind the glass, often within a year or two. It wants a Google or Samsung account. It drops off your dashboard and shows a system update, an advert, or a lock screen. And because it is a tablet, someone keeps picking it up and carrying it off. On top of that, the full version of the kiosk app is a paid licence, and you still have to buy the tablet, a mount, and run a cable.

What you actually want

You want a screen on the wall that shows your Home Assistant dashboard and nothing else, that stays on, that survives a power cut, and that you never have to think about again. That is a kiosk. The software side of a kiosk is simple. The hard part is the hardware: a device meant to live on the wall, not in your hand.

A panel built for the job

HAPanel does the kiosk job in hardware. It boots straight into your Home Assistant dashboard, with no app to license, no account, and no battery to swell. It runs from a single USB-C cable, so you hang it yourself without an electrician. It returns to your dashboard on its own after a power cut, and it keeps your data on your own network. With MQTT switched on it also becomes a device in Home Assistant, so an automation can change its screen, play a sound, or show the doorbell camera.

A kiosk app on a spare tablet is a fine way to start. When the battery starts to bulge, or you are tired of the account prompts and the drift, a purpose-built panel is the alternative that was made for the wall.

See the two sizes, or read why a panel beats a tablet.