Optimising Your Tablet Dashboard for Home Assistant

I mounted a tablet on my wall and turned it into a daily control panel. It cut the faff of opening apps and let me glance at lights, temps and cameras in one place. This guide shows the exact steps I used to pick hardware, install Home Assistant, build a fast dashboard and keep the tablet responsive day to day.

Getting Started

Choosing the Right Tablet

Pick a tablet with a good display and reliable networking. I prefer a model with an IPS panel for colour and wide viewing angles. Aim for 2–3 GB of RAM minimum and a quad-core CPU if you plan to display camera streams. Consider these trade offs:

• Cheap Android tablets (eg Fire HD 8 or 10): low cost, acceptable for basic control, often need ADB for Play Store installs. Good if budget matters.
• Mid-range Android (eg Samsung Tab A series, Lenovo Tab): more responsive, better Wi-Fi and longevity.
• iPad: smooth UI and long support life. Home Assistant works via a browser or dedicated apps, but some browser kiosk features differ.
• Small single-board computer plus a cheap monitor: more hands-on, higher reliability over time.

Also check mounting options. I used a thin VESA adapter and a flush wall case. Power matters. Choose a permanently powered outlet near the mount or plan an in-wall USB supply.

Installing Home Assistant

I run Home Assistant on a dedicated Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB) using the Home Assistant OS image. If you prefer a VM or Proxmox, use the recommended virtual appliance. Steps I followed:

1. Download the Home Assistant image for your platform from home-assistant.io.
2. Flash the image to an SD card or SSD using balenaEtcher.
3. Boot and wait 10–20 minutes for initial provisioning.
4. Complete the onboarding at http://homeassistant.local:8123 or the assigned IP.

If you use a supervised install on a machine that already runs other services, leave ports and resources free for add-ons like Node-RED or MariaDB if you plan advanced automations.

Initial Configuration Steps

Do these first to avoid fiddling later:

1. Add the integrations for your devices via Settings > Devices & Services.
2. Create secure long-lived access tokens if the tablet will run a kiosk browser.
3. Set a static IP or DHCP reservation for the tablet and the Home Assistant host.
4. Install and configure a reverse proxy or TLS if you want secure remote access.

Verify connectivity by opening a Lovelace view on another device. If cameras fail to appear, check authentication type and stream URLs in the integration page. Confirm that automations run from the UI by triggering a manual action.

Setting Up Your Dashboard

Customizing the User Interface

I used Lovelace with manual dashboards for full control. Start simple and add complexity slowly.

Practical steps:

1. Create a new dashboard in Settings > Dashboards, set it to YAML mode if you like full control.
2. Limit the number of live camera cards on the main page. Each RTSP or MJPEG stream adds CPU and network load.
3. Use icon and glance cards for frequently toggled items: lights, heating, front door.
4. Set a dark theme for low night glare and lower OLED power draw if the tablet has an OLED screen.

Concrete example: my main page shows 6 quick controls, one security camera thumbnail, and a temperature history graph. That keeps redraws low and touch targets large.

Integrating Smart Home Devices

Integrate devices through native integrations where possible. Native integrations tend to expose entities and services cleanly.

Checklist:

• Add Zigbee/Z-Wave via a USB stick or a bridge. Use the integration specific to your stick (eg ZHA, Z-Wave JS).
• Add IP cameras via the generic camera integration or the specific brand integration. Prefer HLS or MJPEG if your tablet browser struggles with RTSP.
• For Hue and similar hubs, use the native integration rather than bridging through third-party cloud services.

Test each integration by toggling a device from the dashboard and watching the state change in Developer Tools > States. If commands take longer than 1–2 seconds, find the slow link: network, bridge or API rate limits.

Optimising Tablet Performance

Small tweaks make a big difference for a Home Assistant Tablet Dashboard. I keep the dashboard light and the tablet tuned.

Hardware and software tweaks I used:

• Disable background apps. On Android, use Settings > Apps to force stop heavy apps and revoke background activity.
• Lock a single browser in kiosk mode. Chromium-based kiosks run faster than the full Home Assistant Android app for some setups.
• Reduce refresh rates on charts. Set history and recorder retention sensibly to limit database churn.
• Use local media proxies for camera thumbnails to avoid transcoding on the tablet.
• Keep the tablet on a charger with a temperature monitor. Heat throttles performance.

Verification step: open the browser developer tools in a desktop and watch network requests to the Home Assistant host. Pages should load in under 2 seconds on a typical home Wi-Fi. If not, isolate whether CPU or network is the bottleneck by checking tablet CPU and Wi-Fi link speed.

Automating Dashboard Functions

Make the dashboard adapt without manual edits. I automated wake, dim and sections that change by time or presence.

Useful automations:

1. Auto-wake: use an automation to turn the screen on when motion is detected, and off after a period of inactivity.
2. Night mode: switch the dashboard theme and reduce brightness between set times.
3. Presence-based pages: switch the default Lovelace view depending on who is home or time of day.

Example automation for night mode (conceptual):

• Trigger: time at 22:30.
• Action: call service to change Lovelace theme and set tablet brightness to 20%.

Always add a manual override on the dashboard itself for safety. Test each automation with a short timeout to verify state changes.

Finalizing Your Setup

Lock the tablet into its mounting case, hide cables and label the power feed. Final checks I perform:

• Reboot the tablet and confirm the kiosk browser opens the dashboard automatically.
• Simulate a Home Assistant restart. Confirm the tablet reconnects automatically.
• Check that automations still run when the dashboard is on the default view.

Concrete takeaway: a lean dashboard and a single dedicated browser session beat a flashy setup with many live streams. The result should be a responsive Home Assistant Tablet Dashboard that stays on the wall and just works.

Last result: a wall-mounted panel that gives immediate control and status without constant fiddling. If something slows, isolate the issue to either the tablet or the Home Assistant host and change one variable at a time.