Smart Control of Your Wall-Mounted Tablet: Automating Screen On/Off with Home Assistant

Smart Control of Your Wall-Mounted Tablet: Automating Screen On/Off with Home Assistant

If you’re looking to automate the screen on your wall-mounted tablet, so it only turns on when you need it and turns off when you don’t, this guide is for you. Whether it’s waking up when you’re in front of it, when the door opens, or even when someone rings the doorbell, you can easily set this up using Fully Kiosk Browser and Home Assistant.

Getting Started: Setting Up Your Tablet

First, ensure that your tablet’s screen is set to never timeout. This can usually be done in the Screen Settings under Display or similar. If you can’t find it, a quick Google search with your tablet’s model name should point you in the right direction.

Now, with your tablet’s screen set to stay on indefinitely, we’ll use Fully Kiosk Browser to manage when the screen is actually lit up.

Configuring Fully Kiosk Browser

Fully Kiosk Browser is a fantastic app for managing your Home Assistant dashboards on a wall-mounted tablet. If you haven’t already set it up, check out my detailed guide here.

This guide requires the paid version of Fully Kiosk, which I highly recommend as it offers valuable features that enhance the functionality of your wall-mounted tablet.

Within Fully Kiosk Browser, go to the Screensaver option and set your screensaver timer (this controls how long the screen remains active before it “turns off”). I set mine to 60 seconds. Then, in the screensaver wallpaper URL, type in fully://color#000000. This simple command will display a black screen, effectively turning the screen off. I also added a 500ms fade in/out duration for a smooth transition.

Fully Kiosk Browser allows you to turn off the screensaver when there’s motion detected in front of the tablet, which is a really nice feature. To enable it, go to the settings in Fully Kiosk, select Motion Detection, and toggle on Enable Visual Motion Detection as well as Exit Screensaver on Motion. With these settings enabled, you can simply pass by your tablet or wave your hand in front of it, and the screen will wake up automatically.

Automating with Home Assistant

Now that Fully Kiosk Browser is set up, the next step is to integrate it with Home Assistant to automatically wake up your tablet’s screen when specific events occur.

Here’s an automation example:

alias: Wake Screen Up When Arriving Home
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - binary_sensor.front_door_contact_sensor_sensor_open
      - binary_sensor.front_door_doorbell_ringing
      - binary_sensor.front_door_doorbell_motion_detected
      - binary_sensor.front_door_doorbell_person_detected
      - binary_sensor.front_gate_doorbell_ringing
condition: []
action:
  - metadata: {}
    data: {}
    target:
      entity_id: switch.wall_mounted_tablet_screensaver
    action: switch.turn_off
mode: single

This automation triggers the tablet’s screen to wake up whenever the front door is opened, the doorbell rings, or motion is detected. You can adjust the triggers to suit your setup.

Fixing Screen Brightness Issues

There’s a known bug with Fully Kiosk Browser where the screen sometimes returns with very low brightness after waking up. To resolve this, you can use the following automation:

alias: Fix brightness on wall mounted tablet when waking up
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - switch.wall_mounted_tablet_screensaver
    from: "on"
    to: "off"
condition: []
action:
  - metadata: {}
    data:
      value: "200"
    target:
      entity_id: number.wall_mounted_tablet_screen_brightness
    action: number.set_value
mode: single

This automation ensures that the screen brightness is restored to a visible level whenever the tablet wakes up.

The second automation is kept separate from the first for an important reason. While the first automation turns on the screen in response to specific triggers in Home Assistant like a door opening or the doorbell ringing, there are other scenarios where the screen might wake up, such as when you approach the tablet or physically touch its screen. These actions won’t trigger the first automation, so we need a general automation that activates whenever the screensaver turns off, ensuring the screen brightness is properly restored in all cases.

Final Thoughts

With Fully Kiosk Browser and Home Assistant, you can effectively manage your wall-mounted tablet’s screen, ensuring it only lights up when necessary. This setup not only conserves energy but also extends the lifespan of your tablet’s screen, not to mention it looks really cool.


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