Astrion Remote for Home Assistant – Sideloading, Fully Kiosk & Button Remapping Guide

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Astrion Remote for Home Assistant – Sideloading, Fully Kiosk & Button Remapping Guide

I’ve been experimenting with the Astrion Remote and wanted to share a full guide for unlocking its potential. Out of the box it’s fairly limited, but with ADB, a couple of APKs, and button remapping, you can turn it into a much more flexible Home Assistant controller.

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This guide covers:

  • Enabling Developer Mode
  • Accessing ADB
  • Sideloading apps
  • Installing Fully Kiosk Browser
  • Using KeyMapper to switch between apps with hardware buttons

What You’ll Get

  • Fully Kiosk running your Home Assistant dashboard
  • Button-based app switching
  • Access to the built-in HARemote app
  • A “recovery” button to avoid getting locked out

Step 1: Enable Developer Mode

  1. Swipe down from the top of the screen
  2. Tap Set
  3. Go to System Settings
  4. Scroll to System
  5. Tap About Phone
  6. Scroll to Build Number
  7. Tap it 7 times

You should see a message confirming Developer Mode is enabled.

Step 2: Access the USB-C Port

The USB-C port is internal:

  1. Remove the two screws on the bottom of the remote
  2. Carefully open the casing
  3. Locate the USB-C port

:warning: This may void your warranty—proceed carefully.

Step 3: Install ADB Tools

Download Android platform tools:

Extract them and open a terminal in that folder.

Step 4: Connect to the Device

  1. Plug the remote into your computer
  2. Run:
adb devices
  1. Accept the USB debugging prompt on the device

You should see the device listed.

Step 5: Install Fully Kiosk Browser (First)

Download Fully Kiosk Browser (v1.60.1 or your preferred version):

Then install:

adb install Fully-Kiosk-Browser-v1.60.1.apk

(Optional launch)

adb shell am start -n de.ozerov.fully/.MainActivity

Step 6: Install KeyMapper (Second)

Download KeyMapper (v4.0.5 FOSS):

Then install:

adb install keymapper-4.0.5-foss.apk

Step 7: Launch KeyMapper

adb shell monkey -p io.github.sds100.keymapper -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1

Step 8: Configure KeyMapper (Critical Step)

1. Grant Permissions

  • Enable Accessibility Service
  • Allow any additional permissions requested

2. Create a “Recovery” Button

Map one physical button to:

→ Launch KeyMapper

This ensures you can always get back into settings if something breaks.

3. Map App Switching Buttons

Assign other buttons to:

  • Fully Kiosk Browser (your dashboard)
  • HARemote (stock app)

You can now switch between apps instantly using hardware buttons.

Why This Setup Works

Doing things in this order prevents you from getting stuck in a single app (especially Fully Kiosk). KeyMapper acts as your control layer, giving you reliable navigation no matter what’s running.

Tips / Gotchas

  • Disable battery optimization for KeyMapper
  • Some buttons may need testing to detect properly
  • Use long-press + short-press for more actions
  • Test each mapping before moving on
  • Disable: ‘Keep screen on’ on fully Kiosk

End Result

You now have:

  • A dedicated button for KeyMapper (failsafe)
  • A button for Fully Kiosk (Home Assistant UI)
  • A button for HARemote (default experience)

This turns the Astrion Remote into a multi-app, highly customizable Home Assistant controller.

Future Ideas

  • Multiple dashboards via different buttons
  • Tasker integration for advanced automation
  • Context-aware button mapping

If anyone else is working with this remote or finds improvements, I’d love to hear what you’ve done.

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Thanks may be I can finally put it to real use

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Tried it out today. Works like a breeze. Unfortunately (and as I expected) the Remote is to underpowered for complex HA dashboards. But nice to try it out anyway. Great instructions​:blush:

Just created a simple Dashboard especially for the remote. Let‘s see…

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I've done this but created a card that can be put on any dashboard to map the key presses to functions within home assistant. Will release soon on GitHub.

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Hey, can you tag me, once its uploaded, I want to check it out.

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Exciting! Keen on trying it out. Any clue on when you will try to add it to GitHub? :slight_smile:

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Sorry life got in the way

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Thanks for the card. works perfectly. the only limit are the remote's own hardware resources.

Question: is there anyway to intercept the volume keys? they seem to be hard minded to the keys
Update. I should rtfm, thanks again!

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It's not ideal but works good enough in my option. Just have to be mindful of the dashboards you use. Nothing too over the top.

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Edit:
One thing to note, and I should add this to the GitHub, on reboot I seem to have to go to key mapper and toggle the keyboard back to standard then back to keymapper. Not sure why.

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What did the manual say wrt volume buttons??! Im stuck on this using keymapper. remote still shows its own volume slider!

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The recovery button tip is especially useful since it helps prevent getting locked out while testing different app mappings.

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I use key mapper to map them to + and - keys (make sure key mapper keyboard is default) then us the home assistant hotkey card to map to whatever action you like

13

since the Astrion smart remote gained traction in the community, “Native WebView Mode” and “Dedicated Local Cards (like RosCard with direct API control)” have always been two parallel lines that never crossed:

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@thebradleysanders - awesome guide. I ditched the HA Companion install because it quietly consumes precious battery.

@Mochi - you comments mirror my own thoughts - but there is a third option, webview - but with an open source stack on top of it.

I built the beginnings of such a beast. You can check it out here:

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Need help : unable to activate accessibility for keymapper !
Software version : 1.4.1
Thks.

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OK, done, disable Fully Kiosk before…