Kiosk Mode for Raspberry Pi with Touch Display

Springrbua · January 30, 2026, 10:08am

First of all, thank you very much for this solution.
I was previously following this tutorial (Raspberry Pi OS Lite + Chromium Browser) and it did it’s job of just displaying date, time, weather and a calendar on a changing background but interaction was always quite slow.
Also I had to control it with a combination of browser mod (refresh, change URL etc.) and command line (toggle display, reboot, get cpu temperature etc.) and especially browser mod was not always reliable. But most of the times it did it’s job.
I now wanted to change the background to a picture elements card which shows a Dialux rendering of my house, including light states but it took very long to load and did not update the card after initial loading.
After updating everything on the Pi, the system was finally bricked and I gave this solution a go.
The setup was extremely easy and took less then 30min. I had zero experience with MQTT before, I didn’t even have a broker. I only had to add the MQTT integration to Home Assistant and choose to instal the Mosquitto Add-On. In TouchKio most of the default values are correct for me, I only had to change the server and of course user + password.
The result is a much faster and more reliable kiosk with easier access to sensores and controls.

evandene · February 6, 2026, 12:21pm

On my Raspberry pi 4, and new installed 64 bit OS, with 5" Touch screen.
Keep on getting Whoopsie!
Loading: http://homeassistant:8323/
ERROR: ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED (-105)
Any help in approaching the problem will do

afsy_d · February 6, 2026, 1:30pm

Welcome evandene, do you know the IP address of the HomeAssistant instance? Is it connected with an Ethernet cable, or over wifi?
The error means your laptop/phone can’t find the ‘homeassistant’ on your network.

aquadan88 · February 11, 2026, 1:39am

Ok, this is exactly what I was looking for to build a HA-based Bedside Clock/Dashboard. I love the fact that I can use MQTT to automate brightness dimming and reboot when needed. If there’s a link to donate…please share. I at least owe you a coffee!

aquadan88 · February 11, 2026, 1:59am

Try http://homeassistant.local:8323

Springrbua · February 12, 2026, 6:39am

Just to be sure: Default port is 8123, as much as I remember. Are you sure 8323 is correct?

ShadowFist · February 12, 2026, 8:53am

What he said ^^

HA uses port 8123. Double check your config and make sure you entered the correct port.

leukipp · February 16, 2026, 4:18pm

See FAQ, you probably run the first setup with sudo but are missing the rights now.

Page Number will be visible when you provide multiple page urls.

HAssister · February 19, 2026, 5:59am

Thank you, that did the trick! Had to add my user to sudoers.tmp per the instructions linked in the FAQ. I did not notice the section previously. Thank you for directing me to this

wecoyote5 · March 5, 2026, 10:56pm

Hi @leukipp, thanks for this great app! It works quite nicely.
A really trivial thing I came across that I was wondering how to solve. To enhance the WAF I put little emojis into text items on my dashboard. Here’s an example; on my laptop and phone they look fine but on the touchkio they show up as unknown objects. The top image is from my PC and the bottom is from touchkio. The little emojis are in the title, I copy/paste from Emojipedia. Anything I should look at? Thanks!

pdsccode · March 8, 2026, 9:30am

You are probably missing a font. Is you laptop/pc a Windows device? If so, it has an emoji font integrated. Same for mobile.

You could try with https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Color+Emoji but as I do not use emojis, this is just an idea rather than a tested solution.

wecoyote5 · March 8, 2026, 2:18pm

It’s running on an RPi5 with the Rasp OS. I’ll poke around to see if I can load emoji fonts on it. Thanks.

wecoyote5 · March 10, 2026, 9:06pm

In case someone else lands here with the same issue, I found the solution; at least it worked for me My situation did not require the ‘exports’ but I left them there in case it could help someone else.

If emoji icons are not displaying correctly in terminal output (Or browser), install the Noto Color Emoji font:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fonts-noto-color-emoji
fc-cache -f -v

After installation, restart your terminal or log out and back in (reboot is also a good option).
If emojis still don’t display, ensure your locale supports UTF-8:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

Aubrey · March 19, 2026, 5:37am

I am trying to set the MQTT for the LAST ACTIVE, but when I publish it, id does get updated but then overwritten in 60 seconds. Is there a way to do this?

What I am trying to do is:

Blank the display if inactive for 15 minutes
Wake the display up by using a remote switch
The only way I can do this currently is by doing a reload of “touchkio”. What I would like to do is change the state back to zero.

In my case the MQTT topic is:
“touchkio/rpi_42A01B/last_active/state”

Thank you

jsuanet · March 20, 2026, 9:08am

Why not using a HA automation instead of messing around with MQTT topics.

The display is a light entity which can be switched on and off. I use presence detection to switch the screen on/off via an automation.

mirko78 · March 27, 2026, 3:10pm

Looking for something to give new life to my old magicmirror installation, I found this post, I tried this TouchKio and it seems to meet my needs, I was wondering if anyone has integrated via mqtt a pir sensor connected via gpio to manage the monitor on and off,and how,thanks

jsuanet · March 28, 2026, 9:46am

If that PIR sensor is also available as an entity in HA, you can use an automation to switch the screen on/off because the touchkio screen is in HA available as a ligtht entity.

Chykan · April 16, 2026, 12:34pm

@leukipp My displays are running into trouble, seems like there is intermittent MQTT connection.

Pages are not switching via the URL and the controls for reboot etc. seem not to work.

Example pressing reboot does not reboot device, switching screen off the toggle moves and then just returns to the on position.

The kiosk mode says Terminated when this behaviour occurs. Even though the kiosk is live and responsive on the device. Cannot change it to anything else using the dropdown menu.

leukipp · April 16, 2026, 5:13pm

This could be maybe related, did you update Mosquitto Broker in HA?

Chykan · April 16, 2026, 10:11pm

@leukipp Yes I did update, how long until you have a fix?

There is a heap of new client connected in the mosquito logs and disconnecting because of oversize packet. (is the oversize packet the screenshot?)

2026-04-17 04:36:37: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:41304 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:36:37: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:41304] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:36:47: New connection from 192.168.1.22:56774 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:36:47: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:56774 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:36:47: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:56774] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:36:49: New connection from 172.30.32.2:33812 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:36:49: Client 172.30.32.2 [172.30.32.2:33812] disconnected: connection closed by client.
2026-04-17 04:36:57: New connection from 192.168.1.22:48796 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:36:57: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:48796 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:36:57: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:48796] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:37:07: New connection from 192.168.1.22:45848 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:37:07: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:45848 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:37:07: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:45848] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:37:17: New connection from 192.168.1.22:36168 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:37:17: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:36168 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:37:17: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:36168] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:37:27: New connection from 192.168.1.22:34538 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:37:27: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:34538 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:37:27: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:34538] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:37:37: New connection from 192.168.1.22:50482 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:37:37: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:50482 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:37:37: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:50482] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:37:47: New connection from 192.168.1.22:39968 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:37:47: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:39968 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:37:47: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:39968] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:37:57: New connection from 192.168.1.22:33660 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:37:57: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:33660 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:37:57: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:33660] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:38:07: New connection from 192.168.1.22:43386 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:38:07: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:43386 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:38:07: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:43386] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:38:17: New connection from 192.168.1.22:41374 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:38:17: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:41374 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:38:17: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:41374] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:38:27: New connection from 192.168.1.22:50426 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:38:27: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:50426 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:38:27: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:50426] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:38:37: New connection from 192.168.1.22:44428 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:38:37: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:44428 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:38:37: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:44428] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:38:47: New connection from 192.168.1.22:48690 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:38:47: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:48690 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:38:47: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:48690] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:38:49: New connection from 172.30.32.2:58176 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:38:49: Client 172.30.32.2 [172.30.32.2:58176] disconnected: connection closed by client.
2026-04-17 04:38:57: New connection from 192.168.1.22:32888 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:38:57: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:32888 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:38:57: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:32888] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:39:07: New connection from 192.168.1.22:54698 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:39:07: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:54698 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:39:07: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:54698] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:39:17: New connection from 192.168.1.22:49286 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:39:17: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:49286 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:39:17: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:49286] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:39:27: New connection from 192.168.1.22:35530 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:39:27: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:35530 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:39:27: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:35530] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:39:37: New connection from 192.168.1.22:51222 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:39:37: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:51222 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:39:37: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:51222] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:39:47: New connection from 192.168.1.22:41778 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:39:47: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:41778 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:39:47: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:41778] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:39:57: New connection from 192.168.1.22:46946 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:39:57: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:46946 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:39:57: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:46946] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:40:07: New connection from 192.168.1.22:50672 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:40:07: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:50672 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:40:07: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:50672] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:40:17: New connection from 192.168.1.22:60638 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:40:17: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:60638 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:40:17: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:60638] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:40:27: New connection from 192.168.1.22:55836 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:40:27: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:55836 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:40:27: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:55836] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:40:37: New connection from 192.168.1.22:56406 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:40:37: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:56406 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:40:37: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:56406] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:40:47: New connection from 192.168.1.22:44070 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:40:47: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:44070 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:40:47: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:44070] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:40:49: New connection from 172.30.32.2:52196 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:40:49: Client 172.30.32.2 [172.30.32.2:52196] disconnected: connection closed by client.
2026-04-17 04:40:57: New connection from 192.168.1.22:44462 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:40:57: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:44462 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:40:57: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:44462] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:41:07: New connection from 192.168.1.22:49330 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:41:07: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:49330 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:41:07: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:49330] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:41:17: New connection from 192.168.1.22:52694 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:41:17: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:52694 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:41:17: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:52694] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:41:27: New connection from 192.168.1.22:59932 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:41:27: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:59932 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 04:41:27: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:59932] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 04:41:37: New connection from 192.168.1.22:49440 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 04:41:37: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:49440 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 08:26:41: New client connected from 192.168.1.194:39234 as mqttjs_775a9eba (p4, c1, k60, u'chykan@pi5').
2026-04-17 08:26:41: Client mqttjs_775a9eba [192.168.1.194:39234] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:26:42: New connection from 192.168.1.22:48440 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:26:42: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:48440 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 08:26:42: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:48440] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:26:50: New connection from 172.30.32.2:54842 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:26:50: Client 172.30.32.2 [172.30.32.2:54842] disconnected: connection closed by client.
2026-04-17 08:26:51: New connection from 192.168.1.194:53298 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:26:51: New client connected from 192.168.1.194:53298 as mqttjs_775a9eba (p4, c1, k60, u'chykan@pi5').
2026-04-17 08:26:51: Client mqttjs_775a9eba [192.168.1.194:53298] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:26:52: New connection from 192.168.1.22:41798 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:26:52: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:41798 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 08:26:52: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:41798] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:01: New connection from 192.168.1.194:50512 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:01: New client connected from 192.168.1.194:50512 as mqttjs_775a9eba (p4, c1, k60, u'chykan@pi5').
2026-04-17 08:27:01: Client mqttjs_775a9eba [192.168.1.194:50512] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:02: New connection from 192.168.1.22:33650 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:02: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:33650 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 08:27:02: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:33650] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:11: New connection from 192.168.1.194:46656 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:11: New client connected from 192.168.1.194:46656 as mqttjs_775a9eba (p4, c1, k60, u'chykan@pi5').
2026-04-17 08:27:11: Client mqttjs_775a9eba [192.168.1.194:46656] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:12: New connection from 192.168.1.22:54130 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:12: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:54130 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 08:27:12: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:54130] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:21: New connection from 192.168.1.194:52648 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:21: New client connected from 192.168.1.194:52648 as mqttjs_775a9eba (p4, c1, k60, u'chykan@pi5').
2026-04-17 08:27:21: Client mqttjs_775a9eba [192.168.1.194:52648] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:22: New connection from 192.168.1.22:51150 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:22: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:51150 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 08:27:22: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:51150] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:31: New connection from 192.168.1.194:55066 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:31: New client connected from 192.168.1.194:55066 as mqttjs_775a9eba (p4, c1, k60, u'chykan@pi5').
2026-04-17 08:27:31: Client mqttjs_775a9eba [192.168.1.194:55066] disconnected: oversize packet.
2026-04-17 08:27:32: New connection from 192.168.1.22:47436 on port 1883.
2026-04-17 08:27:32: New client connected from 192.168.1.22:47436 as mqttjs_5841945a (p4, c1, k60, u'Chykan@pi500').
2026-04-17 08:27:32: Client mqttjs_5841945a [192.168.1.22:47436] disconnected: oversize packet.