Old phone as smart wall pannel with HA

Mobile Apps
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Hi guys I have an old smartphone (Samsung J500M - Android 6) which is running HA companion really well and I have a dream to mount it on the wall and use it as an smart panel using an HA dashboard.
The physical build is ok for me, I have a 3D printer and know one thing or two about electronics.

My question is not directly related to HA but you may already done something similar…

My desire is use HA on full screen without the phone status bar (battery, signal,…) and after the screen turns off (inactivity timeout), been able to turn it back on with one tap directly in HA.

I was researching custom ROM, launchers,… but I couldn’t found anything really useful.

Do you have any tips?

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Settings-Companion App-Fullscreen toggle.

There’s a number of commands you can send via notifications if you want to control the screen:

If you want/need more control, lots of folks like Fully Kiosk (but I’ve never had a need).

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Everything Smart Home just did a video about that.
TBH, you don’t need Fully Kisok Browser (at least I don’t), just the companion does the trick.

I use mushroom to create specific dashboard (also a video from ESH)

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The idea is awesome, and I already done some stuff. The only thing that is missing right now is a way to active the tablet/phone screen touching on it.
Keep the screen on all the time is not the best ideia because will reduce a lot the life time and may disturb a dark room.

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my amazon tablets have been plugged in non-stop for over 5 years without any screen issues, at this point replacing them for a $30-60 tablet is not a big deal they have far outlasted how long I keep a cell phone lol

not if you change the screen brightness :slight_smile:

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I actually couple an old tablet with a LD2410 presence sensor.
If there is noone around, shut down the screen. Definitely more to save on electricity than to save the screen :smiley:

I don’t think there is a way (or found it :wink: ) to directly turn off the screen, but I use the “screen off timeout” as a workaround

- platform: template
  lights:
    k007_screen:
      friendly_name: "K007 Tablet Screen"
      icon_template: "mdi:cellphone"
      value_template: "{{ is_state('sensor.k007_screen_off_timeout', '-1') }}"
      level_template: "{{ states('sensor.k007_screen_brightness') }}"
      set_level:
        - service: notify.mobile_app_k007
          data:
            message: command_screen_brightness_level
            data:
              command: "{{ brightness }}"
      turn_on: 
        - service: notify.mobile_app_k007
          data:
            message: command_screen_off_timeout
            data:
              command: -1
        - service: notify.mobile_app_k007
          data:
            message: command_screen_on
      turn_off: 
        service: notify.mobile_app_k007
        data:
          message: command_screen_off_timeout
          data:
            command: 1
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I use BLE keyboard with an ESP chip:

This works great with the iPad. I can “push Power” or invoke arbitrary apps through the fake keyboard just fine. With this (and some sensors from Browser Mod) I turn the tablet screen off when I am away or go to bed, and turn it back on when I return / wake up. Yes, works with Android too.