I beat the setup, but it didn’t help with the blank screen.
In which browser does it open correctly? Or do you have to use home assistant to open it?
Make sure you not using latest image, use this version
firefox:
image: jlesage/firefox:v1.18.0
Tested working on iPad mini gen 1 Firefox v8.3 and Chrome v63, doesn’t work on Safari.
You first need to open remote Firefox via http://SERVER_IP:5800 Within remote Firefox navigate to your HA url.
For some reason
image: jlesage/firefox:v1.18.0
gives the following error.
Attaching to firefox
firefox | exec /init: exec format error
firefox exited with code 1
Probably at that version it did not support ARM architecture.
Here is the solution that worked for me: homeassistant and ios 9.3.5
Many had the same troubles like me:
Old iPads mounted to the wall are good enough as a touchscreen BUT
Lovelace UI is incompatible with iOS 9.3.5 the latest version for old iPads.
Behavior: you can connect to the homeassistant but after login you see “initializing” and wait forever.
Reason: Lovelace UI uses Polymere Javascript framework which needs newer browsers like Safari 11
Updating to the last 2 supported Browsers (Dolphin (tested), iCab (not tested €€€)) do not work because Dolphin uses iOS builtin Webkit Browserengine.
What works for some people: install homeassistant app on an iphone of a family member and then on the old ipad in appstore under family sharing (de: Familienfreigabe) you can download the latest compatible version of that app.
Solution: 2 steps
-
the last version of homeassistant docker container that kind of works with workaround is: 2021.12
Next version 2022.1 does not, even with workaround. 2021.12 has working knx integration -
login token does still not work with 2021.12 so you need to switch to an alternatin authentication method, like trusted networks
Here is what you need to do (in this order !!!)
sudo docker pull homeassistant/home-assistant:2021.12
sudo docker run -d \
--restart unless-stopped \
--name=homeassistant \
-h homeassistant \
-e PUID=1001 \
-e PGID=1001 \
-e TZ=CET \
--net=host \
-v homeassistant:/config \
homeassistant/home-assistant:2021.12
- connect on a PC and configure a user (doesn’t work with trusted networks)
http://homeassistant.local:8123
- enable trusted networks in configuration.yaml (insert first 5 rows end change to your net adress)
sudo nano /var/lib/docker/volumes/homeassistant/_data/configuration.yaml
homeassistant:
auth_providers:
- type: trusted_networks
trusted_networks:
- 192.168.8.0/24
# Configure a default setup of Home Assistant (frontend, api, etc)
default_config:
# Text to speech
tts:
- platform: google_translate
group: !include groups.yaml
automation: !include automations.yaml
script: !include scripts.yaml
scene: !include scenes.yaml
knx: !include knx.yaml # if you need knx integration
- (optional) add your knx configuration (no need for configuring IP interface or IP router)
this is my knx.yaml:
---
#knx:
light:
- name: Deckenlicht_Glastüre
address: 0/0/4
- name: Bar_Licht1
address: 0/0/10
- name: Wandlicht_Glastüre_Stiege
address: 0/0/11
cover:
- name: Raffstore_Küche_Hoch_Tief
move_long_address: 1/0/12
- name: Raffstore_Küche_Stop
move_long_address: 1/0/13
- name: Raffstore Küche Pos1
position_address: 1/0/27
- name: Raffstore Küche Pos2
position_address: 1/0/28
switch:
- name: Sofa_Stehlampe_steckdose_rechts
address: 0/0/3
- name: Alles_Aus1
address: 0/5/1
- name: Stiege_Steckdose_Christbaum
address: 2/0/11
sensor:
- name: Strommessung_all_abfragen
state_address: 5/0/0
type: "active_energy"
state_class: "total_increasing"
- restart homeassistant
(ether via web browser on PC or via:
docker restart homeassistant
)
- open safari on your iPad2 (iOS 9.3.5) and open the url:
http://homeassistant.local:8123
select your user and have fun!
Right I got it working now after several days of wrestling through the topics.
Ipad model from 2012, IOS 9.3.6 highest possible at the moment.
I got homeAssistant OS, So that means, no direct docker commands possible, completely unclear where the Add ons are in the filesystem etc. the minimum what you need is ssh. I got a HomeAssistant Yellow, so dedicated RPI and HomeAssistant pre-installed as Homeassistant OS, which is basically a closed/ impossible system if you want to run docker commands.
My current configuration is :
Ipad 9.3.6 → RealVNC → connect to firefox that’s running internal in HA → firefox is connected with HA via homeassistant.local:8123. It sounds complicated, but it is rather fast and convenient.
I used the firefox add on : Home Assistant Add-On: Firefox
However this prebuild image does not have the ports mapped ! 5800:5800 and 5900:5900. I needed this mapping because I want to access the homeassistant firefox browser from my internal network.
Also I’d like to set the kiosk mode, dark mode and the right screen resolution (which is apparently 2048x1536 (QXGA) for my model Ipad).
Another problem I encountered is downloading a compatible version on the Ipad. I now have this working with VNC on port 5900 which is in my opinion much faster than using a firefox instance on the ipad and using port 5800.
So the mistake I made was (after having the app installed on another IOS device with the same user) trying to download the app on the 9.3.6 ipad directly from the store. This is not what you should do, go to purchases ‘aankopen’ and there you have all the apps installed on your more modern device. If you click the download in this overview, you get the offer to download an older compatible version ! this worked both for firefox and realvnc and probably for a whole bunch more apps.
So to get the right parameters changed in the existing image, I was ‘inspired’ by the ‘hello world’ application mentioned here : Tutorial: Making your first add-on | Home Assistant Developer Docs
You can try up to step 2, step 3 is not important to know for now.
If you succeeded, you can basically put a few files in a new addon directory ‘hello world’ via ssh and have this picked up by the addon store of homassistant OS. you can install it and run it. nice…
So equally I picked the firefox browser addon (after removing the default add on that I got via adding a repo the ‘normal’ way). And I made a folder called ‘/addons/firefoxnew’. after that I did a git clone of the repo (mentioned on top) to get the files fast and easy to this folder. After that I moved all the files in the ‘firefox’ dir to the firefoxnew directory and removed the other files . so it looks like this :
Now you have to change the config.yaml with the parameters, at least add
ports:
5800/tcp: 5800
5900/tcp: 5900
I also added in the environment section:
FF_KIOSK: "1"
DARK_MODE: "1"
DISPLAY_WIDTH: "1536"
DISPLAY_HIGHT: "2048"
Now that you are done, you can follow the same instructions as “hello world”. So update your add on store, ‘firefoxnew’ should be visible (oh yeah, the name in the config.yaml on top should be changed to “FireFoxnew” or something else that you like).
Now you can install this addon, that you tweeked. basically it seems that it copies it somewhere internal, so you could delete your addon folder later on, I kept it for later use.
I think this is it more or less. It is not a step by step guide, but more like an “I did it, I really did it”. And of course every question I’m happy to try and answer. It took me a lot of hours to figure it out, so possibly others can also benefit from it. cheers !
3 Likes
Thanks for the template! Sadly, as others mentioned before, this version will not run on an ARM Raspi. But I found that the newest version of jlesage’s firefox docker does work on ipad mini 1st gen via VNC. Just need to expose the VNC port to another port on the host (e.g. 5950:5900 because 5900 will be in use by the Raspi VNC server) and I use 1024 by 768 as that fits the ipad resolution nicer. Then downloaded Real VNC on the iPad (had to download on another Apple device first and then on my iPad mini navigate to the Apps not on iPad to download the compatible version) and voilà, connection established! In the VNC I sent the F11 button to make it go to fullscreen and then switched on guided access. Looks really neat!
2 Likes
Version 1.1.0 of Firefox Add-On is available
All you need and more is - finally - now included in my image for Kiosk needs.
-
Base image update: jlesage/docker-firefox to 23.11.3
-
Allow exposing VNC and Web ports on the Home Assistant host. This enables Kiosk scenarios (and some iFrame / Webpage card scenarios) with Kiosk mode and default URL options.
-
Make the menu entry available to all users (panel_admin: false).
-
Enable the “legacy” mode to use options as environment variables. Few examples of available options below:
-
Option to set a VNC password.
-
Option to set a default URL.
-
Option to start Firefox in Kiosk mode.
-
Option to enable Dark Mode.
-
Option to add font WenQuanYi Zen Hei. Support for Chinese/Japanese/Korean characters.
-
Option to set the resolution of the application.
2 Likes
Used Herman’s procedure in post 93 on getting RealVNC on an old iPad running IOS 9.3.6. I loaded RealVNC on my wife’s newer ipad which has family sharing but it did not seem show up as purchased apps in the Apple Store. Next day loaded RealVNC on my iPhone and it then showed as purchased on the old iPad. Clicking on RealVNC in purchases it gave me the option to load a version compatible with the old IOS.
Using Mincka’s fabulous work with the Firefox Add-On, simple load. With latest options in configuration set a password, ports to use, default URL and screen resolution. Changed option in RealVNC for Picture Quality from automatic to high to show camera images correctly.
Very fast login to HA overview, at least as fast as using the app on an iPhone.
Very pleased at being able to repurpose an old iPad that previously was just unusable for anything.
Thank you…
1 Like
Great idea! I have an old iPad Mini and I tried with setup.
It’s almost perfect in touch mode. 
The only issue I have is that I don’t manage to scroll in this mode, neither in the menu or the dashboards. I tried “panning” with two fingers but nothing happen.
Do you have this issue?
Also, thanks a lot for your support, that’s really appreciated. 
Yes.
There is a scroll bar on the right hand side that appears when touching over that side but it is not very accurate and a bit messy getting to the top of the page. I am looking into using a dashboard that just uses a single pages so no scrolling required with tabs at the top to view more options. I am playing with Mushroom but I am a real newb so it is a work in progress, but seems to work well.
1 Like
Thanks. I expected to be able to scroll the screen by placing my finger on it and moving it, similar to how it’s done on a phone.
Maybe that would be possible with another VNC client. I don’t know if others are available and compatible with iOS 9.3.
I’ll have a look and report back here if I find other compatible VNC clients.
Hell thanks for all the discussions here.
I currently struggeling to install a VNC Viewer on my iPad 3? Where do you get the corresponding ReacVNC Viewer ? I’ve just able to download the new one, which isn’t able to install on IOS 9. I’ve also jailbraked the iPad to install directly the .ipa file from windows.
I would be so happy if some could help me 
I have an iPad 4 stuck on iOS 10, and tested running the Firefox Docker container on the Home Assistant OS on a Raspberry Pi 4. It does work, and quite fast considering this work around, though with some caveats as some widgets do not work.
I also written the detailed steps for installing it as it was not straightforward.
-
Install Portainer on Home Assistant, following its installation steps as described.
-
Open Portainer web interface. Click on “primary”, “Containers” and “Add container” button. Type in a name like “Firefox”. On Image field, paste “jlesage/firefox”. In Port Mapping, add mapping to 5800 to 5800 (tcp) and 5900 to 5900 (tcp and udp, i.e. three entries). Click on Deploy the container. Note that it is not ready yet.
-
Once it has started, click on the container you have created, i.e. Firefox. Click on Duplicate/Edit button. Scroll down to Advanced container settings. Click on Env tab. Change variables DISPLAY_WIDTH to “1024” and DISPLAY_HEIGHT to “768”. (That’s half of iPad 4 resolution, a bit blocky but good enough for it to be faster.) Then, scroll up, click on Deploy the container button and Replace on the modal that appears.
-
On iPad, open App Store, search for “Remote Ripple”. That is a VNC client that works on the iPad 4, so supports iOS 10, at least. Open the app, create a connection, connect to it, then click on the keyboard icon to enter the login and to send a F11 keypress for it to enter on full screen.
Now for some images:
3 Likes
(Apparently I can’t post more then one image per post, what a bummer.)
As you can see some rectangles / widgets do not load for some reason. The same dashboard on PC for comparison:
(A WIP dashboard for a tablet, which I didn’t continue working on when I realized it did not work on the iPad in the first place.)
2 Likes
And how fast it performs:
Apart from these widgets not loading, other constraint is that you cannot tap hold to change brightness.
(I had another gif to show that but apparently new users can’t post more then three items in a row.)
Finally, it didn’t affect much of the performance / load on the Raspberry Pi 4. Processor is on 4-5% and memory usage on 38%.
On the other hand, it seems that having Portainer installed on the HAOS blocks updates from installing, so I took it down after testing and making sure that it is indeed feasible, but it is probably easier to just get a new, cheap Android tablet to begin with. That might be easier - and you won’t have such restriction - if you manage the OS that Home Assistant is installed.
Hope this step by step guide is helpful for you
2 Likes
You are legend! I search hours for an option to make it work, i hope it will work on my ipad 2
Any option to get the dark version?
I’ve starting using the Firefox(Edge) add on. ha-addons/firefox_edge at main · Mincka/ha-addons · GitHub Now I can use my old iPad2. Very easy to setup on my Raspberry Pi running hassos. On the iPad I’m using RealVNC Viewer: Remote Desktop on the App Store