Turn on iPad screen with a sensor for Dashboard

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1

I found a way to turn on the iPad screen with any sensor.
MotionSensor%20(2)
How it works
1 You have your iPad with display switched off
2 Now you walk in the range of a motion sensor
3 Homekit sees the motion detection and sends a push message to your iPad
4 In guided access mode the iPad will not show the push message and just turn on the display with your Homeassistant dashboard

What do you need?
1 iPad with Guided Access activated
2 Homekit on iPad
3 Homekit on HomeAssistant ( https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/homekit/ )
4 Sensor like door or motion sensor

How to
1 On the iPad: Go to Settings - General - Accessibility - Guided Access - Activate it

2 In Homeassistant install Homekit ( https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/homekit/ )

For example:

homekit:
  filter:
    include_domains:
      - light
      - cover
      - switch
      - media_player
      - binary_sensor

3 Add Homeassistant to your Homekit App on the iPad
Long press the the Motion Sensor - Settings - Status and Notifications and activate Notifications

4 Open your Dashboard

5 Press the Homebutton 3 Times to activate Guided Access

39 Likes
2

This is an awesome find, thank you! It’s working great for me.

1 Like
3

Wow! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this! I created an account here just so I could thank you for sharing this - I’ve been looking for a way to wake up the iPad for ages.

2 Likes
4

Does it still work on iPadOS 14.3?

Do you use the Home Assistant Companion App or Safari in Guided Access mode?

5

I use Safari not the App.

My iPad does not support iOS 14 so i cannot test it

6

Nice! Was looking for this. However you don’t have to install homekit for this purpose. You could use the notify component to send a message to the ipad. But there is limitation on how many times you could do this. So at this point Homekit is a better solution. I do know that there’re plans to get the notify component for ios out of the cloud and bring it local.

@nanosonde I use the app on my ipad mini 2 with ios 12.5 and it works. I do suspect this also works on newer devices. Would be surprised if it didn’t.

3 Likes
7

I just confirmed this works on 14.2 on an iPad :smiley:
Thanks for posting it!

1 Like
8

This is awesome

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9

It is solving 1 of my problems but introduce another one. When guided access is activated, the notification sounds and alerts are muted.

Any fix for that?

10

What motion Sensor are you using?

11

Xiaomi Mijia/Aqara. But with zigbee2mqtt so you can use Andy sensor which works with HA

12

@totolino awesome, is it this one? It looks like its wireless and battery powered, is that correct? My iPads are wall mounted and I need something discrete next to the ipad.

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Yes. You can get them cheaper from China :wink:

14

This is absolutely awesome! I’ve been looking for a way to refurbish some old iPad Minis that are just lying around.

Would any of you by chance know how to get them to show some kind of dashboard in full screen?

15

This is great! Exactly what I’m looking for. Of course another alternative would be using Fully Kiosk Browser but I have a spare iPad, so you know

16

Try kiosk mode

1 Like
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Just know that there is currently an issue with kiosk mode and older iPads that are stuck on iOS 12. Haven’t been able to update past HA Core 2021.5.5 without problems : iOS 12.5.4 (and lower) refreshing issues with HA app on 2021.6+ · Issue #69 · maykar/kiosk-mode · GitHub

18

Thanks for the information! Right now I’m struggling with finding something that can be “visually acceptable” in the living room :wink:

19

What are the settings for the iPad’s Auto-Lock set to? Or do you leave it and let the Guided Access default setting of 20mins control the screen turning off?

20

Could this be done by using a Paradox Alarm motion sensor to trigger the iPad? There is one just across from the iPad