I’d like to address a concerning issue regarding device compatibility. My first-gen iPad Air, which is still working flawfully with iOS 12.5, cannot run Home Assistant. This is particularly frustrating as the device would be perfect as a wall-mounted dashboard - a use case where it doesn’t even need cutting-edge features or performance.
This iPad Air still:
Functions perfectly for many tasks
Has a great display
Holds a decent battery life
Is ideal for wall mounting (slim profile, good screen size)
Would make a perfect dedicated dashboard controller
I’ve spent considerable time testing various workarounds found online, but none of them have worked for me. Many of these solutions are unnecessarily complex and time-consuming, only to end up not working at all. It’s frustrating to have to jump through hoops just to use a device that’s perfectly capable of displaying a web interface.
Instead of contributing to electronic waste by forcing users to buy new devices, shouldn’t we strive to extend the useful life of existing hardware? The irony here is that a wall dashboard is one of the simplest use cases - basically just displaying a web interface 24/7. Yet we’re being forced to either buy new hardware or dispose of a perfectly good device.
I understand there might be technical limitations, but I believe we should have this discussion about balancing progress with sustainability, especially for basic use cases like wall displays. What are your thoughts on this? Is anyone else facing similar issues with older devices?
I can’t even install the browser. I also tried Puffin Web Browser and Dolphin, but they can’t even reach the login screen, which at least Safari can. That’s really weird. iOS 12 is 6 years old. My MacBook is 12 years old and still runs most things I need.
Hi Sascha, as Tom says: it’s Apple who decides what you can run.
I don’t know much about that ecosystem so I cannot help you.
Of couse it’s more time consuming to find work arounds compared to just install an app but if you want to use that tablet as a dashboard, that’s the only option you have.
Maybe someone else with more knowledge about iOS jumps in to help you…
Speaking as a guy who had a minor say in such decisions (my role was at the table representing the user v dev team in exactly this kind of discussion) in one of the big four tech vendors in a past life… sometimes there’s nothing you can do.
Without even looking at the issue I can GUARANTEE the decision was security v. Cost of repair. And when the device is that old sometimes it may not support a feature (silicon level) or not have whatever feature you need to work around the issue (most common - new Cpu instructions are more secure versions of old ones that isolate memory, simply did not exist in old processor) or sure it can be done but the fix hamstrings everything else on the box (code around, but it takes 100 Cpu instructions instead of the 1 it took before.) because the processor just can’t cut it according to modern standards… At that point as a vendor you just have to accept that it’s too expensive to fix.
What end users often don’t realize is as vendors this is KNOWN from day one that this point happens to all tech products.
In the old wild west we just pretty much collectively said eh it’ll work itself out.
But in present day where a vendor would probably be in court for allowing a security issue on a device or be sued for causing the machine to ‘slow down’ after an update (i have personally seen both happen) this is why vendors create support windows so they don’t HAVE to try to crush square security pegs in round holes forever.
So they don’t want to turn your device into ewaste but the practical reality of it security and progress means yes at some point we have to throw in the towel.
Now. Whether you can / should /should be able to unlock said device to BYO operating system (of course accepting all responsibilities in the process) well that’s a completely different conversation…
On my iPhone 5S with iOS 12.x it is still possible to run Companion App.
It even can show all my custom cards & card-mod styles.
Ofc it works much slower.
But small pages with stock cards w/o card-mod work OK.
So I would suggest OP:
create simplified versions of views for that iPad;
create a separate user “iPad Air”;
make only simplified views available for that user;
then use that user to login on this device.
Chrome on my iPhone worked even worse in some cases. Have not checked other 3rd party browsers - was not able to install them.
Hi,
You cannot load it at all in your Safari?
HA web should work with iOS 10, it’s not perfectly designed but it should be able to control. Maybe in the future iOS 10 support will be dropped, but iOS 12 should still work.
The iOS app is something else, this needs to be certified from Apple.
Deeper and WAY more nuanced. Probably better described as they WAY thay you did stuff before changed to be more (cheaper/better/faster/stronger/secure)
And the old silicon isn’t capable of new way.
Redesigning the entire way stuff is done won’t fix it. (sure I’d live to see more server side too, but that’s not the answer)
What would it look like to develop the frontend with device longevity in mind? So, the newest iPad of today can be expected to work with HomeAssistant for the next 10-15 years.
Is that even a possible goal? Or does the advancement of technology prohibit that?
Sure, that’s what I expected. Just wanted to clarify as it seems the primary issue of this WTH is whether or not we care about supporting devices as long as possible.
I have iPad 2 and Asus T100TA tablets, I bought them around 10 years ago, the iPad 2 is useless but the Asus T100TA running windows 10 works great as a wall panel.
Apple dropped support for older hardware, not because it is not good enought to run modern web pages, but because it was a business decision. I would love to use my iPad 2 as a wall panel, but with iOS 9.X there is no way to get this done
Apple stopped iPad Air 1 at iPadOS 12 in 2019 (after 6 years) because it just wasn’t powerful enough to run 13. They continued security updates to 12.5.7, just last year, when the device was already 10 years old. Compare with iPad Air 2, released just a year later (2014), which was so much more powerful it received support all the way to iPadOS 15 (and still runs HA just fine) and is still getting minor updates.
Ten+ years of software support from a device maker is almost unheard of today. The bigger issue is software backwards compatibility — since the APIs and SDKs change so much each year with new features, developers don’t want to write (or cannot test) for older OS versions. And since a vanishingly small number of users still have devices that old, the return-on-investment to accommodate them is small for devs.
That said, kiosks are a common use for old hardware and briefly searching the App Store I see a number of kiosk-y apps that claim to work on iPadOS 12+ which might also be worth a try.
Another idea is to use the Apple Home app instead. Way back in iPadOS 12, the iPad could act as a home hub, so you can create a HomeKit bridge in HA specifically for the iPad to join, containing all the devices you want it to control. You won’t have graphs or custom layouts, but you will have sensor and device status and control.
