I agree with the last comments about device longevity. After further experimentation, I did manage to get my dashboard loaded in Dolphin browser, although it was extremely slow and I later got the error message “unable to connect to Home Assistant” again. The main issue seems to be that Home Assistant has become too resource-intensive for older iPads like mine.
While I understand the technical constraints and security considerations mentioned earlier, I think there’s room for a middle ground. At its core, a dashboard is essentially a “simple” website that should be able to run on any device. For my use case, I don’t need all the bells and whistles - basic controls for lights/scenes and heating would be sufficient.
From a technical perspective, I believe it would be beneficial to have the option to load a simplified dashboard without plugins and extensive features - something like a “satellite” dashboard or a composable frontend where users can choose which features to load. This would not only extend the lifespan of older devices but also provide a more efficient solution for wall-mounted displays where basic functionality is all that’s needed.
This approach could help bridge the gap between modern features and sustainability, allowing users to make the most of their existing hardware while still maintaining security and basic functionality. What do you think about implementing such a lightweight option?
I had similar thoughts and similar issues a while back. I had a perfectly functioning iPad2 that I wanted to reuse. I ended up creating a solution that uses a web based VNC client to access a modern browser running on the HA itself.
It works surpisingly well, and the client side part (noVNC) has been around for 10+ years so it should be possible to get it working on really old browsers even.
noVNC says
A browser with at least minimal canvas support (i.e. not IE 6, 7 or 8).
But in my experience the latest used some js features which made it not work on my iPad so I had to go back a few versions.
Doing a kind of “streaming” view of the dashboard will not work everywhere, I have not tried with any kind of more interactive layout. But it seems like it would be a nice way to allow the dashboard developers to keep using the newer nicer parts of javascript while allowing also older browsers to interact with it.
Either way, after getting my proof of concept working I packaged it all up as a self-contained home assistant add-on and would love to get some feedback and see if it works on other devices than the iPad2. Theoretically it should work on everything with a browser, but who knows, technology is complicated.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been developing a lightweight, MQTT-based customizable dashboard designed specifically for the first-generation iPad. It’s inspired by AppDaemon’s Home Assistant Dashboard but optimized for older iOS devices, no websockets or TLS, which helps avoid compatibility issues.
Alongside the iOS app, I’ve built a Home Assistant integration to manage onboarded devices and expose key entities such as battery level, charging status, screen brightness, and keep-awake controls.
I’m currently focused on bug fixes and performance tuning, with plans to release in the next two weeks. Looking ahead, I aim to support all final iOS versions across end-of-life iPads.
Thx for interest. GitHub - 3dg1luk43/ha_mqtt_dash. It requires a bit of tinkering, especially to install iOS app, but I’ve been using it for weeks and it works like a charm on iPad 1.
