Ready-made smart home wall panels quickly cost several hundred euros. Yet the better solution is often already sitting in a drawer: a tablet. Mounted on the wall, it becomes a fully-fledged hub for Home Assistant, Apple Home, SmartThings or your KNX visualization. Here is how to go about it.
Guide
Your Tablet as a Smart Home Hub on the Wall: The Practical Guide
Which tablet is suitable?
A dashboard does not need current hardware. An older iPad, an affordable Lenovo Tab or an Amazon Fire tablet are enough in most cases. As a rule of thumb for size: 8 inch feels like a control panel (for example the iPad mini next to the light switch), 10 to 11 inch like a control center for the hallway or kitchen.
The software: from Home Assistant to Apple Home
For Home Assistant you use the Companion app or a browser dashboard; on Android tablets, the Fully Kiosk Browser has established itself for this, turning the tablet into a pure display device. On the iPad, Apple Home is the obvious choice, and Samsung tablets work with SmartThings. KNX and Loxone systems can also be operated on the wall tablet through their visualization apps or the browser.
The right place on the wall
A spot along the central walkway works well: the hallway by the entrance, the kitchen or the transition to the living room. Eye level is a comfortable mounting height, depending on your height roughly 140 to 160 cm to the center of the display. Important: a wall socket nearby for the permanent power supply.
Power: charging on the wall
Our guide Tablet wall mount with charging explains in detail how to charge your tablet on the wall and route the cable concealed.
Enclosure, slide-in or picture frame?
If the tablet stays on the wall permanently, the enclosure mount is ideal: it holds the device in a frame, while the display remains fully usable. If the tablet should join you on the sofa now and then, take the slide-in version for sliding in and taking out. For the living room there is also the mount in picture frame design, where the tablet looks like a framed picture. The guide Slide-in, enclosure or picture frame shows the differences.
Six steps to your wall hub
- Choose a tablet or bring an existing device back to life
- Set up and test the dashboard app while the tablet is still in your hand
- Pick the spot: central walkway, wall socket nearby
- Order the precisely fitted wall mount for your model; if in doubt, the model finder helps
- Install the mount (screws and wall plugs included), route the cable concealed
- Configure Screen Time or kiosk mode so the dashboard stays on display
Using Home Assistant? The guide Home Assistant Dashboard on the Wall walks you through kiosk mode, power supply and the wall panel setup in detail.