Mini Project: The Home Panel on a Fully Kiosk Tablet

This lesson genuinely doesn't add another big topic. We're pulling the whole module together into one practical mini project. You'll check the Panel dashboard, the Home Panel user, Fully Kiosk, the Home Assistant integration, the screen, night mode, diagnostics, security, and a settings backup.

Plan on roughly seventy to eighty genuine minutes. If you're doing this on the actual tablet hanging on the wall, it's genuinely worth spreading some of the tests across one evening and the following morning. The goal isn't a perfect panel built to last decades, it's genuinely a first panel that can actually be used normally around the house.

What should genuinely exist by the end of the module

After this module you should genuinely have one concrete result, a Home Assistant wall panel you can actually launch on a tablet and leave with the household without constantly explaining it. It doesn't need to be elaborate. It needs to be readable, predictable, and genuinely safe.

Location and tablet, ready genuinely means the tablet has power, Wi-Fi, and a sensible spot in the house, from Lesson 2. The Home Panel user, ready genuinely means the account isn't an administrator and has the correct dashboard set as default, from Lesson 3. The Panel dashboard, ready genuinely means Start is simple and risky things sit off the main screen, from Lessons 4, 5, and 9. Fully Kiosk, ready genuinely means the tablet launches the panel full-screen and returns to it after a restart, from Lesson 6. The Home Assistant integration, ready genuinely means you can see battery, power, screen, and availability state, from Lesson 7. The screen and night behavior, ready genuinely means the panel doesn't glow too brightly, doesn't wake senselessly, and works after dark, from Lesson 8. And security, ready genuinely means statuses are separated from actions, and the gate, an alarm integration, and cameras each have a deliberately chosen spot, from Lesson 9.

Step 1: check the Panel dashboard

Start with the dashboard itself. Not Fully, not the tablet, not Android's settings. If the dashboard's genuinely chaotic on a computer, it'll only be harder to use on a tablet. The Start screen should genuinely answer one question, what does a household member most often do at this panel?

Open the Panel dashboard as an ordinary view inside Home Assistant. Check whether Start fits the most important information without constant scrolling. Remove cards that are technical, rarely used, or only clear to you. Keep large, readable buttons for everyday actions. Separate statuses from actions, especially around the gate, doors, the alarm, and cameras. And go into the subviews and check that returning to Start is genuinely easy. Don't fix everything at once, the mini project isn't the moment to redesign the whole house. If the panel has too many cards, remove the excess. If one important light button's missing, add it. Save the bigger redesigns for later.

Step 2: check the Home Panel account

The panel should genuinely run on a separate user. This is one of the most important decisions in the whole module. It means the shared tablet genuinely isn't your own private administrator phone, and it doesn't hand out accidental access to Home Assistant's settings.

Good, the tablet's logged in as Home Panel, the account carries no administrator role, and the default view is the Panel dashboard. Worth checking, whether after a refresh, an app restart, and a tablet restart you genuinely still land back on the panel, not on your last private dashboard. Don't leave it like this, the tablet logged in as Home Assistant's main administrator, with access to settings, integrations, and the full history.

Step 3: check Fully Kiosk on the tablet

Fully Kiosk genuinely has one job, keeping the panel a predictable household screen. In the mini project you don't need to revisit every single option from Lesson 6. You're checking the most important settings that genuinely determine day-to-day behavior.

Start URL, check that it genuinely leads to the Panel dashboard, so the tablet returns to the right spot. Full screen, check that no bars or browser elements are visible, so the panel genuinely looks like a household screen, not an ordinary web page. App restart, check that the panel genuinely returns after closing and reopening, since a household member shouldn't have to fix the tablet themselves. Remote Admin, check that it genuinely works locally and carries a password, so both Home Assistant and you can diagnose the tablet. And import and export settings, check that you genuinely have a backup of Fully's configuration, so you can restore it faster after a failure or a device swap.

Step 4: check the tablet's entities in Home Assistant

The Fully Kiosk integration in Home Assistant isn't genuinely there so you can play with every command. What genuinely matters most is that Home Assistant can see the tablet's basic state. That's what stops the panel from being a black box hanging on the wall.

Check whether the tablet's entities are genuinely available, not stuck unavailable. Check the battery and power state. Check the screen or brightness entity, if your setup exposes one. Run a simple command, waking the screen, for instance, and see whether the tablet reacts. And restart Home Assistant, or just the integration, and check whether the tablet returns to an available state. Don't ignore unavailable, if the tablet keeps disappearing from Home Assistant every so often, don't call the panel ready. Check the IP, Wi-Fi, Remote Admin, the password, and power saving on the tablet.

Step 5: test the screen, brightness, and night behavior

A panel can genuinely be technically correct and still irritate the household. That usually happens genuinely because of the screen, it glows too brightly, wakes at the wrong moment, doesn't dim, or doesn't return after a night. That's exactly why the screen test's part of the mini project, not an optional extra.

Daytime test, check whether the panel's readable from a normal distance and doesn't need you to hit tiny elements. Evening test, check whether the brightness doesn't get in the way and the screen still responds smoothly. Night test, check whether the panel doesn't wake household members and night mode only turns on when it genuinely should. And restart test, restart the tablet or the app and check whether the panel returns to the correct state.

Step 6: a security audit before handing the panel over

This is genuinely the last moment to look at the panel as the household's shared screen. Don't just ask whether the buttons work. Ask what happens after an accidental tap, what a guest would see, and whether a child could trigger something they genuinely shouldn't.

For the gate and doors, the final decision, status can stay visible, the open action shouldn't be easy to trigger by accident. For an alarm integration, the final decision, the panel can show data and statuses, disarming stays off the shared panel. For cameras, the final decision, the image has a deliberate spot, the Entryway view or a subview are usually best, after testing on the tablet. For kids and guests, the final decision, the panel doesn't show private data and doesn't hand out full control over the house. And for the administrator role, the final decision, the tablet isn't logged in as a Home Assistant administrator account. Don't close out the module if the panel disarms the alarm, that's genuinely not a minor cosmetic detail. A shared tablet can show the alarm's status, faulted entries, and arm-readiness, but it shouldn't replace the actual alarm keypad.

Step 7: the household-member test

The best test of the panel genuinely comes from someone who didn't design it. Ask a household member to use the panel without your instructions. Don't walk them through it step by step. Watch where they hesitate, what they tap, and which names are genuinely unclear.

Ask them to turn on the light in the most important room. Ask them to check the temperature or the household status. Ask them to return to the Start screen from another view. Ask which elements are genuinely unclear to them. Check whether they're accidentally trying to tap statuses like they're buttons. Check whether the test person doesn't accidentally land on anything related to the gate, the alarm, cameras, or technical settings. And don't explain right away. First write down what genuinely needs simplifying. The panel shouldn't genuinely need training, if turning on an ordinary light needs an explanation, the card's too small, the name's unclear, or an important action's in the wrong spot.

Step 8: a settings backup and a service note

Once the panel's genuinely working, make a simple copy of the information. This genuinely isn't about corporate documentation. It's about knowing, three months from now, what address the tablet uses, which dashboard's active, where Fully's export lives, and what to do after swapping the device.

Home Assistant address, record the address the tablet uses as its Start URL. Tablet address, record the IP or hostname you use in the Fully Kiosk integration. User, record that the tablet runs on the Home Panel account without administrator rights. Fully export, keep the settings export file, or note down where you're keeping it. Remote Admin, record that it's password-protected and where you keep that password. And a list of deliberate decisions, note down what you genuinely chose not to put on the panel, disarming the alarm or a full camera view, for instance.

The final test: thirty minutes of normal use

Finally, leave the panel in its actual spot and use it for thirty minutes the way a household member genuinely would. Don't just check whether it works. Check whether it's comfortable, whether it responds smoothly, and whether it doesn't invite accidental mistakes.

Turn a few lights on and off from the Start screen. Go into one subview and return to Start. Check household statuses, temperature, windows, doors, an alarm integration, or other important information. If you have a camera, open its view and check smoothness on the tablet. Wipe the screen with a hand or a cloth and check that nothing critical triggers. Disconnect and reconnect power, then check the battery and power entities in Home Assistant. And turn off or dim the screen and check whether it returns according to your plan.

What can genuinely go wrong

If the panel looks good on a computer but poor on the tablet, go back to the layout, enlarge buttons, remove excess cards, and test on the actual target screen. If the tablet doesn't return to the panel after a restart, check the Start URL, Fully's autostart, the Home Panel account, and power-saving settings. If the tablet's entities are unavailable, check the IP, Remote Admin, the password, Wi-Fi, and whether the tablet's putting the app to sleep in the background. If a household member doesn't know what to tap, simplify Start, rename cards, and remove elements that are only clear to the panel's own author. If the panel's turning into a remote for absolutely everything, go back to Lesson 9 and remove high-risk actions from the shared screen. And if the panel gets overbuilt after a few days, go back to a simple Start, keep the everyday actions, and move the rest into subviews or onto a phone.

Assignment: close out the panel mini project

Your assignment here is genuinely to bring the panel to a version you can leave with the household on trial. It doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to be stable, understandable, and genuinely safe.

Check the Panel dashboard on the target tablet. Confirm the tablet's running on the Home Panel account without administrator rights. Check the Start URL, full screen, and the return to the panel after a Fully restart. Check the battery, power, screen, and availability entities for the tablet in Home Assistant. Test the screen by day, in the evening, and after a restart. Remove or relocate high-risk actions from the Start screen. Ask a household member for a short test with no instructions. Export Fully's settings, or record where the backup lives. And write a short service note, the HA address, the tablet's address, the account, the dashboard, and the panel's deliberate limitations.

When to genuinely call the panel ready

The panel's ready for its first normal use once it genuinely meets a handful of simple conditions. It's not about perfection. It's about the basics genuinely working without you standing next to the tablet.

Ready, a household member can run the basic actions, the panel returns after a restart, the screen behaves sensibly, and the tablet carries no administrator rights. Keep testing, a camera stutters on the tablet, the panel occasionally disappears from Home Assistant, night brightness gets in the way, or a household member gets lost in the views. Not ready, the tablet's logged in as administrator, the panel disarms the alarm, opens the house with a single tap, or doesn't return to the correct screen after a restart.

Key takeaways from the whole module

What comes after the panel module

You've genuinely got a household screen on the wall now. The next module naturally moves on to the phone, notifications, and personal automations. That's a genuinely different world than the panel. A phone stays with one specific person, so it can genuinely do things we deliberately didn't put on the shared screen.

Confirm you genuinely know why the panel exists and how it differs from a phone. Confirm you've got a chosen spot, tablet, power, and Wi-Fi. Confirm you've got a separate Home Panel user and a separate Panel dashboard. Confirm the dashboard's readable on the tablet and works well by finger. Confirm Fully Kiosk launches the panel and lets you diagnose it. Confirm Home Assistant sees the tablet's basic entities. Confirm the screen, brightness, night mode, and waking all work in line with the panel's spot. Confirm the gate, doors, an alarm integration, and cameras are all deliberately configured. And confirm you've got a Fully settings backup and a short service note.

If most of that's checked off, the module's genuinely done its job. You've got a panel that isn't just a pretty dashboard. It's a shared household screen that genuinely helps with everyday matters, without pretending to be the administrator's own phone.