Why the stock Home Assistant app is not enough
Stock Home Assistant on Android is a competent phone client. Open the app, see your entities, tap a toggle. On a wall-mounted tablet it falls short. There is no proximity wake, no automatic screen rotation between dashboards, no kiosk-mode lockout, and no way to keep the screen on without leaving the OS settings open.
The seven Android apps below were built or adapted for the dashboard use case. Some are full kiosk browsers that point at a Home Assistant Lovelace URL. Some replace the dashboard layer entirely with their own widget system. We focused on apps that get installed on a tablet running 24/7 in the kitchen, hallway, or entryway, where the goal is glanceable state plus quick tap control.
If you only ever check Home Assistant from a phone, the stock app is still the right pick. The list below assumes a dedicated screen.
What to look for in a Home Assistant dashboard app
- Kiosk lockout that prevents accidental navigation away from the dashboard.
- Screen-on management without draining the panel into burn-in territory.
- Proximity or motion wake so the panel does not glow at 3 a.m.
- Multi-dashboard cycling for households that want different views on a schedule.
- Local network operation, so the panel keeps working if the internet is down.
- Editable layout outside the Lovelace YAML world for households where the layout owner is not the same as the YAML owner.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Assistant Companion | Default phone client | Yes | Free | Native HA notifications |
| HomeHabit | Multi-platform widget dashboard | Yes | $4.99 one-time | 30+ widget types, no Lovelace |
| DimDash | Wall-mounted Lovelace | Yes | Pro tier paid | Proximity wake, auto-dim, dashboard rotation |
| Fully Kiosk Browser | Locked-down web dashboards | Free trial | $9.99 one-time | Most mature kiosk feature set |
| WallPanel | Open-source kiosk | Yes | None | Free, MQTT-aware, motion detection |
| HomeDash | Touch-first remix of Lovelace | Yes | None | Reorganised Lovelace, no YAML |
| HASS.Agent Browser | Windows-style sensors via Android | Yes | None | Pairs with HASS.Agent for richer telemetry |
The apps
1. Home Assistant Companion, the baseline
Home Assistant Companion is the official Android client and the starting point for everyone. It renders the same Lovelace dashboards the web UI shows, pushes notifications, and exposes the phone’s sensors (battery, location, activity) back to Home Assistant.
On a phone, Companion is hard to beat. It is the only Android app that supports the full HA notification API, including actionable replies and camera streams. For dashboard work specifically, it is also the easiest way to test a Lovelace layout before pushing it to a wall panel.
Where it falls short: No kiosk lockout. No proximity wake. The screen turns off according to Android’s usual rules, which makes it a poor pick for an always-on tablet. The companion app is for phones first.
Pricing:
- Free, open source, available on Google Play, Aptoide, and F-Droid.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Wear OS.
Bottom line: The right phone client, the wrong wall panel client.
2. HomeHabit, best widget-based dashboard
HomeHabit does not embed Lovelace at all. It connects directly to Home Assistant (and OpenHAB, MQTT, Hubitat, and others) and lets the user assemble a dashboard out of more than 30 widget types — thermostats, media controls, weather, security cameras, single-tile lights, multi-stat panels, embedded web frames.
The dashboard editor is drag-and-drop with a fixed grid. Multiple dashboards can run on the same panel and switch by time of day or motion. The free tier includes most widgets and one dashboard; the paid tier unlocks multi-dashboard, themes, and embedded browser cards.
Where it falls short: The widget set is opinionated. If a Lovelace card type does not have a HomeHabit equivalent, the workaround is the embedded browser card, which feels like a step backwards. There is no Z-Wave or Zigbee setup help, only display.
Pricing:
- Free: one dashboard, single platform, basic widgets
- Premium: roughly $4.99 one-time per device for multi-dashboard, themes, and advanced widgets
Platforms: Android, Fire OS, Android TV.
Bottom line: Pick HomeHabit when the household wants a dashboard the YAML person did not have to write.
3. DimDash, best for wall-mounted Lovelace
DimDash is built around the assumption that the Android tablet is already mounted to a wall and the dashboard is already in Lovelace. It takes the existing Home Assistant dashboard URL and adds the kiosk layer: proximity wake from the front camera, auto-dimming on a schedule, dashboard rotation through multiple URLs, and a swipe-up admin gesture so the panel never accidentally lands on the Android home screen.
The Pro tier adds multiple dashboard URLs in rotation, motion-aware brightness curves, and a stricter lockdown that prevents the swipe-up gesture from leaking outside the app.
Where it falls short: It is a wrapper around Lovelace, not a dashboard editor. If Lovelace is hard to look at on the panel, DimDash will not fix that. There is no widget remix layer.
Pricing:
- Free: single dashboard, basic kiosk
- Pro: paid subscription, unlocks rotation, multiple dashboards, advanced brightness rules
Platforms: Android, Android TV.
Bottom line: Pick DimDash when Lovelace is already polished and the missing piece is the wall-panel behaviour around it.
4. Fully Kiosk Browser, best locked-down kiosk
Fully Kiosk Browser is the long-standing kiosk app on Android. It is not Home Assistant specific. Point it at any URL — the HA Lovelace endpoint, an Apex Charts panel, the Grafana view, a Frigate camera grid — and Fully will run it full-screen, prevent the user from navigating away, and expose dozens of MQTT topics for motion, screen state, and camera frames.
The MQTT integration is what makes it valuable for Home Assistant. Wave at the tablet and an automation can light the kitchen. Walk past it at 11 p.m. and the brightness drops. The screen on/off state is queryable from inside HA.
Where it falls short: The setup matrix is dense. Fully has hundreds of settings, half of which need to be combined correctly to get the desired behaviour. New users frequently end up in the support forum.
Pricing:
- Free trial with a periodic prompt
- Plus license: roughly $9.99 one-time per device
Platforms: Android, Fire OS.
Bottom line: Pick Fully if MQTT-driven kiosk control is the priority and the configuration overhead is acceptable.
5. WallPanel, best free open-source kiosk
WallPanel is the open-source alternative to Fully. It runs a full-screen browser pointed at a Home Assistant dashboard URL, supports MQTT publish/subscribe, has motion detection through the front camera, and exposes a small REST API.
It is not as configurable as Fully and the polish is lower, but the licensing is free and the codebase is on GitHub. For households that prefer to avoid one more paid licence, it covers the same kiosk basics.
Where it falls short: Active development is slower than Fully. Some Android versions need manual permission tweaks for the motion detection to keep working. There is no Plus-tier feature parity.
Pricing:
- Free, open source
Platforms: Android.
Bottom line: Pick WallPanel for an open-source kiosk that pairs cleanly with MQTT and does not cost a licence.
6. HomeDash, best touch-first remix of Lovelace
HomeDash is a community-built dashboard layer that reshapes Lovelace for touch input. It uses the same Home Assistant entity model but produces a single-page panel of large round buttons, room cards, and a strip of media controls along the bottom.
The layout is not editable through Lovelace YAML. Instead, HomeDash reads an homedash.yaml config and renders its own view. That trade-off pays off when the panel is in a kitchen with grease on someone’s fingers and there is no time to find a 12-row Lovelace card.
Where it falls short: It is a separate config file from regular Lovelace, so changes need to land in two places if multiple dashboards are in use. Not every entity type renders well in HomeDash’s larger buttons.
Pricing:
- Free, community-maintained
Platforms: Android via the Home Assistant Companion’s web view, or any Android browser pointed at the HomeDash URL.
Bottom line: Pick HomeDash when the panel needs forgiving touch targets and a different visual language from Lovelace.
7. HASS.Agent Browser, best for tablet-as-sensor
HASS.Agent Browser is the Android companion to HASS.Agent, which started as a Windows agent exposing the desktop to Home Assistant. The Android version brings the same idea: the tablet itself becomes a rich source of telemetry, not just a screen.
It exposes battery health, charging state, network state, ambient light, screen brightness, motion, NFC tag scans, and a configurable set of buttons that fire HA service calls. Pair that with a wall-mounted tablet and the panel can drive automations that the Companion app cannot, like dimming the room when the panel itself goes idle.
Where it falls short: Smaller community than Fully or Companion. Configuration leans on YAML in HA, which puts it on the harder end of setup for non-technical households.
Pricing:
- Free, open source
Platforms: Android, Windows.
Bottom line: Pick HASS.Agent Browser when the dashboard tablet should also be a sensor pack feeding automations.
How to pick the right one
- For a phone, use Home Assistant Companion. The kiosk apps below were not designed for it.
- For a wall-mounted tablet already running Lovelace, DimDash for the lightest kiosk layer, or Fully Kiosk Browser if MQTT-driven control is the priority.
- For a household that does not want to write Lovelace, HomeHabit or HomeDash.
- For a free, open-source kiosk that pairs with MQTT, WallPanel.
- For a tablet that should also feed sensor data to Home Assistant, HASS.Agent Browser.
- Trying to skip the kiosk question entirely and run from the stock Companion app: do not. It will turn off, drift to the home screen, and frustrate everyone.
FAQ
What is the best free Home Assistant dashboard for Android? WallPanel is the most capable free open-source option. HomeHabit’s free tier is also enough for a single-room household. HomeDash is free and runs in any browser.
Can I use the Home Assistant Companion app as a wall dashboard? Technically yes, in practice no. It has no kiosk lockout, no proximity wake, and no screen-on management. Pair it with Fully Kiosk Browser or DimDash if the wall panel needs the Companion app’s notifications.
Do these apps work without an internet connection? Yes, as long as the tablet and the Home Assistant server are on the same local network. None of them depend on a cloud relay.
What runs best on a low-powered tablet? WallPanel and HomeDash are the lightest. Fully and DimDash are fine on most tablets from 2020 onward but heavier on older Fire HD hardware.
Can I share a single dashboard between phone and wall tablet? Yes. Build the dashboard in Lovelace, then point Companion and any of the kiosk apps at the same URL. HomeHabit is the exception because it does not use Lovelace.
Which app works with Frigate camera streams? Fully Kiosk Browser is the most reliable. HomeDash and Companion render Frigate via standard Lovelace cards. HomeHabit needs the embedded browser card.
