Web Kiosk¶
This page covers the settings that control which web pages are loaded, which rendering engine is used, and how the kiosk handles navigation outside the dashboard.
Navigate to Settings → Web kiosk to find all options below.
Dashboard URL¶
The primary URL Kite loads on startup. See Home Assistant & MQTT for details on how to find and set it, including the auto-discovery scan.
URL Whitelist¶
A list of additional hosts the WebView is allowed to navigate to. Requests to any URL not matching the Dashboard URL or the whitelist are blocked.
Enter hosts as comma-separated values, e.g.:
Leave at the default http:// (empty) if you want the kiosk locked to the dashboard URL only.
Browser Engine¶
Kite supports two web rendering engines:
| Engine | Based on | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Android WebView (default) | Chromium (system component) | General dashboards, broad compatibility. |
| GeckoView | Firefox | Better WebRTC support, stronger codec coverage, improved camera stream reliability. |
GeckoView availability
GeckoView is only available on Android 8.0 (API 26) and above. On older devices the toggle is not shown.
Switch engines by tapping the engine icon toggle. The change takes effect immediately — the WebView reloads.
When to choose GeckoView
If your Home Assistant dashboard includes camera streams, two-way audio, or WebRTC-based entities, GeckoView generally handles them more reliably than the system WebView.
Allowed Applications¶
Tap Application to open the allowed-applications picker. This is the list of apps that Kite's control drawer can launch — i.e., the only apps users can reach from the kiosk.
Add or remove apps in this list to define the permitted launcher scope. Apps not on this list cannot be opened from within Kite.
Auto-Return to Kiosk¶
Default: on.
When enabled, Kite automatically returns to the dashboard after a user has navigated to an external app. The return happens as soon as Kite regains focus (the user presses Back or switches back).
Toggle this off if you need users to stay in an external app indefinitely without being redirected.
Trust All SSL Certificates¶
Default: on.
Allows Kite to accept self-signed or otherwise invalid SSL certificates when loading the dashboard URL. This is required for local Home Assistant instances that use a custom or self-hosted certificate authority (e.g. a Let's Encrypt cert issued to a local domain via DNS-01 challenge, or a self-signed cert generated by the HA add-on supervisor).
Security consideration
Enabling this setting means Kite will not verify the authenticity of the server's certificate. Only use it on a trusted local network. Disable it if your Home Assistant instance has a publicly trusted certificate.
WebView Refresh¶
The WebView refresh toggle (found just below the Web kiosk section) automatically reloads the kiosk dashboard at a fixed interval.
| Setting | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enabled | toggle | on | Starts or stops the periodic reload timer. |
| Refresh interval | seconds | — | Time between automatic page reloads. Set to a value greater than 0 to enable. |
This is useful as a failsafe when the dashboard can become stale (e.g., a Home Assistant lovelace UI that stops receiving WebSocket events after a long idle period).
Info
The refresh interval is evaluated from the last completed page load, not from a fixed clock. A manual navigation or pull-to-refresh resets the timer.