Researched from current Home Assistant documentation on October 29, 2026. The layout below is a proposed household example, not a tested installation. No live Home Assistant system or tablet was tested for this guide. The cover is an illustrative generated image. Menu wording can differ on older releases.
Build one dashboard around everyday tasks
A Home Assistant Sections dashboard is a good starting point when you want to place controls deliberately and use them on both a phone and a tablet. Build a small custom dashboard with native cards first. You can add decoration after everyone can find the reading lamp and room temperature.
The parts fit together like this: a dashboard contains one or more views, shown as tabs. A Sections view contains groups of cards, such as a lamp control or a list of temperatures. An entity is the named Home Assistant item a card displays or controls. Sections keep related cards together as the available screen width changes. The official dashboard architecture explains this hierarchy.
Our recommendation is one manually arranged view with a small number of useful items. If the built-in dashboard already does what your household needs, keep using it. A custom layout is worthwhile when it makes a repeated task easier; it does not improve a device’s connection or replace an automation.
1. Create a separate dashboard
- Sign in as an administrator. Open Settings → Dashboards → Add dashboard, choose New dashboard from scratch, and name it Everyday home. Show it in the sidebar and select Create.
- Open it and enter edit mode. Add a view, or edit the initial view, and choose Sections as its type. Name the view Home.
- Set Max number of sections wide to 2. Leave Dense section placement off while learning the layout. Dense placement can fill horizontal gaps around wider sections, but can change the visual order.
- Save. Use the first section and create two more. Edit their heading cards to read Everyday, Rooms and Readings, in that order.
The new-dashboard instructions let you keep the existing dashboard intact. The Sections settings describe the column limit, placement options and section controls. If you see an automatically populated dashboard and a Take control prompt, check that you opened your new practice dashboard before proceeding.
2. Give each section a clear job
Here is a worked layout for a home with two frequently used lamps and temperature readings. Substitute your own entities; these are illustrative names, not hardware requirements. Keep each section one column wide to begin.
Swipe the table sideways to read all columns.
| Section, in order | Put here | Why it earns space |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday | One full-width Tile for “Reading lamp”; one for “Kitchen counter light.” | Two clearly named, frequently used controls are easier to recognize than a wall of identical icons. |
| Rooms | Tiles for the next two or three room controls your household actually uses. | Secondary controls remain available without pushing the everyday lamps down the phone screen. |
| Readings | One full-width Entities card listing living-room temperature, bedroom temperature and hallway humidity. | A compact list suits values you want to compare, without making every reading a large button. |
On a wide screen with room for two section columns, Everyday and Rooms can sit alongside each other, with Readings below. On a narrow phone, expect fewer columns and more scrolling. The exact result depends on available width, browser zoom and sidebar space; “two wide” does not force two tiny columns onto a phone. Home Assistant’s dashboard design guidance describes the responsive section grid.
For this example, success means the same two lamps are easy to find on both screens and every temperature name remains readable. It does not mean every item fits on screen without scrolling. Move a rarely used control to a later view before shrinking important labels to squeeze more in.
3. Choose cards, then size them
While editing, select Add card inside the target section and choose By card. Pick Tile for one control, or Entities for the readings list. You do not have to accept the card proposed by a device page’s Add to Dashboard shortcut.
A native Entities card can contain several entities in rows. For the Readings example, choose sensors only and turn off its header toggle if shown. A mixed list containing switches can otherwise offer a control for switching multiple rows together.
Open a card’s Layout tab and start with Full width card. This fills its section, not the entire dashboard. If two short tiles fit comfortably side by side on your phone, reduce their widths later. Adjust height to suit the content, rather than forcing every card to match.
The card editing reference covers both card selection and resizing. Add cards directly to the section for this exercise: cards nested inside a horizontal stack, vertical stack or Grid card do not have the same Layout tab. A Grid card is a container card; it is different from the grid used by Sections.
Drag cards into their intended order, then select Done. Check the saved dashboard on your phone before adding more. Leave conditional visibility for later; when it becomes useful, follow the separate guide to showing cards only when needed.
4. Rehearse a tap before using real controls
Create a new Toggle under Settings → Devices & services → Helpers → Create helper. Name it Dashboard practice. This is a virtual on/off value, described in the Toggle helper documentation. Leave it out of automations and scripts; make sure no existing broad rule acts on new helpers.
- Add a Tile for Dashboard practice to Everyday. Also add the same helper as a row in a temporary Entities card in Readings.
- Save and tap the main text/body of the Tile. With default actions, it should open the entity’s information dialog.
- Close that dialog, then tap the Tile’s icon. With defaults, the helper should change between on and off. The Entities row should show the same state.
- Open this dashboard on a second screen connected to the same Home Assistant server. Change the practice helper again. Both screens should show the new state; this checks a real shared value, not just the editor preview.
The Tile documentation specifies separate body-tap and icon-tap defaults. You can customize them, so inspect both when a card behaves unexpectedly. Once the exercise works, replace a practice card with one non-critical lamp and verify the actual lamp changes. Do not use a lock, alarm, heater or garage door as your first control test.
Finish by checking portrait and landscape orientation, the longest room name, the final section and normal browser zoom. Return the helper to off and remove its practice cards when finished. This rehearsal proves the selected actions and visible layout work in your installation; it does not prove every device is reliable.
Fix the layout at the right level
Swipe the table sideways to read all columns.
| What you see | Check first | Useful next step |
|---|---|---|
| Only one column on the phone | Is the screen narrow? | This can be normal. Keep essential controls first; check readability before increasing density. |
| A card fills only half the page | Are you changing card width or section width? | Full width fills the containing section. Try the view’s maximum of one section across if you want a single-column page. |
| No Layout tab | Is the view Sections? Is this a card inside another card? | Try a native Tile directly in a section. Picture elements cards also lack this tab. |
| New card suggestions are all Tiles | Did you start from the device page? | Open the dashboard editor and add by card type. Choose Entities there for a compact list. |
| Text opens a popup; icon switches the device | Check both Tile tap actions. | This is the documented default for a toggleable entity. Set deliberate actions and repeat the helper test. |
| The practice helper changes, but a lamp does not | Open the lamp’s entity information and try its control. | Check that entity’s integration and current state. Resizing the dashboard will not repair device communication. |
If the layout works but the wall display sleeps, use the wall-tablet wake and charging guide. Screen behavior is a separate task from arranging cards.
Common questions
Do I need custom cards or a paid subscription?
No. This layout uses built-in Sections, Tile, Heading and Entities cards. You need an existing Home Assistant installation and administrator access to build it. Device integrations and remote access can have separate requirements.
Can I convert an existing Masonry view?
Yes. The documented conversion creates an additional Sections view and keeps the original. Arrange the imported cards in the new view and check it before retiring the old one. Conversion back from Sections to another view type is not supported by that migration tool.
Does hiding a section restrict what a user can control?
No. Visibility changes what the dashboard shows. It does not establish room-only authorization. A non-admin account and hidden cards or tabs are not a device-access boundary.
The view documentation explains conversion and explicitly notes that hiding a tab leaves its URL accessible. Home Assistant’s permission checks are a separate server-side mechanism. Before sharing a tablet or account, read what Home Assistant can restrict for another user.
For a wider household setup, Tara’s configured Home Assistant setup is the relevant planning path. Start with the controls people need daily, give them understandable names, and agree on what each tap should do.