Home Assistant smartphone dashboard made easy with Linus

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

You want to Home Assistant dashboard on your smartphone without spending hours on configuration? Then Linus Dashboard Just right for you! This modern dashboard automatically creates a clear interface for all rooms and devices in your smart home.

For detailed instructions and explanations of all configuration options, I recommend watching the YouTube video linked below. This video goes into detail about each individual setting, providing you with comprehensive instructions on how to set everything up correctly. Any code from the video can be found in this article, so you can use it directly without having to type it out.

What is Home Assistant?

Home Assistant is an open-source platform for home automation that aims to connect all devices in the home and control them centrally. It was developed to provide a unified user interface and simple, flexible control for a wide range of smart home devices from different ecosystems. Here are some points in favor of Home Assistant:

1. CompatibilityHome Assistant supports thousands of devices and services from various manufacturers, including lighting, air conditioning, heating, cameras, weather sensors, voice assistants and more.
2. Local controlUnlike many commercial smart home platforms that rely on cloud services, Home Assistant runs locally on your network. This means increased privacy and reliability, as your smart home devices work even without an active internet connection.
3. Automation and scenesOne of the main features of Home Assistant is the ability to create complex automations and scenarios. For example, you can have lights turn on automatically when it gets dark, or turn on the heating when the temperature drops below a certain level.
4. Simple user interfaceHome Assistant offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to monitor and control devices. This interface is fully customizable.
5. Integration with voice assistantsHome Assistant can be integrated with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to enable voice-controlled control of your smart home devices.
6. Open source and community-drivenSince Home Assistant is open source, it is supported by an active community that is constantly developing new integrations and improving existing ones.
7. Data protection and securityAs a locally running platform, Home Assistant has the advantage that the data remains within its own network. This protects privacy and increases security compared to cloud-based solutions.

In summary, Home Assistant is a powerful and flexible solution for those who want to design their own smart home and control their devices centrally, regardless of the manufacturer or ecosystem.

Why dashboards in Home Assistant are often frustrating

If you use Home Assistant, you're probably familiar with this problem:
Dashboards are extremely powerful—but also time-consuming. Selecting maps, writing YAML, building layouts, grouping devices, optimizing views for smartphones and tablets...you can quickly spend hours on this, only to end up dissatisfied.

This is exactly where Linus Dashboard to.
It takes a completely different approach: You don't build the dashboard—the dashboard builds itself. Maximum overview with minimum effort.

What is Linus Dashboard?

The Linus Dashboard is a Custom integration for Home Assistant, which displays your dashboard automatically organized – by rooms, floors, and device types. You don't have to spend a lot of time tinkering with YAML or creating cards manually. The interface is responsive, modern, and perfectly suited for smartphones.

Why is it so practical?

• Automatic grouping of your devices
• No complicated settings required
• Works directly on your smartphone
• Looks stylish and well-organized

This makes it ideal for beginners. and Advanced Home Assistant users who want to save time.

1. Optimized for smartphones

The dashboard was designed for mobile devices from the outset:

• large, easily clickable elements
• clear visual structure
• intuitive navigation with swipe gestures
• no overloaded cards

Whether Android or iOS, the dashboard feels like a native app.

2. Automatic device organization

Linus Dashboard analyzes your Home Assistant structure and automatically sorts devices:

• according to clearance
• according to types of devices (Lighting, switches, sensors, media, climate control)
• according to Status (active, inactive, relevant)

You don't need to create groups or configure maps. New devices automatically appear where they logically belong.

3. Space-based representation

Instead of a long list, you get a space-oriented operation:

• Living room
• kitchen
• bedroom
• bathroom
• hallway
• outdoor areas

When you enter a room, you can immediately find all relevant devices—without searching.

4. Context-based display

The dashboard shows you only what makes sense at the moment:

• Lights only if they exist
• Media control only when devices are active
• Climate control only if available

This reduces visual clutter and makes the dashboard extremely pleasant to use.

5. Expandable, but not complicated

You can:

• Set favorites
• prioritize certain devices
• integrate additional cards

However: You don't have to.
The dashboard also works perfectly without any adjustments.

What do you need to be able to do or prepare?

Good news: Almost nothing

Linus Dashboard is deliberately designed so that even beginners can get started right away.

Requirement 1: Home Assistant

You need a working Home Assistant installation – regardless of whether:

• Home Assistant OS
• Supervised
• container

Requirement 2: Clean areas

That is the most important point.

👉 Your devices should be assigned to meaningful areas.

Example:

• Lamp → Living room
• Power outlet → Kitchen
• Temperature sensor → Bedroom

If you've already done that, you're 80% done.

Requirement 3 (optional, but recommended): HACS

About HACS You can install Linus Dashboard quickly and easily.
No manual copying, no YAML stress.

What you DON'T need to know

• No YAML
• No Lovelace layouts
• No grid or stack cards
• No CSS customizations

The dashboard takes care of all that for you.

The connection with Magic Areas – why it's so brilliant

What is Magic Areas?

Magic Areas is an extension for Home Assistant that automatically generates additional information from your existing areas, e.g.:

• Whether a room occupied is
• Whether there Lights on
• Whether Window open are
• Whether media are running
• Whether movement is detected

Magic Areas transforms a room into a smart unitYou can find out exactly what Magic Areas can do in my article. Magic Areas for Home Assistant: Autopilot for automations including video.

Why Linus loves Dashboard Magic Areas

Linus Dashboard utilizes precisely this spatial intelligence.

Thanks to Magic Areas, the dashboard knows, for example:

• which room is currently active
• where there is currently movement
• which area needs attention

The result:

• Dynamic room maps
• Status displays per room
• Automatic highlighting

Practical example

Without Magic Areas:

• Living room simply displays all devices

With Magic Areas:

• Living room shows "Active space"
• Light status is summarized
• Movement is detected
• Media status is displayed intelligently

This makes the dashboard lively and context-dependent.

Do I have to use Magic Areas?

No—Linus Dashboard works without it.

However:

Magic Areas takes it from "practical" to "impressive."

If you value automation, clarity, and smart logic, this combination is almost perfect.

Who is the Linus Dashboard ideal for?

✅ Perfect for:

• smartphone users
• New to Home Assistant
• Homes with many rooms
• Users who "just want to control"
• Family dashboards

❌ Less suitable for:

• Pure wall tablets in kiosk mode
• Highly customized designer dashboards
• Users who want to control everything manually

Installing HACS and integrating Linus Dashboard into Home Assistant

Step 1: Installing HACS in Home Assistant

Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) is a custom add-on for Home Assistant that provides access to a variety of custom integrations and plugins developed by the community. How to install HACS:

1. Check requirements: Make sure that your Home Assistant is ideally up to date.
2. Download Execute script: Open a terminal for the Docker container version or the core version.
   • Docker: Dial into the container with: docker exec -it homeassistant bash or (similar)
   • Core: Switch to the user who is running Home Assistant
   • Execute the following command for both variants:
     wget -O - https://get.hacs.xyz | bash -
3. Restarting the Home Assistant: After the files have been copied, restart Home Assistant.
4. Integrate HACS into Home Assistant: In the Home Assistant interface, go to "Configuration" > "Integrations" > "Add" and search for HACS. Add it and enter your GitHub token if prompted.

For the supervised version, please refer to the Documentation of HACS itself to read about the installation.

Step 2: Add Linus Dashboard integration via HACS

Once HACS is installed, you can easily add Linus Dashboard:

1. Open HACS: Go to HACS in the Home Assistant interface.
2. Search for integrationClick on "Integrations" and use the search function to search for "Linus Dashboard."
3. Install Linus DashboardFind Linus Dashboard in the list and click "Install." This will add the integration to your Home Assistant.
4. Restarting the Home Assistant: Start Home Assistant again to apply the changes.
5. Configure Linus DashboardAfter restarting, you can set up and customize Linus Dashboard in Home Assistant via "Configuration" > "Integrations."

Conclusion

With these steps, you have successfully installed HACS in your Home Assistant and added the Linus Dashboard integration. This powerful combination opens up a world of additional features and customizations developed by the Home Assistant community. More blog posts and videos on useful integrations will follow. If you don't want to miss out, subscribe to my YouTube channel!

YouTube video implementation

Conclusion

The Linus Dashboard is not a gimmick—it is a Clear answer to a real Home Assistant problemInstead of wasting time on layouts, you can focus on what matters: using your smart home.

In combination with Magic Areas creates a dashboard that:

• contributes ideas
• adapts
• remains clear
• is ready for immediate use

If you have a Smart smartphone dashboard without configuration overkill If you're looking for a home automation system, Linus Dashboard is currently one of the best solutions in the Home Assistant ecosystem.

🔗 Useful links at a glance

• 📌 GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Thank-you-Linus/Linus-Dashboard

Interested, but lack time or knowledge?

No problem. Contact me and we will discuss your requirements. No matter if business or private.