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A dashboard for my apartment

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Re: A dashboard for my apartment

#11

Post by chainsaw10 »

sartakdotorg wrote: post #5

Author here. Happy to explain any technical details I left out :)

If you really want to disable that Guided Access pop-up message, I think there's a way to do it. It's called "Single App Mode". You use Apple's Configurator to enable it through a configuration profile, and it literally locks the iPad into booting directly into that app, and you cannot disable it without connecting the iPad to (presumably the same?) computer and removing the profile.

The downsides are:

1. You have to put the iPad into supervised mode, which requires a full factory reset through the Configurator. This is because it enables a bunch of enterprise controls that they don't want enabled without the user's knowledge, such as the ability to configure a global HTTP proxy, etc.

2. As I mentioned before, there is literally no way out of the app other than removing the configuration profile. This sounds like it interferes with your use case, but maybe it's a worthwhile tradeoff for you?

3. Probably something else I didn't think of.

Here are a couple articles I found that mention how to do this:

[0] and [1] are articles from some app that this feature is useful for, explaining how to do it for that app.

[0]: http://support.kioskproapp.com/knowledgebase/articles/413366...

[1]: http://support.kioskproapp.com/knowledgebase/articles/315259

Disclaimer: I have never tried this myself, I have simply happened to have heard of it. I found the two articles above because I knew the term to Google (not a shot at you, sometimes you just need to know the right search). There may be some unintended consequences because it's an enterprise feature and all.

Re: A dashboard for my apartment

#12

Post by mtone »

chainsaw10 wrote: post #11
sartakdotorg wrote: post #5

Author here. Happy to explain any technical details I left out :)

If you really want to disable that Guided Access pop-up message, I think there's a way to do it. It's called "Single App Mode". You use Apple's Configurator to enable it through a configuration profile, and it literally locks the iPad into booting directly into that app, and you cannot disable it without connecting the iPad to (presumably the same?) computer and removing the profile. The downsides are: 1. You have to…

Another way to address the original problem is jailbreaking and using the Activator app to assign the home button to "unlock", which effectively auto-unlocks the device to whatever app you had open.

I find it quite a usability improvement, when using the tablet as a cookbook for example.

Re: A dashboard for my apartment

#13

Post by jakobegger »

Is it possible to trick the magnet sensor used for instant unlocking with the smart cover? Might be possible to come up with either a mechanical switch involving a magnet, or an electronic one with a solenoid, that instantky unlocks the ipad?

Re: A dashboard for my apartment

#14

Post by hayksaakian »

bshimmin wrote: post #3
whiskykilo wrote: post #2

Well done! I'd love something along those lines as well, since my iPad is generally dead most of the time, never being used.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I really want to like tablets, and have owned (and subsequently given away) several iPads, but they just never seem to have a clear place in my life: I have my phone with me most of the time because it fits conveniently in my pocket, and a significant chunk of the rest of the time I'm sat in front of a proper computer; there isn't really enough of a gap left between those two categories…

I use my tablet like a second screen for my laptop.

Read emails, documentation, or play media on the tablet while working on the laptop.

I save my phones batter for when I'm on the move.

Re: A dashboard for my apartment

#15

Post by _b8r0 »

sartakdotorg wrote: post #5

Author here. Happy to explain any technical details I left out :)

Ever have a look at OpenHab[1]? It's a bit finicky at first but would make a dashboard with whatever you want on it, either in a browser or using their native app. There's also a really cool automation guide I saw recently[2].

I really want to do something like this when I get my old house back this summer. Thanks for the inspiration!

[1] - http://www.openhab.org/

[2] - http://www.homeautomationforgeeks.com/index.shtml

Re: A dashboard for my apartment

#17

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

bshimmin wrote: post #3
whiskykilo wrote: post #2

Well done! I'd love something along those lines as well, since my iPad is generally dead most of the time, never being used.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I really want to like tablets, and have owned (and subsequently given away) several iPads, but they just never seem to have a clear place in my life: I have my phone with me most of the time because it fits conveniently in my pocket, and a significant chunk of the rest of the time I'm sat in front of a proper computer; there isn't really enough of a gap left between those two categories…

Some will react in horror, but my use case for my ancient iPad 1 is, as I'm doing right now, reading in the bath. My phone is both too valuable and too small to fulfil this 'need' safely, and the iPad hardly handles anything other than basic web browsing anymore. Still, since it probably qualifies as a collector's item nowadays, I might stop doing this...
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