How I wall-mounted my iPad Pro

[Emile]

I’ve bought a second-hand iPad Pro (2018) for €270. My plan is to mount it to the wall of my Living Room.

The iPad Pro has a few advantages:

• It has the ‘Smart Connector’ on the back, that can be used to charge the device.
• It has magnets on the back, snapping to the wall, but also being removable.
• iOS can lock an app using ‘Guided Access’. Apparently this can also be used to turn on the display automatically when there’s movement.
• The bezels are all the same width, so I can mount it in any direction without it looking wrong.

I’ll be using the KUXIU X33 to mount & charge the iPad Pro. I just need to remove the arm, somehow…

When that’s done, I’ll probably drill the mount to the wall, and let the ‘box’ of electronics fall into the wall where the power outlet usually sits.

Then I only have to embed a 230V → 5V adapter and connect the USB-C.

I’m currently waiting for the KUXIU X33 to arrive. I’ll post updates with pictures of my journey.

———

Update Saturday October 5th
Today I’ve finished the project. And to my surprise it actually went well!

Removing the arm

At first, I had to remove the arm from the KUXIU X33. That needed a lot of force to wiggle it out, so it left a dent in the metal.

Now that the arm was loose, I could see there were two screws I could’ve simply removed from the front. Ah, for the next time!

Preparing the electronics

I started with removing the power outlet and switch, leaving two empty flush-mounted boxes and some wires.

To power the iPad Pro, I needed a 230V → USB-C module. Luckily I had a sCharge laying around. I removed the metals and put that adapter in the left box, and connected the wires in the right box. Brown (Live) + Blue (Neutral) to the adapter, and connected the Brown (Live) + Black (Switch) permanently. I left the Ground (Yellow/Green) free.

I tested the USB-C connector and got power, yay!

Mounting the Wall Mount & Charger

I drilled three holes in the KUXIU X33, and in the wall at the same positions. I connected the USB-C cable and mounted the tablet with three screws.

Mounting the iPad

Snapping the iPad Pro on felt very good. It immediately started charging and feels firmly mounted.

Turning on the display automatically

iPadOS has a feature called ‘Guided Access’. It can lock a single app, and require your pincode or Face ID to exit. This is ideal for situations like there where you do not want to share your iPad (and thus Apple ID) with the family.

Together with a Motion Sensor, that’s connected to Apple Home, the iPad can automatically turn on the display when motion is detected. Here’s how I set it up.

1. Connect a Motion Sensor
Connect a Motion Sensor to Homey Pro. I used the Aqara Motion Sensor (Zigbee), but any will do.

2. Import the Motion Sensor into HomeKit
On Homey Pro, either use the HomeKit Experiment or HomeKitty to add the Motion Sensor to HomeKit on your iPad.

3. Enable Notifications for the Motion Sensor
In HomeKit, navigate to the room the sensor is placed, tap Motion → Status and Notifications and enable Activity Notifications.

Because I always have ‘Do Not Disturb’ on, I had to also ensure that the Home-app can show notifications regardless the focus mode.

Also make sure that the Home app itself is allowed to create notifications.

4. Set up Guided Access

Navigate to Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access and enable Guided Access.

I’ve set the Display Auto-Lock to 5 minutes. This should be a longer than your Motion Sensor’s timeout (when it turns off again).

5. Enable Guided Access
Now open the Homey app, open your Dashboard, and triple-click the iPad’s power-button. Guided Access will start and everything should work automatically!

[Henk_Renting]

Is there a way to have a certain Dashboard as a start “page” in the Homey app as well then?

[Fredrik_Berntsson]

Yes, you can edit your home screen to look just the way you want it

[Rogier_Verheugen]

@Emile I think your account has been hacked. The guy says he bought a second hand IPad. Can’t be you. Or are you screwed by LG?

Sorry… Just a joke. Couldn’t hold back

[Doekse]

I mean, we are and will always be Dutch. A bargain is a bargain.

[Henk_Renting]

If you wanna go all-dutch (read: cheap); this is how I did it in the past.
A simple TPU backcover sticked to the wall with some doublesided tape (you have those that can be removed again as well).
I had the chance to hide the cable a few centimeters from the tablet. There are also very small connectors with a flat cable that are easily hided behind the TPU cover.

[nobracing]

@Emile Thanks for the post. What are the minimal requirements you suggest for the iPad Pro? I.e. which model/year as minimum?

Thanks

Niels

[Emile]

@Everyone, I’ve updated the first post with my buildlog!

@nobracing I don’t know, but the iPad Pro 2018 feels very snappy, and is the first symmetrical iPad with charging connectors on the back, so that’s why I chose it.

[TedTolboom]

Nice one @Emile! Thanks for sharing!

[Eternity]

Great post!

[Didier_SmartHome]

Thanks for sharing @Emile . I learned few things from your post

[Emile]

@Everyone, I’ve updated the initial post on how to set-up the iPad Pro, so that the display automatically turns on when motion is detected.

[Amersfoort]

For Android tablet users who do not want to leave their camera on 24/7 (as some apps do for scanning motion), their motion sensor with Homey can be combined with the MacroDroid app to turn on the dashboard screen when approaching the tablet.
When the motion sensor is turned on, Homey Pro can send a message to MacroDroid to turn on the tablet screen, and then turn it off again a little later.
Please let me know if you would like an example of the advanced flow or the macro.

[Rogier_Verheugen]

Hi @Amersfoort,

Yes please, show me.

Thanks

Rogier

[Eternity]

Yes, would love to see that!

[McFly]

You did not have to use Apple Home for the turning on part.

Homey has an app called Dashboard controller and Fully Kiosk comes in a single app version.

[Amersfoort]

Steps for turning on your Dashboard on your Android tablet:

• install MacroDroid app on your Android tablet (one time paid app)
• Create a Webhook (URL) macro turning on tablet screen; and do the same in a second macro for turing screen off
  
  
• create a Homey advanced flow: when motion sensor becomes active (I use Aqara FP2 sensor because of the separate zones that can be defined), a Logic action starts to make a POST to the MacroDroid Webhook. In my example: after 30 seconds of inactive tablet zone, the screen should turn off.
• depending on your tablet brand and Android version: experiment with some of the “Turn screen on/off” options.
  
  

[Rogier_Verheugen]

Hi @Amersfoort,

Works like a charm. Thanks

Rogier

[Robin_van_Kekem]

Could you maybe create an seperate topic for this?
I think this could benefit a lot of users!

[Thomas_Hinna]

My solution has been a frame from iroomsidock.com (not for sale anymore), ever since I refurbished my kitchen and saw the opportunity to build an iPad straight into the wall. Up until now, I have used Homekit with it. Now testing the new Homey Dashboard and looking forward to have even more widgets. I started out with an old second gen iPad and have since replaced this with the current iPad Air, which has its permanent place here. I use my iPad Pro for other work.