Frequently Asked Questions

General

Does this work with Google Calendar?

Yes. Beacon reads calendar data through Home Assistant’s Google Calendar integration. Set up the integration once in HA, and Beacon automatically discovers your calendars. See the Getting Started guide for step-by-step instructions.

Beacon also works with any calendar source Home Assistant supports, including CalDAV (Nextcloud, iCloud, Fastmail), ICS feeds, and the built-in Local Calendar.

Can I create and edit events from the display?

Yes. Beacon supports full CRUD operations on calendar events. Tap the + button or a time slot to create events. Tap an existing event to edit or delete it. You can even drag events to reschedule them. See Calendar.

Does Beacon send my data anywhere?

No. Beacon runs entirely on your local network. It communicates only with your Home Assistant instance — never with any external server. There is no telemetry, analytics, or cloud dependency.

Data flow: Google/CalDAV -> Home Assistant -> Beacon (local only)

Is there a subscription?

No. Beacon is free and open-source under the MIT license. No subscriptions, no premium tiers, no free trial.

Can I use this without Home Assistant?

Not currently. Beacon relies on Home Assistant for calendar data, weather, media players, and grocery integrations. If you do not have Home Assistant, HA OS is free and runs on a Raspberry Pi, old PC, or virtual machine.

Hardware

What hardware do I need?

A Home Assistant instance (HA OS on a Pi, NUC, or VM)
A display device with a web browser (any tablet, old monitor + mini PC, etc.)

The cheapest complete setup is a $35 Fire HD 8 with a $15 magnetic mount — under $50.

See Deployment for detailed hardware recommendations with prices.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes, but it is not ideal. Beacon has a mobile-responsive layout with a bottom tab bar. It works on phones, but the experience is designed for landscape tablets and wall-mounted displays. On phones, the calendar week view is cramped and some features are behind the “More” menu.

Does it work in portrait mode?

Beacon is designed for landscape displays (16:9 or 16:10). In portrait mode, the layout works but some views (especially the week calendar) are not optimized for the narrower width.

What screen size works best?

8” to 15” is the sweet spot. The UI is readable from across a room on a 10” display. Larger displays (15-24”) work great with a Raspberry Pi or mini PC.

Features

Can I show photos like Skylight?

Yes. Beacon has a built-in photo frame with slideshow, crossfade transitions, clock/date overlay, and music controls on top. Add photos to your HA media directory and configure the photo directory. See Photos.

Does it have a dark mode?

Yes. Beacon ships with 7 themes, including 4 dark themes: Midnight, Dracula, Monokai, and (partially dark) Nord. There is also an “Auto” mode that switches between Skylight (light) and Midnight (dark) based on time of day. See Themes.

Can multiple family members use it?

Yes. Add up to 8 family members with custom avatars, colors, and roles. Each member’s chores and streaks are tracked independently. The leaderboard shows earnings per member. See Family Members.

Can kids earn money for doing chores?

Yes. Each chore can have a dollar value (e.g., $1.00). When a family member completes a chore, the value is tracked. The Leaderboard shows total earnings by week or month. See Chores.

Can I control music from the display?

Yes. Beacon controls any media player entity in Home Assistant — Sonos, Google Home, Music Assistant, Chromecast, etc. You get play/pause, skip, volume, album art, and a progress bar. A “Now Playing” bar appears on all views when music is active. See Music.

Can I set timers?

Yes. Beacon has a built-in timer with countdown (1, 5, 10, 15, 30 minute presets) and stopwatch modes. The countdown plays an audio alert when finished. See Timer.

Does it have a grocery list?

Yes. Beacon integrates with Grocy and AnyList through Home Assistant. You can view your shopping list, add items, check them off, and see expiring product alerts. See Grocery.

Does it send notifications?

Yes. Beacon sends browser push notifications and HA mobile app notifications 15 minutes before calendar events. See Notifications.

Does it prevent screen burn-in?

Yes. After 5 minutes of inactivity, the screen dims. After 10 minutes, a clock screensaver appears that repositions every 30 seconds to prevent burn-in. See Screen Saver.

Setup and Configuration

How do I change the theme?

Click the palette icon at the bottom of the sidebar. A dropdown shows all 7 themes plus Auto mode. Click to apply immediately. See Themes.

How do I change the family name?

Set the family_name option in the add-on configuration, or the VITE_FAMILY_NAME environment variable in development. See Configuration.

How do I change the weather entity?

Set the weather_entity option to your HA weather entity ID (e.g., weather.home). Find your entity ID in Settings > Devices & Services > Entities. See Configuration.

How do I connect multiple calendars?

Add multiple calendar integrations in Home Assistant (Google Calendar, CalDAV, Local Calendar, etc.). Beacon discovers all calendar.* entities automatically. Use the filter pills above the calendar to show/hide specific calendars.

How do I set up family members?

Click the gear icon in the sidebar to open the Family Members modal. Click ”+ Add Member” and fill in the name, avatar, color, role, and optional PIN. See Family Members.

Updates and Maintenance

How do I update Beacon?

Add-on: Go to Settings > Add-ons > Beacon and click Update if available.

Docker: Pull the latest image and recreate the container:

docker pull ghcr.io/asachs01/beacon:latest
docker stop beacon && docker rm beacon
docker run -d --name beacon ... ghcr.io/asachs01/beacon:latest

Is my data preserved across updates?

Add-on: Yes. Configuration and add-on data are preserved.

Browser data: Family members, chores, and theme preferences are stored in the browser’s localStorage and persist across updates. Clearing browser data will remove this information.

Can I back up my data?

The browser localStorage data is not easily backed up. For critical family and chore data, consider exporting the localStorage keys:

beacon_family_members
beacon_chores
beacon_completions
beacon_streaks

You can view and copy these values in the browser’s Developer Tools (F12 > Application > Local Storage).

Troubleshooting

Beacon shows “Demo Mode”

This means Beacon cannot connect to Home Assistant. Check:

The HA token is configured (add-on: automatic; Docker: SUPERVISOR_TOKEN env var; dev: VITE_HA_TOKEN)
The HA URL is reachable from the browser
Home Assistant is running

Calendar is empty

Verify calendar integrations are configured in HA
Check that calendar.* entities exist in Developer Tools > States
Wait up to 5 minutes for the initial data fetch, or reload the page

Everything is slow on my old tablet

Use a dark theme (fewer bright pixels = less power on OLED/AMOLED)
Close other apps and browser tabs
Consider using a simpler browser like Chrome instead of a full-featured one
Increase the photo interval and screen saver timeout to reduce UI updates

Something else is broken

Check the browser console (F12) for error messages
Check the add-on logs (Settings > Add-ons > Beacon > Log)
Open a GitHub issue with your HA version, browser, device, and relevant logs