Introduction
Tileboard is a popular open-source, web-based dashboard for controlling home automation devices and services. With its intuitive interface and robust feature set, Tileboard has become a favorite option for smart home enthusiasts looking to consolidate and control their connected devices from a single pane of glass.
In this in-depth Tileboard review, we’ll take a close look at the key features and functionality of Tileboard, weigh the notable pros and cons, and help you determine if Tileboard is the right home automation dashboard for your needs and setup.
Overview of Tileboard
Tileboard is an open-source project created by Trevor Martin that runs as a single page webapp loaded on a tablet or computer. It connects with various home automation platforms like SmartThings, Home Assistant, and Hubitat to show consolidated status and control over connected devices.
With Tileboard, you can create a customized dashboard with tiles representing individual devices or entire device groups. Support for media playback, weather widgets, RSS feeds, calendars, streaming cameras, and more allows for an incredibly robust smart home control hub.
Configuration is handled through a user-friendly web interface, with no coding required. The dashboard itself can be accessed locally or remotely via web browser or mobile app. Tileboard is free to use and completely customizable to match your home automation ecosystem and personal preferences.
Key Features and Functions
Tileboard comes packed with powerful features to enhance your smart home control experience. Here are some of the most notable capabilities:
- Easy yet robust configuration – Tileboard is configured through the web UI, with no coding required. But advanced customization and integrations are possible for those with more technical expertise.
- Customizable dashboard – Create a completely custom dashboard with user-defined tiles, sizes, colors, backgrounds, device groupings, and layouts.
- Support for many home automation platforms – Connect with SmartThings, Home Assistant, Hubitat, HomeKit, MQTT devices, Nest, and more.
- Extensive device control – Tiles can be created to control lights, switches, locks, thermostats, media devices, sensors, security systems, and other connected devices.
- Scenes/routines – Trigger scene activations like “Movie Night” or “Good Morning” with a single tap.
- Advanced voice control – Leverage natural language processing for voice control through Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Siri Shortcuts.
- Real-time status visibility – See current status of all devices like door locks, light brightness, thermostat temperature.
- Media playback – Control audio streaming, view metadata, album art, and progress.
- Camera feeds – View live or snapshot camera feeds from security cameras, video doorbells, and IP cameras.
- Weather widgets – See current weather and multi-day forecasts.
- RSS feeds – Embed news, blog, and webpage feeds.
- Calendar – View calendar appointments and events.
- Notifications – Create notifications for things like security system status changes or active alarms.
- Fully responsive design – Dashboard auto-adjusts to look great on desktop, mobile, or tablet. Access locally or remotely.
- Multi-user support – Set up individual user accounts with custom access and controls.
- Free and open source – Tileboard is free to download and use. The open source community actively develops new features and improvements.
Pros of Using Tileboard
Given its extensive features, Tileboard offers some really notable benefits:
Simple Unified Smart Home Control
The number one advantage of Tileboard is having one simple, unified interface to control your entire smart home. Instead of juggling multiple manufacturer apps, everything is accessible from Tileboard’s customizable dashboard with all devices displayed. Scenes, voice assistants, security systems, AV equipment, lighting, climate control – it can all be managed in one place for true smart home simplicity.
Works with Many Platforms
A major challenge with smart home tech is interoperability between the various ecosystems like SmartThings, Home Assistant, Apple Homekit, Nest, and more. Rather than being tied to one proprietary system, Tileboard integrates with all major platforms so you can consolidate control regardless of your device brand mix.
Intuitive Setup and Configuration
Getting Tileboard up and running is straightforward thanks to the well-designed web-based configuration UI. Most users can set up their initial dashboard in under an hour without any coding required. Creating and arranging tiles is simple drag-and-drop. Hundreds of included themes allow complete customization to your personal tastes.
Active Open Source Community
Tileboard benefits from consistent improvements and innovation thanks to the open source community. New device integrations, features, bug fixes, and UI enhancements are contributed frequently. And because it’s open source, Tileboard is totally free and available on GitHub.
Accessible from Anywhere
The Tileboard dashboard can be accessed on your local home network or securely over the internet when away from home. The built-in responsiveness works great on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices with no additional apps required.
Offline Capability
Tileboard dashboards continue to function even without an internet connections. Locally connected devices can still be controlled and their status viewed when offline. Internet is only required for external services.
Extensible and Customizable
Under the hood, Tileboard is incredibly customizable beyond just the drag-and-drop dashboard builder. Developers and tinkerers can integrate with IFTTT, create new widget types, tie in voice assistants, build advanced automations, and leverage MQTT, JSON, and JavaScript. Custom components and plugins make Tileboard a powerful smart home toolkit.
Cons and Limitations to Consider
Despite its many benefits, Tileboard isn’t perfect. There are some drawbacks and limitations to factor in:
Steep Learning Curve
While basic setup and use cases are straightforward, unlocking Tileboard’s full potential has a significant learning curve. There are countless options and tweaks within the deep configuration settings. Creating advanced automations or custom developing requires Javascript and coding expertise. Using Tileboard as a simple control panel is easy, but expect a time investment to master its more complex features.
Requires Home Automation Hub
Tileboard is purely a smart home control dashboard – it does not replace your primary home automation platform like Home Assistant or SmartThings. You’ll still need one of these systems to connect all your devices, which Tileboard then integrates with. So there is some redundancy running Tileboard alongside another hub.
Dependent on Device Integrations
The Tileboard community has built integrations for most major smart home brands and devices. But there’s no guarantee of support for every obscure or niche product. Very new devices may not be immediately compatible if the developers haven’t added that integration yet. So in some cases, you may be limited based on lack of plugin support.
Potential Lag on Remote Access
When accessing your Tileboard dashboard over the internet from outside your home network, keep in mind there may be some lag as data transfer is dependent on your upload speeds. Commands may exhibit some delay compared to local control. Those with slower internet speeds are more likely to experience latency.
Active Development Required
As an open source project, Tileboard only improves and adds features if the community actively develops and contributes to the code base. While it is currently maintained, there is no commercial entity providing official long-term support and updates if the project is abandoned. There have also been some concerns raised about the complexity of the code making ongoing contributions challenging.
Tileboard Review: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Unifies all smart home control into one dashboard
- Integrates with most major platforms like SmartThings, Home Assistant, etc.
- Extremely customizable dashboard with drag-and-drop configuration
- Thriving open source community actively enhances the platform
- Accessible via web browser both locally and remotely
- Dashboard remains functional even without internet
- Highly extensible and customizable for advanced automations
Cons
- Steep learning curve beyond basic configuration
- Requires separate home automation hub like Home Assistant
- Dependent on community-built device integrations
- Potential lag when accessing remotely over internet
- Lack of official support as an open source project
Getting Started with Tileboard
Ready to give Tileboard a try? Here is a quick step-by-step guide to installing and setting up Tileboard for yourself:
1. Install Software
Tileboard can be installed on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Installation guides for each platform are provided on the Github page. Make sure you have Node.js 10+ installed first.
For advanced users, Docker images and Kubernetes deployments are also available.
2. Configure Your Devices and Platform
Get your primary home automation platform up and running first, whether that’s SmartThings, Home Assistant, or another system. Connect and configure all your IoT devices within that platform.
Many users run Home Assistant along with the HACS plugin to manage Tileboard integrations.
3. Launch and Set Up Tileboard
With your devices linked to your platform, launch the Tileboard web interface and walk through the initial setup. Give your dashboard a title and customize the initial user account.
4. Connect Platform and Add Tiles
Tileboard will detect connected home automation platforms on your network. Connect to your platform like Home Assistant and authorize access.
Start adding tiles for your various devices like lights, locks, sensors. Drag, resize, and arrange the tiles on your dashboard canvas.
5. Customize and Tweak Dashboard
Dive into the settings and customize your dashboard layout, color scheme, background, widget sizes, and other preferences. Set up notifications, weather widgets, calendars, and media controls.
Try using the voice assistant integration to control your dashboard and devices with voice commands. Add users and restrict privileges if needed.
6. Use and Enhance Over Time
Start putting your dashboard to use controlling your smart home! As you find areas to improve or new devices to add, the dashboard can be continually enhanced over time. Explore the many integrations and plugins from the Tileboard community to unlock deeper functionality.
Consider joining the active Telegram support channel to get involved and share feedback with developers and users.
Tileboard Alternatives
Tileboard certainly isn’t the only game in town when it comes to smart home dashboards. Here are a few noteworthy alternatives to consider if Tileboard doesn’t meet your needs:
- Home Assistant UI – The native web interface included with Home Assistant. More limited than Tileboard but deeply integrated.
- Lovelace UI – Alternative dashboard for Home Assistant with drag-and-drop config similar to Tileboard.
- Hubitat Dashboard – Native control dashboard for Hubitat Elevation automation controller.
- ActionTiles – Customizable self-hosted dashboard supporting Google Home and other integrations.
- SharpTools – Cloud-based dashboard for monitoring SmartThings. Offers mobile apps and voice control.
- Homey – Dashboard and mobile control for Athom Homey home automation hub.
- Home Panel – Open source dashboard for controlling devices via MQTT.
For maximum flexibility, many homeowners opt to self-host Home Assistant and use the Lovelace UI for its close integration while still gaining Hubitat or SmartThings compatibility through add-ons like MQTT.
Conclusion
Tileboard provides a fantastic way to consolidate control of smart home devices from multiple vendors into one centralized, customizable dashboard. With its intuitive drag-and-drop configuration, broad device support, and integration with popular platforms like Home Assistant and SmartThings, it’s an extremely powerful home automation control panel.
Some key benefits of Tileboard include:
- Unified interface for all smart devices
- Native support for Home Assistant and Hubitat
- Customizable dashboard options for advanced users
- Accessible via web browser on desktop or mobile
- Active open source community behind development
Drawbacks to weigh include a steep learning curve beyond basics, dependency on third party device integrations, potential lag with remote access, and no official long-term product support.
Overall, Tileboard delivers an exceptional smart home management experience with room to grow into more advanced integrations over time. For a reasonably priced single-pane-of-glass home automation dashboard, Tileboard is hard to beat.