Opportunities › Smart home dashboard hardware and software › Proposed app
Nookboard
Turn any spare tablet into a family smart home wall dashboard
- Score
- 57
- confidence 36
- Evidence
- 2
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 1
- named in sources
- First version
- 35 d
- estimate
- Type
- Mobile app
- PWA: installs on iPhone and Android
- Market since
- 2013
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Mobile app: Family members glance at the wall dashboard and tap actions in brief interactions throughout the day, with the screen mounted in a common living space. Sample screens on a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Connect
Scan code
- Step 1Open Nookboard
- Step 2Scan with phone
- Step 3Approve access
- Devices found24
About this appAI proposal
Nookboard is a wall dashboard for the kitchen or hallway that runs in the browser of a tablet or screen you already own. Open the page, scan a code to link your Home Assistant, pick a layout and pin it to the wall. No new hardware to buy and no firmware to flash.
It is for price-sensitive families. The material shows two routes today: pay for a commercial product that some users find too expensive, or flash open-source firmware, run a server and integrate with Home Assistant. Nookboard sits between them with a guided setup.
The screen is built for glances from across the room: big type, calm colours and one tap for the few things a household really does. Optional hosted sync is there for people who do not want to run a server.
- Tagline
- Your spare tablet, now the family's wall.
- Voice
- WarmPlainPractical
- Why this name
- A nook is the corner of the kitchen where the family gathers, and a board is what hangs on the wall. Two plain words, easy to say.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Scan-to-link setup
Link Home Assistant by scanning a code from your phone. Pick a room layout and the wall screen is live in minutes.
No member yet
Runs on spare screens
Installs as a web app on old tablets, wall displays and always-on monitors. No firmware flashing.
No member yet
Glance-first layouts
Large tiles for lights, doors, temperature, calendar and chores, readable from across the kitchen.
No member yet
Family tap actions
One-tap scenes such as Goodnight or Leaving home, with big buttons that children and guests can use.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#1F4D3FPine · primary#F6F1E7Oat · surface#1F2A24Charcoal · text#E0883EEmber · accent#2F7A8CLake · data
Typography
Aa
Nookboard
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Your spare tablet, now the family's wall.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices, only that TRMNL is seen as expensive. These tiers are a starting point to test against willingness to pay, with no hardware cost since it runs on existing screens.
Free
Free
- One wall screen
- Local Home Assistant link
- Three layouts
- Night and wake rules
Household
$3 a month
- Hosted sync, no server needed
- Up to 3 screens
- All layouts and copy links
- Stale-data alerts
Lifetime
$49 once
- Everything in Household
- Up to 5 screens
- Future layout packs
Would you pay Household · $3 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Partners and integrations. Listed where Home Assistant users look for add-ons and dashboards, and through copyable layout links shared in community forums, so each shared layout points back to Nookboard.
- Do they become customers?
- People who open a shared layout already run Home Assistant and a screen, so they can become paying users. Test whether link opens turn into free sign-ups and then into hosted sync.
- First customers
- Home Assistant hobbyist parents with a spare tablet, who want a kitchen dashboard but do not want to flash firmware or run a separate server.
- Where to reach them
- Home Assistant forums: Post layouts and a setup walkthrough in community threads about wall panels and dashboards.
- Hacker News and Reddit: Show the spare-tablet setup as a cheaper path than commercial dashboards and ask for feedback.
- First milestone
- Twenty households run a wall screen for two weeks, and five of them pay for hosted sync.
Why people already pay for this
- Public claimTRMNL is perceived as expensive enough that users seek cheaper alternatives
- AI inferenceThere is an open-source ecosystem for smart home dashboards including firmware, server implementations, and Home Assistant integration
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Home automation linkHome Assistant WebSocket and REST API clientThe dashboard reads entity states and triggers scenes through the API that Home Assistant already exposes.
- This app · Realtime relayManaged websocket relay for hosted syncLets the wall screen reach a home without the user opening ports or running their own server.
RisksAI inference
- TechnicalBrowsers on old tablets may sleep, kill the page or lack the Wake Lock API, so the always-on screen could be unreliable on exactly the cheap devices the product targets.
- PlatformDepends on Home Assistant's API and auth flow. Changes upstream, or a official dashboard improving, could remove the reason to switch.
- CommercialUsers may see a free software dashboard as good enough from the open-source ecosystem, leaving little willingness to pay for hosted sync.
- TechnicalRemote access through a relay means handling credentials to people's homes, which raises security and trust demands.
- CommercialWithout bundled hardware, the product loses the out-of-the-box feel of a commercial device and some buyers will want a screen included.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.