What's new in Kiosk Satellite 2026.8.25
The display can finally go fully dark: a new screensaver timer truly powers the panel off, camera motion detection keeps watching while it is off, and motion, the wake word, the power button or an automation bring the dashboard right back.
New Feature: Turn the screen off, for real
- Turn screen off after (Screensaver, below Brightness level): once the screensaver has run for the set duration (5 to 60 minutes), the panel truly powers off instead of glowing all night. It requires the Device Administrator permission, and a status row right under the slider says when the grant is missing and offers it in one tap, on the device and in the remote admin alike.
- The screensaver session stays alive behind the dark panel, so every dismiss source wakes the display and lands on the dashboard: motion, the wake word, the MQTT Dismiss screensaver button, or an automation calling
stopScreensaver. - The power button and double-tap-to-wake count as activity like a touch and land on the dashboard too. The one wake that keeps the screensaver showing is the MQTT Screen switch, so an automation that turns a photo frame on in the morning gets its photos back.
- Together with the motion fix below this is what makes wake-on-approach work: the room empties, the display sleeps, and the first person walking past brings it back.
- The Screensaver doc covers the timer, the wake paths and the requirements.
Improvements
- A detected wake word now always lights a dark panel before the voice turn's UI appears: from the foreground, from behind another app, and whatever turned the screen off.
- The MQTT Dismiss screensaver button and the
stopScreensavercommand wake the display even when no screensaver is showing, so an automation can use them as a plain "bring the dashboard back". - Screenshots taken while the screen is off (the remote admin overview, the MQTT Screenshot camera) now return a "Screen off" placeholder image instead of a broken or half-drawn capture. A dark panel composites no frames, so there is nothing real to photograph.
Bug Fixes
- Camera motion detection no longer dies when the screen turns off. Newer Android revokes any non-visible app's camera within seconds of the panel going dark, which silently benched the motion sensor, Dismiss on motion and continuous snapshots until the screen came back. With Background listening enabled and the camera permission granted, the app now carries the camera foreground service type Android reserves for exactly this, and the OS leaves the feed alone (verified on Android 11 and Android 16 hardware). Vendors that suspend apps entirely once the panel is off remain out of reach, and the Black screensaver stays the route that works everywhere.