What's New in Kiosk Satellite 2026.9.37
This release introduces Plugin Manager, adds an optional Lockdown Mode shortcut to the kiosk menu and improves ambient light sensor diagnostics. It also fixes dashboard and overlay startup errors in debug builds.
New Feature: Plugin Manager
- Install Community Plugins: Use Add plugin in Settings or Remote Admin to review a plugin's description and install it from its GitHub repository. Downloads come from published releases and are checked against their SHA-256 digest. Install only plugins from authors you trust.
- Manage Plugins in One Place: Enable or disable individual plugins, edit their settings, read their documentation and check for updates from Plugin Manager. The Enable Plugins master switch stops plugins while retaining their settings. Updates normally apply without restarting the app and failed activation restores the previous version when shutdown was clean.
- Use Plugin Actions Around the Kiosk: Assign plugin actions to gestures, add them to the kiosk menu or expose them as Home Assistant buttons through ESPHome. Plugins can also provide floating windows, control supported kiosk features and add hardware support with RGB light entities in Home Assistant.
- Keep Each Kiosk's Plugins Local: Fleet sync preserves each device's installed plugins, plugin settings and plugin action assignments. Ordinary gesture mappings continue to follow the fleet profile.
- Create and Test Plugins: Developer Tools > Create a plugin opens the Hello World template and documentation. Install from ZIP lets developers test local builds. SDK 1 provides access to supported kiosk state, events and controls, including native hardware extensions.
New Feature: Lockdown Mode Menu Shortcut
- Lock the Screen from the Kiosk Menu: Enable Show in the kiosk menu under Lockdown Mode in Remote Admin to add a shortcut for screen cleaning or other temporary locks. A matching Allowed Action controls its visibility in the restricted menu. Unlock through the existing exit gesture and kiosk PIN if configured, Remote Admin or Home Assistant. Adds #495.
Added
- Ambient Light Sensor Diagnostics: App Logs and Remote Admin now show the selected sensor's name, vendor and capabilities, registration results and the first lux reading. A warning appears if no samples arrive after the existing retries. Helps investigate #497.
Fixed
- Dashboard Startup in Debug Builds: Navigation key capture now initializes when the kiosk screen is ready, preventing an assertion that blocks the WebView. Fixes #493.
- Unused Overlay Cleanup: Browser and camera overlays now dispose cleanly if the kiosk screen closes before either overlay opens, preventing a debug assertion.