Help · The kitchen screen

How to turn an old tablet into a family calendar and kitchen screen

That tablet in the drawer can be the family's kitchen screen: today's meals, everyone's calendar, the shopping list and the kids' routines, on the counter or the wall where everyone walks past. It takes about ten minutes and no new hardware.

What you need

• A tablet that runs an up-to-date Chrome or Safari. Android tablets and iPads both work.
• A spot near a power outlet, and a stand or wall mount that holds it sideways (landscape).
• A Fridge Door account, and your phone signed in to it.

Step 1: pair the tablet

Pairing signs the tablet in as the family's kitchen screen, without anyone's password on it.

1. On the tablet, open fridgedoor.ca/kitchen in the browser.
2. On your phone, open Fridge Door, go to the Family page and tap Pair a kitchen screen.
3. Type the 6-digit code from your phone into the tablet within 15 minutes.

The tablet stays paired from then on. If it's ever lost or replaced, remove it from the Family page.

Step 2 on an Android tablet: keep it on the screen

A kiosk browser keeps the kitchen screen open full screen, starts it again after a restart, and stops little fingers wandering into other apps. We recommend Fully Kiosk Browser from the Play Store.

1. Install Fully Kiosk Browser and set its start URL to https://fridgedoor.ca/kitchen.
2. Pair the tablet inside Fully Kiosk (Step 1), so the pairing belongs to the browser that stays open.
3. Turn on its kiosk mode and its option to start when the tablet starts.
4. Allow the microphone if you'd like to add to the shopping list by voice.

Fully Kiosk's paid licence adds two handy extras that Fridge Door uses when it finds them: switching the screen fully off at night, and waking it when someone walks past, using the camera.

Step 2 on an iPad: keep it on the screen

1. In Safari, with the kitchen screen open, tap Share then Add to Home Screen, and open it from that icon from now on.
2. To lock the iPad to it, turn on Guided Access in Settings › Accessibility, open the kitchen screen and triple-click the side or home button.
3. Set Auto-Lock to Never in Settings › Display & Brightness, so a tap always wakes the kitchen screen rather than the lock screen.

Step 3: choose how it rests

When nobody has touched it for a while, the kitchen screen shows a big clock, then your family photos, then goes black. Set how long each lasts under Settings › Household › Kitchen screen standby, and add Quiet hours so it goes dark overnight. Photos come from Settings › Photos. A tap brings everything back.

What the family sees on it

• Today's meals first, with a note of anything on around dinner time.
• The family calendar, with each person's face to show just their day.
• Every shopping list, to tick off or add to, by voice too.
• Each child's routines and chores, with stars as they go.
• Any recipe in cook mode, one big step at a time, with timers.

Changes made on anyone's phone appear on the screen within a second or two. Want to see the parts in more detail? Read about the family calendar and the chore chart.

Questions

Which tablets work?

Any tablet that runs an up-to-date Chrome or Safari: an Android tablet, an iPad, even a small laptop with a touchscreen. Very old iPads that can't update Safari any more can feel slow. A screen of about 10 inches or bigger is easiest to read from across the kitchen.

Is it safe to leave it plugged in all the time?

Mostly, but batteries kept at 100% for months can swell. If your tablet has a battery protection setting that stops charging at about 85%, turn it on. Many Samsung tablets call it Protect battery.

Can the kids change things?

They can tick off routines, chores and the shopping list, and cook from recipes, without a login. Changing the family, setting up tasks and spending stars need a parent's PIN, which you set on the Family page.

Can I have more than one screen?

Yes. Pair as many as you like, such as the kitchen, the kids' rooms or the cottage, at no extra cost. Each one can be removed from the Family page.

What if the Wi-Fi drops?

The screen keeps showing what it had and catches up when the connection comes back, so a router restart won't leave it blank.

More on the kitchen screen, all help and guides, or get in touch.

iPad, Android and Fully Kiosk Browser are trademarks of their owners. Fridge Door isn't affiliated with or endorsed by them; their names are used only to explain how they work with Fridge Door.