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User guide

How to use Glance day to day: edit the dashboard, work with pages, profiles and themes.

Just installed? Start with Getting started.

The main screen

The dashboard is a set of pages, each holding widget tiles (lights, sensors, the media player, weather). At the bottom of the screen is the dock bar for switching between pages. In normal mode, tapping a widget controls the device right away: tapping a light turns it on, tapping the player pauses it.

In the top-right corner are the Edit button and the profile avatar.

Edit mode

To rearrange the dashboard, tap Edit in the top-right corner. The button turns into Done — tap it when you are finished. Changes are saved automatically.

In edit mode the following become available:

  • Widget — add a new tile;
  • Pages — manage pages;
  • Settings — general app settings;
  • dragging and resizing widgets.

Widgets

Add a widget

  1. Enter edit mode → tap Widget.
  2. The "Add widget" catalog opens, with widgets grouped by category (Lights, Sensors, Climate, Media, and so on).
  3. Tap the one you want — the tile appears on the page.
  4. The configuration sheet opens immediately.

The full list of tiles is in the widget reference.

Configure a widget

The "Configure widget" sheet is where a tile's parameters are set. The main field for most widgets is the entity — a specific Home Assistant device. Glance shows a list of matching devices, so you never have to type a technical ID by hand.

The remaining fields depend on the widget: name, icon, glow color, units, and so on. Each field has a hint.

To open the configuration of a widget that is already placed, long-press the tile (hold for about half a second) → choose Configure from the menu.

Move and resize

In edit mode:

  • drag a tile to move it;
  • pull a corner to resize it.

Widgets are adaptive: at a small size a tile shows only the essentials (an icon and a value), and at a large size it expands into a full card with details. Every widget has a minimum size below which it cannot be shrunk.

Duplicate and delete

A long-press on a widget opens a menu:

  • Configure — open its parameters;
  • Duplicate — create a copy of the tile next to it;
  • Delete — remove the tile (Glance asks for confirmation).

Pages and the dock bar

The dashboard can be split into several pages — for example "Home", "Kitchen", "Cameras", "Climate". Switching between them is comfortable with one hand.

  • Switch page — tap an icon in the dock bar, or swipe left/right on the screen.
  • Manage pages — in edit mode, tap Pages.

In the "Pages" sheet you can:

  • create a new page — set its title, icon and type (a regular dashboard or a special "Weather" page);
  • edit the title and icon of an existing page;
  • reorder pages;
  • delete a page (along with all of its widgets);
  • export one page or all of them to a file — and import such a file on another device;
  • import from HA Lovelace — Glance reads your standard Home Assistant panel and builds a new page from its devices.

For an empty page, Glance offers to fill it automatically from the devices of the corresponding Home Assistant area — or you can fill it by hand.

Profiles

Glance supports multiple profiles — each member of the household gets their own set of pages and their own layout. A profile is chosen on first launch and then remembered on the device.

  • Switch profile — tap the avatar in the top-right corner.
  • Create a profile — on the profile-picker screen tap "Add profile", then set a name, an emoji avatar and, optionally, a PIN.

PIN and protection

A profile can be given a 4-digit PIN. Then:

  • entering the profile requires the PIN;
  • dangerous actions (deleting a profile, disconnecting from Home Assistant) also require the PIN.

This is handy, for example, for a wall-mounted tablet: a "guest" profile is open while the main one is behind a PIN.

To set or change a PIN: tap the avatar in the top-right corner → sign out of the profile → on the sign-in screen, tap the 🔒 icon on the profile card.

Themes and appearance

Open Settings (in edit mode) — there you will find:

Glance settings screen

  • Theme — Light, Dark or Auto (follows the device's system theme);
  • Accent color — emerald, indigo, sky, rose or amber; it highlights active elements;
  • Language — Russian or English.

Other settings

In the same Settings section:

  • Notifications — Glance can show notifications when Home Assistant creates a persistent_notification (via an automation). They work while the tab is open or the panel is installed as an app.
  • Sync with Home Assistant — layouts and profiles can be stored inside HA. Then on another device with the same HA login you see them right away. The Push to HA and Pull from HA buttons.
  • Home Assistant — the current connection; you can also disconnect and reconnect here.
  • External widgets — adding third-party widgets by URL (see the developer guide).

Install as an app

Glance is a PWA (Progressive Web App). It can be installed on a phone or computer like a regular app — with an icon on the home screen and no browser address bar:

  • iPhone/iPad (Safari): the "Share" button → "Add to Home Screen".
  • Android (Chrome): the browser menu → "Install app".
  • Desktop (Chrome/Edge): the install icon in the address bar.