How to set up a kitchen tablet as a family calendar

Do you need a dedicated wall-calendar device?

No. A dedicated wall-calendar box is, mechanically, a tablet: a screen and a processor running one company’s calendar app instead of a general-purpose browser. Plannie doesn’t need that hardware. It runs at plannie.io/app in any modern browser, so an old iPad pulled out of a drawer, a cheap Android tablet bought for a trip, or even a laptop propped on a shelf becomes a full family calendar wall display for the price of a stand or a mount. The only thing a bought device buys you is not having to find a spare screen; everything else is software, and that’s the same Plannie account either way.

What does a spare tablet actually need to do the job?

Not much beyond a working screen and a way to stay powered. Plannie runs in any tablet’s built-in browser, so there’s nothing to install and no minimum spec beyond what a browser needs to load a modern web page, which rules out only genuinely old hardware. Screen size matters more for comfort than function: an 8-inch tablet sits better on a counter than a wall, while a 10 to 12-inch screen reads more easily from across a kitchen. Battery health matters more than expected, since a wall display stays plugged in permanently rather than running on a charge; a battery too degraded to hold one is the one thing worth replacing the tablet over. Wi-Fi is the only real connectivity requirement; a dead cellular modem or missing SIM changes nothing.

What does wall-display (kiosk) mode change?

It switches the tablet from a personal device to a shared one. Plannie treats every signed-in screen as either a kiosk, a shared household screen showing everyone’s settings and every family notification with a per-screen mute, or personal, showing only that one person’s own settings, their own notifications, their own lists, and their own name pre-filled as task assignee or event attendee. Signing in on a tablet’s browser defaults to kiosk, since a browser sign-in is assumed to be a shared screen rather than one person’s phone. You can flip a device between the two any time in Settings → Family & access → Device mode, and leaving kiosk mode asks for the household’s parental-lock PIN, so a passing child can’t switch the wall screen to someone’s personal view.

Where should you mount it?

Put it where the family walks past during the day, which isn’t always where it looks tidiest. A kitchen wall near the fridge, or wherever the old paper chart hung, works because glancing at it needs no detour, and a hallway by the door works the same way on the way out. A flat surface with a stand costs nothing if one’s already lying around; a wall or cabinet mount is worth the small cost once the placement is settled, since it fixes the height and angle for good instead of someone nudging the tablet straight every time they pass. Keep it below eye level for the shortest family member who’ll use it: a display mounted for an adult’s sightline gets ignored by a five-year-old checking their own chores.

How do you keep the screen from sleeping or locking?

Kiosk mode handles it automatically, which is the main reason to turn it on rather than leave the tablet on its normal settings. A tablet on factory defaults dims and locks itself after a minute or two exactly like it would in a pocket, which defeats the point of a screen meant to be glanced at without waking it first. Kiosk mode keeps the display awake and swaps in a family screensaver between interactions instead of a lock screen or app switcher. For a second layer on an older tablet, both major operating systems have their own always-on tools: iOS’s Guided Access can pin the screen to a single app until a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID ends the session, and Android’s own screen saver settings show a clock or photos instead of going dark once the display times out. Neither replaces kiosk mode, since neither is Plannie-aware, but either is a reasonable belt-and-braces option.

What can kids tap, and what stays locked?

Everything the day’s plan needs, and nothing that changes settings for the rest of the family. Kiosk mode is built to be touched: a child can tick off their own habits, check what’s for dinner, or see today’s events without asking an adult to unlock anything first. What stays behind the household PIN is anyone leaving that shared view entirely: settings, another household’s data, and account or billing changes, covered in the parental lock help article. Adding or removing who shows up on the wall screen at all is a separate step, handled from Settings → Family & access, not something kiosk mode itself controls.

What does a family member’s own phone show that the wall screen doesn’t?

Their own notifications, and nothing anyone else needs to see. A personal device shows only that person’s own settings, their own notifications, their own lists, and pre-fills their name when they add a task or event, which is what makes a shared kitchen tablet unsuitable as anyone’s only screen. The wall display is where the whole household checks the shape of the day at a glance; a personal phone is where one person manages their own reminders without a sibling’s homework alert going off on it too. Most households run both: the kitchen tablet for the shared view, and each person’s own phone, synced to the same shared family calendar, for anything that’s theirs alone.

What does it cost compared to buying a dedicated display?

Usually nothing beyond a stand or a mount, since the tablet is typically something already sitting unused rather than a new purchase. A dedicated wall-calendar device folds hardware and software into one price, often with an ongoing subscription on top; a spare tablet only needs Plannie’s own plan, with no separate hardware cost.

Requirement	A dedicated wall-calendar display	A tablet you already own	What it costs
Screen	A purpose-built touchscreen, one fixed size	Whatever’s sitting in a drawer, usually 8 to 11 inches	Free if you already own one
Always-on power	Ships with its own dock and cable	Needs a charger and a cable run to wherever it’s mounted	$0 to $15 for a cable
Touch	Built for the software it ships with	A full touchscreen, same as any tablet you already use	Included
Mounting	Often sold with a matching wall or stand mount	A generic tablet wall mount or stand from any hardware store	$10 to $30
Software	Locked to whatever app the manufacturer ships	Plannie, running in any modern browser, updates itself	Included in your Plannie plan
Per-year cost	The device, plus a subscription most models require	Just the Plannie plan, no separate hardware subscription	Plannie plan only

The gap widens further with a second spare tablet: a second wall display in a playroom or office costs nothing but a second mount and sign-in, where a second dedicated device is a second full purchase.

Because it runs in the browser, the wall screen shows the same shared family calendar everyone already sees on their phones. For step-by-step setup and troubleshooting, see the Help Center.