Set up access and invite your household
Choose how Denframe is protected, then give each phone, tablet, guest and wall display its own sign-in from the Access page. Every one of them can be signed out on its own, and none of them ever gets the owner password.
An Access page listing each family phone, each guest with the time they have left, each wall display and shared tablet, and a Recent activity column of who joined and when.
- Denframe installed and open on its computer: Install on macOS, Install on Windows or Install in Home Assistant.
- For phones, tablets and guests: Denframe on a secure (https) address a phone can open, set with
DENFRAME_MANAGEMENT_BASE_URLon the Denframe server. Wall displays pair without it. - People added to the household (in Sources, open Calendars, then + Add person under People) if a device should show one person’s view.
Follow these steps in your own Denframe. This website never connects to your household, your accounts or your devices, and never asks for your credentials.
Choose a password or open access
The first time Denframe starts, Welcome to Denframe asks once how it is protected. This choice is made only on a new install.
- Use a password: type it in New password and again in Confirm password, at least 8 characters. It is hashed on the Denframe computer and never leaves it.
- No password: tick the box that says anyone who can reach this network can open Denframe and control the household displays. Choose it only for a trusted home network; keeping Denframe on your local network still keeps it private.
Choose Continue. Later visits ask for the Password and Open dashboard. The sign-in is kept only for that browser tab; Lock dashboard in the header signs it out.
Inside Home Assistant, the first setup is open only to a Home Assistant user on the Denframe owner list. Anyone else sees that this Denframe has not been set up yet.
Open the Access page
In Studio, open Access. Four tiles at the top show the family devices, the guests now, the wall displays and which calendar sign-ins are set up; each leads to its section below.
- Family: phones and tablets that see and tick off shared tasks, grouped by whose view they show.
- Guests & babysitters: read-only and short-lived devices, each with what it sees and how long it has left.
- Wall displays & shared tablets: devices that stay in one room.
- Calendar sign-in: only needed to connect Google or Microsoft calendars.
Beside them, Recent activity lists codes used, refused, withdrawn or run out, devices that joined, were signed out or renamed, displays paired and removed, phone links, and guest Wi-Fi reveals. It never shows a code or a token.
Choose who the device is for
Choose Add a device. It opens a full-window flow that asks Who is this device for? Pick the closest fit; any device can be signed out later.
Choice What it can do Signed in for Someone in the family Their own phone or tablet: sees the household and ticks off shared tasks. 30 days at a time A guest or babysitter Read-only, and only what you choose from the guest card. A day, then it ends A shared tablet Stays in one room, like a kitchen tablet: one person’s view, and it ticks off tasks. 90 days at a time A Denframe wall display A wall display already showing a six-digit code. Until you remove it A family phone or shared tablet does not renew itself: when its time runs out, it scans a new code. Wall displays renew themselves.
Choose Continue. If Denframe has no secure address yet, the phone and tablet choices say so and stay closed; a wall display can still be paired.
Name it and choose what it shows
For a family phone or a shared tablet, type its Name (how it appears in the lists), then answer Whose view does it show? A family device can show Shared tasks only, or one person’s view; a shared tablet shows one person’s view.
For a guest, What should they see? shows a preview of their phone beside the choices. With a guest card, the Emergency number is always shown, and the home address, contacts, alarm instructions and Wi-Fi are offered when they are on the card; turn on Also show one person's tasks and pick Whose tasks? to add a profile’s tasks. Without a guest card, a guest sees only the tasks of the person chosen in Whose tasks?, with no emergency number, so Set up the guest card first (see Guest and babysitter card).
Choose Show the code to scan.
Scan the code with the phone
The Connect step shows a one-time QR code: open the camera on the phone, point it at the code and open the link, then wait. The page moves on by itself and says the device is in. Copy link gives the same link to send another way.
The code works once and runs out after five minutes. If it does, choose Make a new code; nothing is lost. A code left unused when you close the step is withdrawn.
The phone opens the shared household view, not Studio. Choose Done, or Add another device for the next one.
The QR code carries a one-time offer, never a lasting password. A photographed code is useful only until it is used or runs out. If a device you did not expect appears in the lists, sign it out. A paired device can never operate home devices; that needs the owner’s own sign-in.
Pair a wall display
Turn the display on and open Denframe: a display waiting to be paired shows six digits. In Add a device, choose A Denframe wall display, then on Where does it hang? type The code on the display, a Name (or pick a room), How is it mounted? and Whose view does it show?
Choose Next: lock its settings, set a Settings PIN of 6 to 12 digits and type The same PIN again. The display asks for this PIN before anyone changes its settings, so keep it somewhere safe. Choose Pair the display.
The Android wall panel guide covers installing its app.
Rename or sign out a device
Each section keeps its own controls:
- Family: a device’s ⋯ menu has Rename and Sign out. Add a family device adds another.
- Guests & babysitters: End access now stops a guest at once, before their time runs out. Invite a guest adds another.
- Wall displays & shared tablets: Identify makes a display show its name, and Open screen page leads to its screen, rotation and software. A shared tablet has Sign out. Pair a display adds another.
- Calendar sign-in: Set up registers a Google or Microsoft app so members can connect those calendars; once stored, its ⋯ menu has Replace and Remove. One the server’s environment set is read-only. See Family calendar.
Signing out is immediate. A signed-out phone loses access at once; to come back it scans a new code.
Recover a forgotten owner password
On the computer running Denframe, open its page and choose Recover on this Denframe device on the sign-in screen. Type a New password and Confirm new password, then choose Reset owner access. Back to sign in returns without changing anything.
Recovery works only from the page Denframe serves on its own computer, or for a Home Assistant user on the Denframe owner list. It needs no recovery key there, and requests from another device or through a reverse proxy, even one on the same computer, are refused. Recovery signs out every browser and paired device: each phone and tablet scans a new code afterwards, and each wall display is paired again.
Check who has access
On the phone you paired, the shared household view shows the household and its shared tasks. On the Access page, the phone is listed under Family with its name and how long it stays signed in, and Recent activity shows that it joined.
After Sign out, the phone’s next action sends it back to sign in, and the activity column records the sign-out.
If it doesn’t work
The phone and tablet choices say a secure address comes first.
Phones join through a link, and a link needs Denframe on an https address. Set an https DENFRAME_MANAGEMENT_BASE_URL on the Denframe server, restart it, then make a new code. Wall displays can be paired meanwhile.
The code ran out before the phone scanned it.
Choose Make a new code. Each code works once, for five minutes.
Whose view does it show? has no people to choose.
Add the people of the household first: in Sources, open Calendars and choose + Add person under People. Then come back to the flow.
A guest sees only one person’s tasks.
There is no guest card yet. Choose Set up the guest card and add the emergency number, address, contacts, alarm instructions or Wi-Fi you want guests to see.
Studio says the display’s code is not waiting for approval.
Check the six digits on the display and type them again. A reload forgets the code and the PIN; go back to the code and start that step again.
Recovery is refused.
Open Denframe on the computer that runs it, at its own local address, not from a phone, another computer or a reverse proxy.
In Home Assistant, Denframe says it has not been set up yet.
Ask the Home Assistant app administrator to add your stable user ID to the Denframe owner list, then restart the app and try again.