Set blackout

The Set blackout action displays a full-screen overlay on your Kiosker device. Use it to show a status message, hide the screen during a meeting, or block the display until a condition clears. You can customize the overlay with a message, icon, colors, and a dismiss button.

To hide the overlay again, call this action with Visible turned off, or use the Clear blackout button entity in the UI.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To display a blackout overlay from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. From the search box, search for and select Kiosker: Set blackout.
6. Under Device, select your Kiosker device.
7. Toggle Visible on to show the overlay, or off to hide it.
8. Optional: add a message, custom colors, an icon, or a dismiss button.
9. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as kiosker.blackout_set. A basic example looks like this:

action: kiosker.blackout_set
data:
  device_id: YOUR_DEVICE_ID
  visible: true
  text: "Be right back"
  expire: 300

Options in YAML

Good to know

• The overlay covers everything on the screen, including the browser and any content underneath.
• If expire is set, the overlay disappears automatically after the specified number of seconds. Showing a new overlay always resets this timer.
• To clear an active blackout, call this action again with visible: false. You can also use the Clear blackout button entity from the Kiosker device page in Home Assistant.
• SF Symbols is an icon library for Apple devices. You can browse available icons at the Apple SF Symbols page.
• SystemSoundID is a number that identifies a system sound in iOS. You can browse available IDs in the iOS system sounds library.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Action: show a dismissible overlay with custom colors

Show a styled overlay the user can tap away when ready.

• Action: Kiosker: Set blackout
• Device: Meeting room display
• Visible: on
• Text: Meeting in progress
• Background: [10, 10, 60]
• Icon: person.2.fill
• Expire: 3600
• Dismissible: on
• Button text: Dismiss

action: kiosker.blackout_set
data:
  device_id: YOUR_DEVICE_ID
  visible: true
  text: "Meeting in progress"
  background:
    - 10
    - 10
    - 60
  foreground:
    - 255
    - 255
    - 255
  icon: "person.2.fill"
  expire: 3600
  dismissible: true
  button_background:
    - 255
    - 255
    - 255
  button_foreground:
    - 10
    - 10
    - 60
  button_text: "Dismiss"
  sound: "1007"

Automation: black out the display when no one is home

When everyone leaves, cover the screen so the display is not showing anything while the house is empty.

• Trigger: All people: Away
• Action: Kiosker: Set blackout
• Device: Living room kiosk
• Visible: on
• Expire: 0

alias: "Black out display when no one is home"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: group.all_persons
    to: "not_home"
actions:
  - action: kiosker.blackout_set
    data:
      device_id: YOUR_DEVICE_ID
      visible: true
      expire: 0

Automation: clear the blackout when someone arrives home

When the first person gets home, remove the overlay and restore the normal display.

• Trigger: Person: Arrives home
• Action: Kiosker: Set blackout
• Device: Living room kiosk
• Visible: off

alias: "Clear kiosk blackout on arrival"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: group.all_persons
    to: "home"
actions:
  - action: kiosker.blackout_set
    data:
      device_id: YOUR_DEVICE_ID
      visible: false

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Navigate to URL: Navigate your Kiosker device to a specific URL.