Two ESP32 Screens for Home Assistant

I use Home Assistant for quite a few things around the house, but I don't always want to pull out my phone just to turn on a light or check a temperature.

I wanted something that could stay on my desk and be ready to use.

For the larger screen, I used the Open Nextion ESPHome UI Designer. It runs in the browser, so I could build the interface by dragging components onto the screen and selecting the Home Assistant entities I wanted to control.

What I liked about this approach is that I didn't have to build the whole ESPHome interface manually. The designer generates the ESPHome YAML configuration, which I can then flash to the screen.

After connecting the screen to the same Wi-Fi network as Home Assistant, it showed up automatically in Home Assistant through ESPHome. From there, I could use the touchscreen to control my selected entities.

ESPHome UI Designer

The 3.5" screen

The 3.5" touchscreen is the one I use when I want to see more information at once.

I can put several Home Assistant entities on the same screen, such as:

• Lights
• Switches
• Temperature and humidity
• Covers
• Other frequently used entities

The UI can be arranged visually, so I can decide where each control goes instead of having to work with a fixed layout.

Once the basic firmware is set up, changing the UI is also pretty straightforward. I can edit the layout, generate the YAML again and update the device on the ESPHome UI Designer.

The 1.28" knob screen

The smaller screen is a completely different experience.

Instead of trying to fit a full dashboard onto a tiny display, I use the rotary knob for quick interactions.

Rotate the knob to adjust a value, and press it to interact with the selected function.

It's particularly useful for things like:

• Light brightness
• Temperature
• Volume
• Other values that I change frequently

The screen connects to Home Assistant through ESPHome, and the device can display authorized Home Assistant entities while also letting me control them directly.

ONX2424G013 ESPHome + Home Assistant guide

Why use two different screens?

I originally thought I would just need one.

But after using both, they actually make sense for different situations.

The 3.5" touchscreen is better when I want a small Home Assistant dashboard with several controls visible at once.

The 1.28" rotary screen is better when I only want to change something quickly without navigating through a full interface.

So instead of trying to make one device do everything, I ended up with two simple interfaces for the same Home Assistant system.

How it works

The basic setup is pretty simple:

Home Assistant → ESPHome → Open Nextion

For the 3.5" display, I create the interface using the browser-based ESPHome UI Designer, select the Home Assistant entities I want, generate the ESPHome configuration and flash it to the screen.

For the 1.28" rotary screen, I use the Open Nextion ESPHome example and connect it to my Home Assistant instance.

Once both devices are connected to the same network, Home Assistant handles the actual smart home devices while the Open Nextion screens act as dedicated interfaces.

Build steps

1. Set up Home Assistant

First, I made sure Home Assistant were already running on my network.

2. Set up the 3.5" screen

I opened the ESPHome UI Designer and selected the 3.5" Open Nextion display.

Then I:

• Set the screen orientation.
• Entered the Wi-Fi information.
• Added the Home Assistant entities I wanted.
• Arranged the controls on the screen.
• Flashed the firmware.

The first flash is done over USB. All firmware flashing is performed via the ESPHome UI Designer page.

3. Set up the knob screen

For the 1.28" screen, I found the setup surprisingly straightforward cause the ESPHome comes pre-installed in the factory firmware.

• Connect the device to the same Wi-Fi network as your Home Assistant.
• Add the device to Home Assistant.
• Follow the User Manual to link the device with your Home Assistant entities and start controlling them.

The rotary knob then provides a much more tactile way of interacting with the selected Home Assistant controls.

Final result

The end result is pretty simple, but that's actually what I like about it.

The 3.5" screen works as a small dedicated Home Assistant dashboard, while the 1.28" screen works more like a physical shortcut for the things I adjust most often.

I also like that both are based on ESPHome, so they fit into the same Home Assistant setup rather than becoming another separate smart home ecosystem.

For someone like me who doesn't want to build every part of an ESP32 touchscreen interface from scratch, the Open Nextion approach makes experimenting with different Home Assistant controls much easier.

I'm still trying different layouts and controls, but having a dedicated screen instead of reaching for my phone every time has been surprisingly useful.