Use an old tablet or phone as a dashboard for your PC

A tablet or phone you no longer use can sit next to the keyboard and show temperatures, media, mic mute, audio switching and a key grid, served by the PC over your own Wi-Fi. Nothing to install on the tablet.

Last updated: 27 September 2026

What you get

A tablet or phone that still works but sits unused can, propped next to the keyboard, be the screen your PC is missing: the one you glance at for CPU and GPU temperature while a game runs, tap to mute the mic on a call, skip a track, switch the audio to the headphones, launch OBS, or read the notifications you would otherwise alt-tab for.

Xenon is that dashboard. It is free, it runs on Windows (macOS and Linux in beta), and the tablet needs nothing installed: the dashboard opens in the browser it already has.

How it works

Xenon runs as a small local service on the PC and serves the dashboard on your own network. The tablet or phone opens it like a web page, so an iPad, an Android tablet, an old Fire tablet, an iPhone or any phone with a browser all work, and there is no app to keep updated on the device. Pairing is a QR code shown by the PC; each paired device is listed and can be removed on its own. On your Wi-Fi the tablet talks to the PC directly, not through a cloud service. Xenon itself still goes online for some features, such as update checks, the catalog and the weather.

What you see is the real dashboard, not a remote: the same tiles, the same theme and the same pages as on a monitor, laid out again for the tablet's shape. Touch targets are sized for fingers.

Setting it up

1. On the PC, download Xenon-Setup-x64.exe, run it, and press Complete setup when the app asks. This happens once.
2. Open Settings → Remote Control → Phone access, turn on Allow access from other devices and press Add device. The PC shows a QR code.
3. Point the tablet's camera at the code. The dashboard opens in its browser. Add it to the home screen if you want it full-screen.
4. If the PC has no spare monitor at all, tell Xenon at first launch to show nothing on the PC: the tablet becomes the only screen.

The phone guide has the same steps with screenshots, plus the optional route for reaching the dashboard from outside the house.

Limits

It is not a second monitor. Your PC will not put a window on the tablet; you get a dashboard on it, with controls that act on the PC. If what you want is a genuine extra desktop on a small screen, Xenon's Second screen tile does that on a real monitor (Windows only), which is a different thing. Tablet and phone access is also marked beta in the current release: it works well on a home Wi-Fi, and it is still young.

One more note: the Windows installer is signed, so Windows shows a verified publisher. SmartScreen may still warn for a while, because Microsoft grants reputation over time: click More info, then Run anyway. The FAQ explains why and how to check the file.

Questions

Does the tablet need an app?

No. Any browser is enough. Adding the page to the home screen gives you a full-screen icon, but it is optional.

Does it work on an old iPad or Android tablet?

If its browser still opens modern web pages, yes. Very old devices with a browser that no longer updates may render some tiles slowly; the dashboard is light, but it is a live page.

Does the tablet connect through the internet?

Not on your own Wi-Fi: the PC serves the page directly to the tablet. Reaching it from outside the house is a separate, opt-in setup described in the phone guide. Xenon itself still goes online for some features, such as update checks, the catalog and the weather.

Can I use a phone instead of a tablet?

Yes, the same way. The layout reflows for a portrait phone screen.

Is it free?

Yes. No paid version, no account, no ads. The source is on GitHub under a non-commercial licence.