Turn an old iPad or tablet into a Tempest weather display
That iPad in the drawer may be too slow for much these days, but showing your weather station’s live readings doesn’t ask much of it. Put it on a shelf or the wall, leave it plugged in, and it becomes an always-on display for your Tempest. It keeps a working device out of the landfill, and if you already own it, it costs nothing.
Full disclosure: we make Halcyon, the browser display this guide sets up. If you’d rather use the free Tempest app, Tempest’s own tablet guide covers it: install the app and turn on Always On Mode and Full Screen Mode. Halcyon runs in a web browser instead, so the same steps work on an old laptop too.
What you need
- A Tempest weather station.
- A free personal access token from tempestwx.com/settings/tokens. It lets Halcyon read your station’s data.
- A Halcyon license key. Halcyon Free costs nothing, needs no card and doesn’t expire. It shows four live panels, which suits a tablet screen.
- The old device, its charger, and Wi-Fi.
Will my old iPad work?
Halcyon needs iPadOS 16 or later, and that’s the whole answer: installing Chrome or Firefox won’t get an older iPad past it.
| Model line | Works | Too old |
|---|---|---|
| iPad | 5th generation (2017) and newer | 4th generation and older |
| iPad mini | 5th generation (2019) and newer | iPad mini 4 and older |
| iPad Air | 3rd generation (2019) and newer | iPad Air 2 and older |
| iPad Pro | Every model | — |
To check yours, open iPad Settings → General → About and look at iPadOS Version. If it’s below 16, iPad Settings → General → Software Update may take it there. If the update isn’t offered, that iPad has had its last one.
Android tablets, Fire tablets and laptops
- Android tablets. Keep Chrome updated from the Play Store. Tablets on Android 7 or later can run a recent enough Chrome; Android 6 and older can’t.
- Amazon Fire tablets. These use Amazon’s Silk browser, which Amazon updates separately from the tablet’s software, so even older Fire tablets can keep up: one Halcyon customer runs it on a Fire tablet whose software dates from the Android 5 era. Use the check below to be sure of yours.
- Old laptops. Any laptop running a current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari works, and a laptop can drive a bigger monitor or TV too.
The five-second check: open halcyonwx.com/free on the device. If its browser is too old, you’ll see “This browser is too old to run Halcyon” instead of the signup form.
Set up an iPad as a weather display
- Make a personal access token at tempestwx.com/settings/tokens.
- Get a free license key at halcyonwx.com/free. It arrives by email.
- On the iPad, open halcyonwx.com in Safari, tap Share → Add to Home Screen. Do this before you enter your key: the home screen app keeps its own storage, so a key entered in a Safari tab doesn’t carry over.
- Open Halcyon from the home screen, enter your license key and token, and pick your station.
- Keep the screen on: iPad Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never. Halcyon’s own Keep Screen Awake setting helps too, but Apple only honours it after a tap, so after a restart you may see “Tap screen to keep awake”. One tap fixes it.
- Optional: lock the iPad to Halcyon with iPad Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access. Turn it on, open Halcyon, then triple-click the top button (or the Home button) to start it. Visitors and kids can’t wander off into other apps.
Set up an Android tablet
- Make a token and get a free key, as above.
- Open halcyonwx.com in Chrome and tap ⋮ → Add to Home Screen (some versions say Install App). Same reason as on iPad: do this before entering your key.
- Open Halcyon from the home screen, enter your key and token, and pick your station.
- In Halcyon, turn on Settings → Display → Keep Screen Awake. Android honours it without a tap.
- Optional: turn on App pinning to lock the tablet to Halcyon. It’s under Security in Settings, though where exactly depends on the tablet’s maker.
Set up an old laptop
- In Chrome, open halcyonwx.com and choose ⋮ → Save and Share → Install page as app. In Edge it’s ⋯ → Apps → Install this site as an app.
- Enter your key and token, then turn on Keep Screen Awake in Halcyon’s Display settings.
- Set the laptop not to sleep while it’s plugged in. If you’re connecting it to a monitor or TV and closing the lid, set closing the lid to do nothing; on Windows that’s in the power settings.
A laptop with a tired screen still has a good HDMI port. Plug it into a spare monitor or a TV and the display gets a lot bigger. For casting to a TV and other big-screen setups, see every Tempest display option, compared.
Look after the old battery
A tablet that never leaves its charger is the one real risk in this project. Lithium batteries age faster when they sit at full charge, and an old one can swell.
- Use a charge limit if it has one. Many Samsung tablets call it Protect battery. Turn it on.
- Look at the case now and then. If the screen is lifting or the back is bulging, unplug it and stop using it.
- Keep it cool. Not in direct sun, not above a radiator. Heat ages a battery faster than anything else.
- Turn the brightness down. It’s on all day. It doesn’t need to be at full.
What it shows
On Halcyon Free, four live panels in a 2×2 grid, picked from Temperature, Wind, Pressure, Rainfall, Lightning, Forecast, Astronomy and Radar. Readings arrive from WeatherFlow about once a minute, with wind every three seconds.
Basic ($14.99 a year) adds six slots that cycle through all eleven panels, severe weather alerts, and settings that sync across your screens, which helps once more than one old device is on display duty. Plus ($59.99 a year) adds charts and history.
Questions
Does this cost anything?
Not if you already own the device. The WeatherFlow token is free, and Halcyon Free needs no card and doesn’t expire. The only running cost is power: a tablet showing one screen all day draws a few watts.
Does the tablet need an internet connection?
Yes. Halcyon gets your readings from WeatherFlow’s online feed, not from the Tempest hub directly, so the tablet needs Wi-Fi.
My iPad is too old. What now?
Try an old laptop instead; almost any laptop with an up-to-date browser works. Or compare every Tempest display option (button below), including the ones that come with their own hardware.
Does it work with the older WeatherFlow AIR and SKY stations?
No. Halcyon works with Tempest stations only.
Last updated October 2026. Written by DAB Worx Inc., the makers of Halcyon.