×

Offline Alert Settings

When Dad's iPad loses connection, Pushover alerts wait this long before the first notice, then repeat until someone taps Acknowledge. Applies to the whole family. Short outages send nothing.

First alert after (hours) Repeat every (hours)

Frame your photo

Drag to position, slide to zoom. This is exactly how it will look on Dad's board.

×

Dad Brogan's Family MessageBoard

A private family message board that displays large-print messages on Dad's iPad, with call request buttons so Dad can ask any of us to call him.

📱 App Overview

• View all — See all messages and call requests in chronological order
• Post a message — Send a message to Dad's screen (appears within 20 seconds)
• 🔒 Private — Toggle when posting to make a message visible only to you
• ↩ Resend — Pre-fills the post form with an existing message so you can edit and resend
• Swipe left — Reveals a Delete button on any message
• Checkboxes — Select multiple messages for bulk delete
• ✓ Dad saw & kept/cleared this — Shows when Dad has acknowledged a message
• ↩ Dad replied — Shows up as its own new card at the top of the feed (with a "Replying to" quote if it was tied to a specific message), plus a Pushover notification quoting the original
• Dad's messages — Any message from Dad gets a ↩ Reply button (quotes his message for context) and a ✓ Acknowledge button — acknowledging posts a confirmation straight to his board so he knows it was seen, and shows who acknowledged
• 📷 Change Avatar — Sets your photo, shown in a circle next to your name on Dad's board. Drag and zoom in the preview to frame your face; the circle in the header shows exactly what Dad sees
• Auto-refresh — This page updates itself every 15 seconds (new messages, Dad's replies and checkmarks) — no reload needed
• On Dad's board — Dad can swipe through the message carousel by hand, reply to any message (even after acknowledging it), and clear kept messages from his screen — cleared messages stay visible to you here
• 🔔 Message chime — Dad's iPad plays a low double chime when a new message arrives (system messages are silent). Tap the green "Connected" pill on his board to test the sound. To silence it entirely, flip the iPad's side switch to mute (requires Settings → General → "Use Side Switch to: Mute") — your Pushover notifications are unaffected
• Call request banner — Appears at top when Dad taps a call button, with three responses: "On my way to call", "Can't call now", and "Is this urgent?" — each posts an appropriate message to Dad's board. "Is this urgent?" gives Dad his own Yes/No buttons ("Yes — Please Call!" / "No — Call When You Can") plus Reply, and whichever he picks sends a matching Pushover right away
• Connection status — Green dot means Dad's iPad is online; red means it's offline

🔑 PINs & URLs

• Billy: 1234
• Tom: 2345
• Kathleen: 3456

Family login URL:

Dad's screen URL:

📋 Dad's iPad Setup Checklist

1. Factory Reset & Apple ID

• Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPad → Erase All Content
• Set up with a new throwaway Apple ID (create at appleid.apple.com)
• Skip iCloud, Photos, Mail, Contacts — tap "Skip" on everything
• Connect to Dad's home WiFi during setup

2. Display & Brightness

• Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never
• Settings → Display & Brightness → Brightness → set high (75-100%)
• Settings → Display & Brightness → True Tone → On
• Settings → Display & Brightness → Night Shift → Off

3. General Settings

• Settings → General → Software Update → turn off automatic updates
• Settings → General → AirDrop → Nobody
• Settings → General → Handoff → Off
• Settings → Accessibility → Reduce Motion → On

4. Notifications

• Settings → Notifications → Show Previews → Never
• Settings → Focus → Do Not Disturb → On, always

5. Safari & Home Screen Icon

• Open Safari, go to the Dad's screen URL above (include the ?device=dads-ipad parameter — this is what enables the connection indicator on the family side)
• Confirm it looks correct
• Tap Share icon → Add to Home Screen → name it "MessageBoard" (avoids confusion with Apple's Messages app) → Add
• If updating an existing icon, delete the old one first then re-add

6. Guided Access (iPadOS 12)

• Settings → General → Accessibility → Guided Access → On (on iPadOS 12, Accessibility is under General)
• Passcode Settings → set a passcode (not Dad's — something you'll remember)
• Accessibility Shortcut toggle → On (triple-click Home activates it)
• Mirror Display Auto-Lock → On — makes Guided Access follow the global Auto-Lock (Never, from step 2). If this is off, the screen goes dark during Guided Access even though Auto-Lock is Never
• Launch MessageBoard icon → triple-click Home → tap Options (bottom left): Sleep/Wake Button Off, Volume Buttons Off, Motion Off, Keyboards Off, Touch On, Time Limit Off → tap Start
• To exit: triple-click Home → enter passcode → End

7. WiFi

• Settings → WiFi → tap network → Auto-Join On
• Settings → WiFi → Ask to Join Networks → Off

8. Power

• Keep iPad plugged in permanently
• Position at eye level where Dad sits most

9. Final Verification

• Launch MessageBoard icon — confirm no Safari chrome visible
• Post a test message from your phone — confirm it appears within 20 seconds
• Tap a Request Call button — confirm Pushover notification arrives
• Set volume loud and side switch un-muted before starting Guided Access (volume buttons are locked during it), tap the green "Connected" pill — confirm the chime plays
• Check green "Connected" dot is showing top right
• Confirm screen stays on after 10+ minutes

10. Recovery After an Outage

• If the board shows disconnected or the server was restarted: triple-click Home → passcode → End
• Double-press Home, swipe the app away, then relaunch from the MessageBoard icon
• Triple-click Home → tap Start to re-enter Guided Access
• Expect one silent "back online" notification on family phones — no action needed

🔔 Pushover Notifications

When Dad taps a call button, you'll get a phone notification via Pushover. Download the free Pushover app, find your User Key on the dashboard, and send it to Billy to get set up.

• Call requests — high priority. To have these break through Do Not Disturb and the silent switch, enable Critical Alerts for High Priority in the Pushover app's settings
• Dad sent a message — normal priority: dings when your phone isn't silenced, never breaks through DND
• iPad offline / back online — the first offline alert waits (default 8 hours), then repeats (default every 4 hours) until someone taps Acknowledge on the offline banner here. Adjust the timing with the ⚙️ button. Short outages send nothing, and "back online" only follows an offline alert