The $5 Magnetic Tablet Wall Mount

Every wall-mounted tablet guide ends up at the same place: a bulky plastic cradle, four screws, a hole in the drywall, and a tablet you can't take down without a fight. I wanted the opposite — a tablet that lives on the wall as a smart home dashboard, stays charged, and lifts off the second I want it in my hand.

The answer turned out to be two magnets' worth of hardware and no bracket at all. Here's the whole build, what it costs, and the one measurement that matters.

What it costs

Two numbers matter here. The mount itself is the cheap part — if you already have a tablet lying in a drawer, you're $5 away from a wall dashboard. The whole build, tablet and power included, is what a single commercial mount costs on its own.

The shopping list

• 
  Neodymium channel magnet — 65 lb pull 3.25 × ½ × ¼ in

  Goes on the wall. This one part does all the holding. The steel channel around it focuses the pull forward instead of letting it spill sideways.

  ~$3each · 6-pack ~$17Buy the magnet →magnet4sale.com
• 
  Steel adhesive plates — two per tablet adhesive already applied · buy the 16-pack

  Peel and stick to the back of the tablet or its case — the 3M adhesive is already on them. The magnet grabs these. Two, not one, spaced apart so the tablet can't pivot.

  ~56¢a pair · 16-pack $9Buy the plates →Amazon · 16-pack
• 
  90° right-angle USB cable USB-C or Micro-USB, coiled

  The part that makes it look built-in. The plug turns the instant it leaves the tablet, so the cable lies flat down the wall instead of jutting out.

  ~$82-packBuy the cable →Amazon · 90° coiled USB-C
• 
  USB charging wall switch 2 USB ports + a working light switch

  Optional, but it's what hides the power. Drops into the existing switch box, keeps the light switch working, and puts two USB ports right where the tablet hangs. No brick, no extension lead.

  $22Buy the switch →eBay · Legrand 2× USB + switch
  EU: Tuya USB + USB-C ↗ · AU: 2.1A wall plate ↗
• 
  The tablet 8″ Android, refurbished

  Any tablet works — this is just a cheap one that does the job. If you already have one in a drawer, the mount is the only thing you need to buy.

  $32onn 8″ · 32GBBuy the tablet →Walmart · or use any tablet you own

These are the exact parts in the photos. Nothing here is sponsored and there are no affiliate links — the buttons go straight to where each part was bought. Prices and listings drift, so treat the figures as a guide rather than a quote. Any equivalent part works; the only one worth matching closely is the magnet's 65 lb pull.

Buy in multipacks. The per-mount price above assumes the 6-pack of magnets and the 16-pack of plates. Buying one magnet on its own costs nearly as much as six. If you're mounting one tablet, you now have parts for five more — which is how this ends up on three walls.

Why 65 lb, and not stronger

This is the part worth getting right, and the only way to know was to buy four strengths and try them. I tested 25, 45, 65 and 80+ lb pull.

Don't trust the number on the box. A pull rating is measured with bare steel in flat, full contact with the magnet. You have a plastic case in the gap and only two small plates touching — real holding force is a fraction of the rating. That's exactly why 65 lb feels right in the hand and 25 lb doesn't hold.

Why two plates and not one

One plate gives the tablet a pivot point: it hangs on, then slowly rotates. Two plates spaced apart spread the load across the magnet bar and lock the angle, so it stays level. Two plates is also what lets a bigger, heavier tablet work at all.

Building it

1. Pick the spot — beside a light switch Hold the tablet against the wall and mark the top edge with a pencil. Next to a switch is the best place on any wall: the power is already in it, and that's where your hand already goes.
2. Clean the back of the tablet Isopropyl alcohol on the back of the tablet or its case, then let it dry. The plates stick with their own adhesive, and nearly every adhesive failure is a surface that wasn't clean.
3. Screw the magnet to the wall The channel magnet has two threaded holes — that is what they are for. Level it, mark the two holes, and screw it on with the magnet face outward. Into a stud is ideal; anywhere else, use a wall anchor. Two small holes, the same as hanging a picture.
4. Peel and stick two steel plates on the tablet The adhesive is already on the back of them. Space them so both land on the magnet bar, and keep them away from the top edge of the tablet — more on that below.
5. Run a right-angle cable A 90° USB connector turns the instant it leaves the tablet, so the cable runs flat down the wall instead of poking out. This is the single part that makes the mount look built-in rather than improvised.
6. Hang it and test Snap it on and pull it off half a dozen times. If it sits crooked, peel one plate and move it — do this now while the adhesive is fresh.

Keeping it charged without killing the battery

A tablet that lives on the wall is plugged in permanently, and sitting at 100% all day every day is what wears a lithium battery out. Most tablets now have a battery saver or charge limit setting that stops at around 90% and holds there. Turn it on. It costs you nothing you'll notice and it's the difference between a dashboard that lasts years and one that puffs up in eighteen months.

For power, a USB charging wall switch is the tidy answer — it drops into the existing switch box, keeps the light switch working, and gives you two USB ports right where the tablet hangs. No visible brick, no extension lead.

See it on the wall

Questions people ask

The original build threads

This started as a few posts in the DIY and smart home communities. The comment threads are worth reading — people asked good questions and found uses I hadn't thought of.

• Hackaday.io — Tablet Magnet Wall Mount, low profile, under $5
  The full project writeup with the parts list.
• r/DIY — I built an on-wall magnetic tablet mount
• r/smarthome — On-wall magnetic tablet mount for $5
• r/googlehome — Always-on wall dashboard for my smart home
• r/hometheater — Always-charged AV control tablet
• r/ZigBee — Wall-mounted dashboard tablets that snap on and charge

What's running on the tablet

Mine runs READYWARE — a universal remote app that puts IR, RF, WiFi, Bluetooth and smart home devices on the same set of buttons, on the same screen. A wall tablet turns out to be a very good home for it: always on, always charged, always within reach of the room it controls. The mount works with whatever dashboard you prefer, but if you're wall-mounting a tablet to run your house, it's worth a look.