See your Umbrel's updates on your Tronbyt display

If you run an Umbrel home server, you’ll know the feeling: you open it for the first time in a few weeks and find half your apps are waiting to be updated. Umbrel Updates is a new app for Tronbyt pixel displays that tells you the moment there’s something to install, without you having to go and look.

What it shows

When there’s an update, the display shows how many are waiting, then scrolls through them: a new version of umbrelOS first, if there is one, then each app with its new version number. It covers apps from the official Umbrel App Store and from any community app stores you’ve added.

The rest of the time it stays out of the way: when everything is up to date, it simply skips its turn, so your display carries on showing your other apps. If you’d like reassurance that it’s working, you can switch that off and it will show a screen saying your apps are up to date. And if something’s wrong, such as an Umbrel it can’t reach, it tells you that too.

What’s a Tronbyt?

Tidbyt is a small LED pixel display that shows things like the time, the weather and your calendar. Tronbyt keeps Tidbyt and other compatible LED pixel displays going, with a server you run yourself and a community app store full of apps for your display. That’s where you’ll find Umbrel Updates.

What you need

• A pixel display that works with Tronbyt. An original Tidbyt works once you’ve installed Tronbyt’s firmware on it, or you can buy one made for Tronbyt, such as the Tronbyt S3 Dev Kit from PixoHardware: a wide 128×64 display that arrives with its firmware already installed.
• umbrelOS 2.0 or later. Earlier versions don’t have the update check the app uses.
• A Tronbyt server that can reach your Umbrel on your home network.

To set it up, add Umbrel Updates from your Tronbyt server’s app list and give it your Umbrel’s address and a device token, which you get once by signing in to your Umbrel from a computer on the same network. The instructions include a short script that does this for you. Your password only goes to your Umbrel and isn’t stored anywhere.

One thing worth knowing: umbrelOS doesn’t offer read-only access to its update check, so the token can do anything your Umbrel account can. Treat it like a password. It’s kept as a secret on your Tronbyt server and only ever sent to your Umbrel, and you can switch it off at any time by signing out the “Tronbyt display” session in your Umbrel’s settings.

Run Tronbyt on your Umbrel

If you don’t have a Tronbyt server yet, you can run one on the Umbrel itself. My saltedlolly App Store for Umbrel includes Tronbyt, so your display doesn’t depend on anyone else’s servers. To add the store, open the App Store on your Umbrel, click ••• at the top right, then Community App Stores, paste https://github.com/saltedlolly/umbrel-app-store and click Add.

Support my work

Umbrel Updates is free, like all my apps for Umbrel and Tronbyt, and I build them in my spare time. If you find them useful, please consider sponsoring me on GitHub or buying me a coffee on Ko-fi. It helps me keep them updated and make new ones. More ways to support my work →

Umbrel Updates is an independent project, not made or endorsed by Umbrel. Community app stores aren't official Umbrel services: please back up your data and test any app before relying on it.