Support a configurable landing page and optional URL-preserving page navigation

[PLUN2601]

Description

Problem

FlowFuse Dashboard currently uses Vue Router in HTML5 History mode.

Whenever the user navigates between Dashboard pages, the browser URL changes, e.g.

/dashboard/heating
/dashboard/lighting

This works well on desktop browsers.

However, on iOS/iPadOS (Safari / Home Screen Web App), every route change is interpreted as browser navigation. As a consequence:

• Safari displays the navigation bar ("Close", Back, Forward).
• The application no longer behaves like a native full-screen dashboard.
• When the Home Screen shortcut is created, iOS stores the current page URL instead of only /dashboard.
  Therefore the shortcut always opens the same dashboard page.

Requested features

1. Configurable landing page

Allow the Dashboard base URL

/dashboard

to open a configurable default page without permanently changing the visible URL.

This would allow users to change the default page later without recreating Home Screen shortcuts.

2. Optional URL-preserving navigation

Provide an optional navigation mode where switching between dashboard pages does not modify the browser URL.

Possible implementations could include:

• Hash routing (createWebHashHistory)
• Optional memory routing
• Configurable router mode
• Any other implementation that keeps /dashboard constant.

Benefit

This would significantly improve the user experience for:

• iPhone
• iPad
• kiosk installations
• dedicated wall tablets

while remaining fully backward compatible.

Have you provided an initial effort estimate for this issue?

I am no FlowFuse team member