Turn an Echo Show 5 into an HA display with voice & music using LineageOS

Amazon Echo Show 5 running the Dashie dashboard on LineageOS

The Amazon Echo Show 5 (2019) is a tidy little 5.5" touchscreen with a great speaker and microphone — and it can be found cheap secondhand. The catch is that out of the box it runs Amazon's locked-down Fire OS and only does what Alexa allows. Once you replace that with LineageOS, it becomes an ordinary Android device — and a genuinely great compact panel for Dashie: small footprint, always-on, and a mic and speaker already built in for "Hey Dashie" voice control.

This guide is in two parts:

Part 1 — Put LineageOS on the Echo Show 5. This is the hardware/firmware work, and it's done with excellent community-maintained guides that we link to below.
Part 2 — Install Dashie. Once LineageOS is running, getting Dashie on is the easy part — a couple of ADB commands.

This is an advanced project — read this first. Flashing LineageOS means unlocking the bootloader and replacing the firmware, which wipes the device and voids the warranty. Unlike a TV stick, this is not a quick, trivially reversible tweak — on some units the unlock requires opening the case and shorting test points, and a mistake can brick the device. Only do this on an Echo Show 5 you're willing to risk, and follow the community guides carefully. Dashie isn't involved in this part and can't recover a device damaged during flashing.

What you'll need

An Echo Show 5 1st generation (2019) — codename checkers. This guide is specific to that model. (The 2021 2nd-gen, codename cronos, has its own separate port — check the XDA forums if that's what you have.)
A computer (Mac, Windows, or Linux) with ADB and Fastboot installed — the Android "platform-tools". Grab it from developer.android.com, unzip it, and make sure adb and fastboot are on your PATH.
A USB data cable and a bit of patience.
WiFi credentials for the device — you'll connect it to your network after LineageOS is installed.

Part 1 Install LineageOS

The Echo Show 5 (2019) has a mature, well-documented LineageOS port thanks to the XDA community (much of it by developer bengris32). Rather than re-publish firmware steps that change over time — and that can brick a device if they're even slightly out of date — we point you to the authoritative threads. Follow them top to bottom.

1. Unlock the bootloader & install recovery (TWRP)

Start with the unlock/root/recovery thread for the 2019 model. It walks through unlocking the bootloader and flashing TWRP, and includes unbrick instructions if something goes sideways: [UNLOCK][ROOT][TWRP][UNBRICK] Amazon Echo Show 5 1st Gen — 2019 (checkers).

2. Flash the LineageOS ROM

Then flash the LineageOS build for checkers from the ROM thread: [ROM][UNOFFICIAL][11][checkers] LineageOS 18.1 for the Amazon Echo Show 5 (2019). You typically copy the ROM ZIP to the device and install it from TWRP.

Do you need Google Play? No — Dashie is sideloaded directly (Part 2), so a plain LineageOS install with no Google apps is perfectly fine. If you'd also like the Play Store or Alexa-style clock behavior on the device, there are optional community add-on guides on XDA, but they're not required for Dashie.

When you're done with Part 1, the device should boot into LineageOS and connect to your WiFi like any other Android tablet. Now for the easy part.

Part 2 Install Dashie

With LineageOS running, Dashie installs just like on any Android device. We'll turn on USB debugging and sideload the app over ADB.

1. Enable USB debugging on LineageOS

Turn on Developer options

On the device, go to Settings → About phone (or About tablet) and tap "Build number" seven times. You'll see a "You are now a developer" message.

Turn on USB debugging

Go to Settings → System → Developer options and toggle USB debugging ON. Plug the Echo Show 5 into your computer with a USB cable, and tap "Allow" on the "Allow USB debugging?" prompt that appears on the device.

2. Sideload the Dashie app

From a terminal on your computer (Terminal on Mac/Linux, PowerShell on Windows), confirm the device is connected, then install the self-updating Dashie build:

# Confirm the Echo Show 5 shows up
adb devices

# Download the self-updating Dashie app, then install it
curl -fsSL https://heydashie.com/downloads/Dashie-sideload-beta.apk -o Dashie.apk
adb install -r Dashie.apk

That's it — Dashie now appears in the LineageOS app launcher. The full sideloading walkthrough (including Windows tips and troubleshooting) is in the Android Sideloading guide if you hit any snags; the same ADB steps apply here.

Self-updating build. The sideloaded APK updates itself automatically, so you don't need an app store on the device to stay current.

Bonus Make it a dedicated display

Want the Echo Show 5 to boot straight into Dashie with no LineageOS home screen in the way? Set Dashie as the home (launcher) app over ADB:

adb shell cmd package set-home-activity com.dashieapp.Dashie/.MainActivity

Reboot and the device comes up directly in Dashie. To get back to system Settings (for example, to change WiFi), hold the BACK gesture / button for about 2 seconds anywhere in Dashie — that's your escape hatch. To undo it, pick a different launcher under Settings → Apps → Default apps → Home app.

A note on horsepower. The Echo Show 5 (2019) has only about 1 GB of RAM. It's great for a focused dashboard — calendar, photos, weather, and "Hey Dashie" voice — but it's not the device for a heavy, many-widget Home Assistant dashboard with camera feeds. Keep the layout lean and it runs smoothly.

Two hardware quirks on LineageOS. A couple of things don't carry over from Fire OS:

The front camera doesn't work. The Echo Show 5's camera isn't supported under the LineageOS port, so don't plan on using it for video.
You'll need to manage screen wake yourself. Without Amazon's firmware there's no built-in proximity/presence wake, so the display won't turn on and off on its own. Use a sleep timer to dim or blank the screen on a schedule, and/or wire up the device's ambient light sensor to wake it — otherwise the panel stays on 24/7.

Voice control

The Echo Show 5's built-in microphone and speaker make it a natural fit for hands-free use — no USB mic or OTG adapter required. Pair it with Home Assistant's voice pipeline (Whisper for speech-to-text) to drive the dashboard with "Hey Dashie". See the Voice Control guide for the Home Assistant side.

Support and feedback

We're here to help and we love hearing how people are using Dashie — an Echo Show 5 reborn as a Dashie panel is one of our favorites. Reach out at support@dashieapp.com or through the website and we'll get back to you quickly.