Hi @dspringer,
This is an interesting scenario that I haven’t had a chance to experience yet. Based on some research, there’s no single layout size that works perfectly on both a 1920 desktop and an 11" iPad, and that’s a platform constraint rather than a configuration problem. Free-form is built around fixed pixel positioning; therefore, every visual is placed using explicit X/Y coordinates with set width and height values (Customizing visuals in a free-form layout). That’s why your 1024 resize looks passable on tablet but falls apart on desktop. There is no free-form responsive mode; the layout is, by design, optimized for a fixed width (AWS::QuickSight::Template LayoutConfiguration).
The only layout with built-in responsiveness I think is Tiled. According to the official documentation, on mobile devices in portrait mode tiled layout dashboards automatically collapse into a single vertical column, and in landscape they display exactly as designed (Types of Layout). Moreover, a past community post has also confirmed this behavior specifically for tablet and mobile use cases (Responsive Mobile Display – Community). The trade-off with the tiled approach is that you lose the ability to overlap visuals.
Another approach you can take is essentially create two sheets in your dashboard, one for desktop users and one for iPad users. The downside is that you would have to manage both views separately, but you would be able to have full control over the sizing for both views. Then if you wanted to take a step further, you could create a button with a navigation action that can allow viewers to switch between views.
Hope this helps!