So as some of you may know there is an app for android called Tasker and it is by far the most powerful app out to date.
"Tasker is an application for Android which performs Tasks (sets of Actions) based on Contexts (application, time, date, location, event, gesture) in user-defined Profiles, or in clickable or timer home screen widgets.
This simple concept profoundly extends your control of your Android device and it's capabilities, without the need for 'root' or a special home screen"
As powerful and amazing as this app is, it's pretty hard to use unless your very tech savvy and I have been searching the Net for some how-to guides but their doesn't seem to be much out there. So I wanted to create this thread and have people post their own little tips/mods that they have set-up with Tasker so that newbies such as my-self can have a place to go if they need help getting Tasker to perform certain functions.
I just download the app last night and haven't had much time to mess with it yet, but once I get the hang of it I will start posting what I'm doing.
Anybody that uses Tasker please feel free to add on to the thread and lets make this the ultimate "How-to" guide for people trying to unlock the full potential of this amazing app.
How long did it take you to develop this app?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
firemedic1343 said:
How long did it take you to develop this app?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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@OP, one that I made that I find useful scans the SD card for new media whenever it's mounted.
PROFILE:
Event - Card Mounted (Priority: Normal, Card Title: <blank>, Frequency: 1)
Task - Media -> Scan Card
Task - Alert -> Flash (Text: Scanning for new media..., Long: <unchecked>, If: <unchecked>)
This one turns off the lockscreen when using Music or Pandora (you have to make two separate profiles!)
PROFILE:
Application - Music/Pandora
Task - Display -> Keyguard (Set: Off, If: <unchecked>)
I also spent a lot of time developing a task that would turn airplane mode on for 45 minutes, turn it off for 15 minutes, then turn it back on and repeat until stopped. Everything works except Tasker stops all timers when the phone sleeps, so unless I want to put a partial wake-lock on it (which would defeat the whole battery-saving purpose of the profile in the first place), it doesn't work
Gregalous said:
@OP, one that I made that I find useful scans the SD card for new media whenever it's mounted.
PROFILE:
Event - Card Mounted (Priority: Normal, Card Title: <blank>, Frequency: 1)
Task - Media -> Scan Card
Task - Alert -> Flash (Text: Scanning for new media..., Long: <unchecked>, If: <unchecked>)
This one turns off the lockscreen when using Music or Pandora (you have to make two separate profiles!)
PROFILE:
Application - Music/Pandora
Task - Display -> Keyguard (Set: Off, If: <unchecked>)
I also spent a lot of time developing a task that would turn airplane mode on for 45 minutes, turn it off for 15 minutes, then turn it back on and repeat until stopped. Everything works except Tasker stops all timers when the phone sleeps, so unless I want to put a partial wake-lock on it (which would defeat the whole battery-saving purpose of the profile in the first place), it doesn't work
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Both setups seem very useful, ima check them out. Thanks for the input!
About the one you can't get to work. I'm pretty sure I actually saw something similar to it the other day on another website, not 100% sure though. I think it was a profile that allowed you to basically turn off all of you're data and have it come back on for a short period of time to gather texts and stuff...
Ima going to look for it for you to see if i can find it...
In the mean time I found a few useful profiles here http://lifehacker.com/5606284/three-handy-tasker-profiles-from-our-readers
I would post them but theres actually quite a bit if you look in the comments and the post itself.
Once I think of something "original" i'll post it
You also might want to check the official Tasker pages. There is also a Wiki with step-throughs (link on left side of main page).
http://tasker.dinglisch.net/
This is the only app I have been able to find that will let you remotely turn the GPS on. IMO that alone was worth the money, now I don't have to waste time writing an app for it.
I've been working on something to activate the GPS and send the phone's location, available wifi networks, etc, over a text message. Haven't figure out how to make it update the GPS location or turn on 3G yet though. Anyone know anything about android bridge scripts and if they would be able to do this?
Vegasden said:
You also might want to check the official Tasker pages. There is also a Wiki with step-throughs (link on left side of main page).
http://tasker.dinglisch.net/
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Wow. thanks a lot for the link. i have been looking for some sort of wiki or help for tasker for a while now but apparently I wasn't looking in rite places.
Thanks again.
Also, Mobile Defense, if installed in system apps allows you to remotely turn on gps and track your phone, however, they have temporarily closed down the beta. I've always had it on my android phones and it's pretty amazing. Much better than lookout for tracking your device.
tasker is a great app. i use it on a dialy basis. save so much battery life
SiL3nTKiLL said:
tasker is a great app. i use it on a dialy basis. save so much battery life
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What works for you? Some example scripts please please. thanks.
Here is more info on tasker setup.
I tried some of these and they worked great.
http://lifehacker.com/5601133/push-...d-to-awesome-heights-with-these-tasker-setups
http://lifehacker.com/5599116/how-to-turn-your-android-phone-into-a-fully+automated-superphone
maps to start gps and gps logger
hi everyone,
i'd like to start maps, and have:
- Gps turned on
and
-an app called GpsLogger to start.
The problem i get is that, once Gps is turned on and GpsLogger is opened, if i get back to Maps by long-pressing the home button the whole automation starts again, leading me to GpsLogger again..
Could anyone help please?
Thanks!
I downloaded Tasker the other day to accomplish one thing only. I wanted my wife to be able to get through to me whenever she called me. I work shift work so my phone is set to Silent at odd times when I am resting, so the various dings and rings don't interrupt my sleep. Fearful of her not being able to get a hold of me in an emergency, I set this up:
Profile: Priority Call (named by me)
Context: Incoming Call - Very simply, I used the magnifying glass to select her contact from my phone, and it input her name in the box.
Task: Silent Mode - Mode set to OFF
This profile checks all incoming calls and then turns Silent Mode OFF and allows the call to ring through. When the call is done, the phone returns to Silent Mode. NOTE: I also had to set up a separate task to turn the phone to silent in the first place. For some reason, Tasker would not recognize the phone as being in "Silent Mode" if I used the volume down button to put it in silent mode. So I just added a shortcut to the Tasker task of putting the phone to silent on my homescreen. Now when I go to bed, I hit the shortcut and I am able to be undisturbed until I wake again, unless my wife calls. I could see this being very useful for people with teenagers that are out or babysitters with children.
This task can also be useful if you sleep at defined hours, because you can set the phone to automatically turn to silent at X hour, and turn silent mode off at X hour. Just some ideas.
I am now searching for ways to completely automate the phone by making it turn on my GPS and Bluetooth when I am away from home, as well as turn these off and turn my wifi on when I am at home. Several attempts with no knowledge of this app have been unsuccessful so far. More to follow.
Robert
OnDutyTactical said:
I downloaded Tasker the other day to accomplish one thing only. I wanted my wife to be able to get through to me whenever she called me. I work shift work so my phone is set to Silent at odd times when I am resting, so the various dings and rings don't interrupt my sleep. Fearful of her not being able to get a hold of me in an emergency, I set this up:
Profile: Priority Call (named by me)
Context: Incoming Call - Very simply, I used the magnifying glass to select her contact from my phone, and it input her name in the box.
Task: Silent Mode - Mode set to OFF
This profile checks all incoming calls and then turns Silent Mode OFF and allows the call to ring through. When the call is done, the phone returns to Silent Mode. NOTE: I also had to set up a separate task to turn the phone to silent in the first place. For some reason, Tasker would not recognize the phone as being in "Silent Mode" if I used the volume down button to put it in silent mode. So I just added a shortcut to the Tasker task of putting the phone to silent on my homescreen. Now when I go to bed, I hit the shortcut and I am able to be undisturbed until I wake again, unless my wife calls. I could see this being very useful for people with teenagers that are out or babysitters with children.
This task can also be useful if you sleep at defined hours, because you can set the phone to automatically turn to silent at X hour, and turn silent mode off at X hour. Just some ideas.
I am now searching for ways to completely automate the phone by making it turn on my GPS and Bluetooth when I am away from home, as well as turn these off and turn my wifi on when I am at home. Several attempts with no knowledge of this app have been unsuccessful so far. More to follow.
Robert
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Here you go...
These two pages on the Tasker Wiki will show you how to do a lot of what you want, and even find stuff you didn't know you needed.
http://tasker.wikidot.com/profile-index
http://tasker.wikidot.com/step-throughs
Hi.
Since coming from android I've been a frequent user of apps who lets the phone change it's settings due to specific triggers, like turning silent at night and loud in the morning, turning silent when a certain calendar happening occurs, turning of wifi when leaving home etc.
Is there anything like this for using along with windows phone?
Thanks in advance
Pemell
Actually, (some of) this is theoretically possible, but nobody has done it so far. It's also not going to be allowed on the Marketplace; you'd need to use some unofficial APIs.
For example, the DllImport Project already has shown the ability to control the phone's volume. Programmatically muting the phone at a certain time, for example one minute after a meeting is supposed to start, should be pretty easy.
The trick would be to make sure the phone also un-mutes it when the meeting ends. WP7 doesn't (officially) allow third-party software to run continuously in the background, and while you can schedule a time for the software to run, it make no guarantee ot to-the-minute accuracy. There are ways around the official restrictions, but most of them have serious battery-life considerations (although telling the process to sleep for the next 30 minutes * 60 seconds * 1000 miliseconds would probably work without draining battery). Additionally, I'm not sure how much access apps officially have to calendar data, although on interop-unlocked or full-unlocked phones there are varius ways to access that data.
For things other than volume control, like enabling or disabling WiFi (almost completely unneccessary on WP7, the WiFi power management is, if anything, too conservative already) you'd need to find the place in the OS that controls it. Probably just sending SetDevicePower to the Wifi driver would work to disable it, though I don't know if that would show up correctly in the UI.
The only thing I miss from my note 2 on my Nexus 5 is the highly convoluted Tasker task that I wrote that automates the turning on of Samsung's blocking mode in conjunction with me setting a Gentle Alarm alarm time and canceling blocking mode when I turn off the alarm in the morning. Is there any app that works on the Nexus 5 that lets me at least block notifications to the phone during certain hours but allows me to make exceptions for certain contacts, like if there was a family emergency. I'm not even worried about about Tasker integration at this point.
I use Nights Keeper
Want apps to require "permission" to run in background/wakeup/notify (off by default)
Hello, I don't understand why this hasn't simply been included in Android from the beginning, but rather than changing the "Developer Options" setting "Don't keep activities" to on, why can't I require apps that I install to need permission before they can stay on in the background when I exit them?
I understand that leaving them in the background means they can load up quicker next time, but I want the default behavior of apps to be that they can't run in the background, don't "phone home" and don't generate notifications unless I specifically change that behavior to be on.
It is so extremely frustrating that Android doesn't come this way out of the box, and I know I could use Greenify, but I've heard so many people say they don't like Greenify, or it causes problems?
Why can't we just make it so Apps have to ask first, before they're allowed to run at startup, or run like a service in the background, rather than make users simply accept that they will do so as a condition of installing them, because that's how the developer wants it?
Any app like Facebook, or a game, should have to popup a dialog and be given permission from the user, before it can sit in the background checking for updates, or popping up notifications. The setting should also need an additional permission granted to do so while the screen is off.
We shouldn't have to root our phones and install Xposed to download modules from un "trusted" sources just to stop third party apps from draining our battery when our phones are in our pockets. It should be a simple thing, easy for the average user, to know that when the screen is off and the phone is put away that it's using minimal battery and the ONLY things that will wakeup the phone are calls/messages/things that the user deems as important enough to do so.
"Inactive Apps"
Wow - it looks like my prayers were partially answered already and I just didn't know yet.
The Developer Options "Inactive Apps" looks like it partially addresses my concerns about how difficult it is for users to have control over what runs in the background on their own devices.
Now all that's missing is finer control - I'd like to use Google Now and let Google ping my location occasionally, just not while the screen is off and the phone is running on battery. I'm not quite up to the task of using Tasker to make it so.
I wonder, should I still try using Servicely and/or Amplify in Android 6.0.1? it seems like Inactive Apps has pretty much obsoleted Greenify?
Hello,
All is in the topic, I've got an app that starts automatically when my phone is powered on.
It is Aircall, an app I use for passing and receiving calls at work.
I would like this app not to start automatically each time I power on the phone.
Is there a setting for disabling some apps to autostart ? Or an app you can advise ?
Thanks for your help.
Check the app's preferences to see if there are options.
In the Android settings, go to Apps > See All > (your app. eg Air Call) > App battery usage and set it to 'restricted.' This will greatly restrict an app's ability to do many things in the background.
Other than that, you'd have to root your device to get any more control over the app using something like Servicely (Google Play Store), My Android Tools (apkmirror.com), Permission Manager X (fdroid), AppOppsX (fdroid), or Blocker (fdroid) to control the app's broadcast receivers. Apps can choose to respond to various phone states such as when a boot is completed, when network connectivity changes, power is connected/disconnected, etc. It can take some aggressive action to fully prevent an app from always running.
If you're just annoyed by a notification icon in your notification area you can always disable that app's notification so it doesn't appear.
I have tried all of these things to control apps but if apps use a lot of various broadcast receivers they will find ways to keep running. You may find stopping it to have unintended consequences. It being a work app, I'd consider simply disabling the app's notificaiton if it has a persistent notifcation or something. The next step would be to restrict the app as in 2. The most aggressive thing is to root and tinker with its broadcast receivers.
Hello jawz101,
Thank you very much for this very complete answer.
All your precise instructions are very interesting.
I'll have a look at all these solutions.
Thanks again.
I am not sure about straight forward solution. But I would like to use Greenify app. Add apps to it once and run it once everytime you restart your phone.