I've been using Tasker for a while now and I'm completely convinced that it was worth the money I paid for. Kudos to the people who created it.
If you've not tried it yet, you should try it now. They give a free trial if you download and install the apk from their website. If you want to buy it right away, you can find it on the Google Play. And don't back out on it's crappy UI, because what this app can do is going to stun you.
Disclaimer: This app is for advanced users. For geeks and nerds. For the curious bunch who can carry out step-throughs and feel the 'Eureka' moment.
In short, Tasker makes your smartphone a 'smart' phone. It is a powerful automation app that can save you some routine manual labor that you do every once in a while. You can tell Tasker to do some "if this then that" tasks on your phone. While what Tasker can do for you is bound only by your imagination, here is a list of some very simple Tasker profiles.
If you are at home, switch on wifi.
If you are sleeping, scale down data usage.
If battery is low, decrease the screen brightness.
If you open Maps or Navigation, turn on GPS.
If you plug in earphones, start the music app.
If you are driving, read new SMS for you.
These are some very basic things you can do with Tasker. If you explore further, you will realize that you can even create a complete RSS feed reader for yourself. In addition to the inherent power of Tasker, you can give a power-boost to Tasker with third party plugins to add extra features to the endless list of features that Tasker already provides. Trust me, this can replace a few apps if you can spend some time setting it up.
But let's stick to the basics for now. I will show you how to create a very simple profile on Tasker to get you familiar with the terms you find in Tasker.
If you plug in earphones then start the music app.
Well, I know it's lame as most music players already help you do this with one of their option. But the idea here is to get you familiar with the app. As you can clearly see it as one of those if-this-then-that task. Where this = you plug in your earphones and that = start the music app.
You need to know what are
You need to know what are
- Profiles
- Contexts
- Tasks
Profiles
One complete "if this then that" part makes one profile. Let's start by creating the first profile for you.
Step 1: Click on the green + button at the bottom center. Give a name to your profile. Say, "Start music app when headset plugged in." Press OK to see a window of context.
Contexts = this
Talking in the Tasker terms, the 'this' part is called a context. Context is the trigger, a condition that decides whether to execute or not the 'that' part. There are different type of contexts. Application, Time, Day, Location, State and Event contexts. For now let us concentrate on State contexts. State contexts are triggers that allows you to specify a particular state of your phone's hardware or state of an app that's installed on your phone. Here in this task, it is headset plugged in or not is a state. A hardware state.
Step 2: Select 'State' as context. Different states are categorized into different categories. Select 'Hardware'. Select 'Headset Plugged'. Select Type to be 'Any'.
Now you will be shown a dialog with all the Tasks you have.
Tasks = that
In Tasker terms, the 'that' part is called a Task. One task specifies a set of actions to be carried out. In your case loading the 'Music Player' app is a task.
Step 3: Start by selecting 'New Task'. Name the task something like 'Load Music App' and press OK.
You will be shown another dialog where you can Edit your tasks. This is where you specify the set of actions. For our current required profile, there is only one action. Load app.
Step 4: Press on the + button on bottom left of the dialog box.
Actions are again categorized.
Step 5: Select Category as App. Inside the category select 'Load app' as that's what your action is.
A list of all the apps that are present on your phone will be shown. It may take a while to collect that info. But not more than 2 to 3 seconds.
And finally, step 6: Select the Music app that you want to start when headset is plugged in. Leave all the other input fields like they were. Press Ok. Then you will see that action in your Task Edit dialog. At the bottom left there is a small triangular button like 'play' button. You can press it and see if your action's working. Press Ok.
And there you are. You've just created your first Tasker Profile. Now that you know the basics you can start experimenting around. The Tasker wiki has some great collection of profiles if you want to try out. Let me know in comments on what you built using Tasker.
Stay tuned for more Tasker profiles :)
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