• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

"Tasker" is a BEAST! (in a good way)

B

bostontom

Newbie
I haven't seen too many apps worth $.99 let alone $6, but tasker is unbelievable. Tasker's automation features really take your phone to the next level. Lifehacker did a great review:

How to Turn Your Android Phone into a Fully-Automated Superphone

Stuff I love:
Turn speaker phone on automatically when the phone is placed flat on its back.

Turn GPS on when foursquare or navigation is loaded, and GPS back off when they are closed, all automatically.

Phone goes on silent mode automatically when I place the phone flat on its front.
 
Could anyone get to the trial version on the market? When I went to download it, it only gave me the option to buy.
 
Wow that looks fantastic. I wonder if it has a setting to automatically connect my bluetooth Rokr in my car.

I'll be downloading and playing with it
 
I've been playing with it for a while. To get trial you have to go to the dev site. Some examples of what I have it doing:
Read text messages out loud when docked
Mute ringer when I am at work
Turn off media volume when I unplug a headset.

So many options to use.
 
I just got this app and am having trouble getting it to turn on GPS when I start up navigation. I want to get rid of that stupid "GPS is off" warning, and I don't want to have to turn it on and off. It seems it doesnt; recognize the intro screen for navigation as the program itself and doesn;t turn on GPS. Works fine for Google Maps, though.
 
closhedbb said:
I just got this app and am having trouble getting it to turn on GPS when I start up navigation. I want to get rid of that stupid "GPS is off" warning, and I don't want to have to turn it on and off. It seems it doesnt; recognize the intro screen for navigation as the program itself and doesn;t turn on GPS. Works fine for Google Maps, though.
Click to expand...

closhedbb, i haven't tried it yet but there is a way to add a tasker widget to the home screen i think. This widget will turn on gps BEFORE launching navigation. otherwise it will try to turn it on after launching it.

I got this app yesterday. Learning curve it a little tough but after just one day i am seeing the full potential. this app was worth every penny.
 
A few things I do with tasker:

* Music app started and volume set to full when headset/3.5mm jack plugged in. Back to the home screen when it's removed and volume reset to previous value.

* When the display is turned off for longer than 1 minute, enable pattern unlock. (this one has some battery implications)

* Whenever I connect to any Starbucks WiFi (attwifi), open the browser so I can get past the captive portal.

* I have a home screen widget/shortcut that will disable the unlock screen until pressed again, with notifications and vibration when it's activated.

This is hands down the best program on the Market right now. It's light years ahead of Locale and can even use Locale plugins! I suggest everyone check it out.
 
appleaj said:
On the website it says, "These versions should not be installed by Android Market users."

Any other way to get the trial, or should I just ignore this?

http://tasker.dinglisch.net/download.html
Click to expand...

It says "These versions should not be installed by users who have already installed the Android Market version."

It sounds to me like as long as you haven't installed it from the market first you are good to go.
 
8andsand said:
It says "These versions should not be installed by users who have already installed the Android Market version."

It sounds to me like as long as you haven't installed it from the market first you are good to go.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, weird. I wonder why the page I went to said Android Market Users. . . They must have changed that after e-mails or something.

Thanks
 
So I've been playing around with this for awhile, and I really like it. You can do so much stuff with it! I like how you can toggle settings depending on what applications are running (like turn GPS on for Maps, then back off after exiting). You can also adjust settings depending on phone states, such as charging or low battery. I would definitely recommend trying this out. I rarely ever buy applications, but I think I'll end up getting this after the trial period.
 
Played with it a bit tonight, and it seems very cool. It is a bit complex to learn, but the real deal breaker for me is that it is unable to automatically switch scenes for me (at least as far as I can find.) I have different scenes depending on where I am, and if I need to take out the phone to switch the scene, I can take the few seconds to manually change the volume settings and such.
 
Has anyone had luck with the location context? It seems each time I set one up, it randomly goes on and off when I'm in that location, which is not what I want, especially since it sends a text to my SO to let her know that I'm home, she doesn't need to receive it every time it re-activates the profile.

Also, how is tasker on battery life? Especially with the location contexts? I feel like activating the gps every 2 minutes would really drain the battery.
 
Okay, I officially love this program. I never kept BT on because of the battery drain, but now I have it programmed to turn on BT anytime I have an incoming call and turn back off once the call is terminated.

This means I don't have to remember or bother to turn on BT when I get in my car so I can receive calls hands free.

Google should buy this app off the guy who made it and incorporate its functionality into Android itself. That would give them a HUGE advantage over other mobile OS's.
 
I really like tasker, but it seems like a pretty difficult program to fully understand. Can someone help me out?

I want my phone to turn the ringer and notifications off to vibrate only while I am at work, and then turn them back on when I leave. How can I accomplish this? I seem to be able to make it work when I get to work, but how do I set a task for when I LEAVE a location?

Also, do location based items eat the battery? Seems like it would if it is turning the GPS on and off throughout the day.
 
VolsMcFalls said:
I really like tasker, but it seems like a pretty difficult program to fully understand. Can someone help me out?

I want my phone to turn the ringer and notifications off to vibrate only while I am at work, and then turn them back on when I leave. How can I accomplish this? I seem to be able to make it work when I get to work, but how do I set a task for when I LEAVE a location?

Also, do location based items eat the battery? Seems like it would if it is turning the GPS on and off throughout the day.
Click to expand...
In theory, any setting you change when entering a profile should be reverted when you exit that profile. Everything you mentioned above is a setting to Tasker, so you shouldn't need to actively change these things back.

What type of context are you using to tell Tasker you're at work?
 
kpantz said:
In theory, any setting you change when entering a profile should be reverted when you exit that profile. Everything you mentioned above is a setting to Tasker, so you shouldn't need to actively change these things back.

What type of context are you using to tell Tasker you're at work?
Click to expand...

I didn't realize the first part of your post. I will test it out.

I am using the location context. I chose it because my hours vary as do work days. Do you know if tasker constantly turns gps on and off to determine location?
 
VolsMcFalls said:
I didn't realize the first part of your post. I will test it out.

I am using the location context. I chose it because my hours vary as do work days. Do you know if tasker constantly turns gps on and off to determine location?
Click to expand...
Not sure about GPS - you can determine location from cell towers as well (the "Net" location flag), though it'll be less precise and if you lose signal at work (like I do), you may pop out of the profile more than you'd like. Still, it's less battery-intensive than GPS.

What I've done to identify being at work is use the "Wifi Near" context. Basically you can look for a certain Wifi access point (by SSID or MAC address) to determine whether you're at work. Further, you don't even need to have Wifi on to do this. Just make sure to set "Toggle Wifi" in the Wifi Near context and Tasker will periodically (every 2 min if phone is awake, every 10 min if screen is off) check for that Wifi AP.

Oh - and you don't need to be able to connect to the Wifi AP (I'm not allowed to at work) - you only need to be able to "see" it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom