Help Smart Actions - Best Practices

[cmatthaios]

Anyone know what happens when an Active rule's status goes to Ready? For example if Wifi is off and I have a rule when activated turns Wifi on does Wifi go back to off when the rule goes back to ready status? It makes sense that whatever the old status is would be restored once the rule becomes inactive or ready. In some cases it means there would be no change if the item being acted upon was already in the same state as the rule's setting.

If you have a trigger for Wi-Fi Connection, you must have Wifi enabled. If Wifi is disabled Wi-Fi connection will never see the wireless network. Wifi-Connection trigger does not diable/enable your wifi radio for you, it just simply looks for the specific WIFI networks you specify and connects to it.

 

[sycor]

Question, do triggers and actions have to be in a certain order. I have a Timeframe trigger for 6:35pm which is supposed to disable Cellular Data and enable WiFi and Turn on Background Sync. I have it set up in that order. I just noticed that Cellular Data is disabled and WiFi is on but the Sync didn't turn on. Any suggestions?

 

[AeroEngi]

Question, do triggers and actions have to be in a certain order. I have a Timeframe trigger for 6:35pm which is supposed to disable Cellular Data and enable WiFi and Turn on Background Sync. I have it set up in that order. I just noticed that Cellular Data is disabled and WiFi is on but the Sync didn't turn on. Any suggestions?

I was trying to do the same exact thing! I have a Smart Action to turn off background sync when the screen is off while on mobile data. I wanted to try and keep the background sync on when I switch to wifi and when the screen is off but I can't get the phone to do it.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Boghdoir]

I sometimes have to be available to my office 24/7. During those times I stress out about accidentally leaving my phone upstairs or something and missing a call from work. So I set up a rule that when I miss a call from the office #, it sends a text to my fiance (we live together) saying I missed a work call.
Its not fool proof but the chances of both of us not being near our phones are slim. Kinda cool.

 

[sycor]

Question, do triggers and actions have to be in a certain order. I have a Timeframe trigger for 6:35pm which is supposed to disable Cellular Data and enable WiFi and Turn on Background Sync. I have it set up in that order. I just noticed that Cellular Data is disabled and WiFi is on but the Sync didn't turn on. Any suggestions?

Ok I played with it a little more and the Smart Actions does indeed turn on the background sync. What it doesn't turn on is the Active Sync which is what the phone uses to grab your gmail etc. While not a huge deal, it would be much more convenient if it did that. I'm not even sure what the background sync does but so far it's nothing useful that I can tell.

 

[mzjin]

For me the whole point of this sort of thing is lost if I have to rigidly limit it to times. I don't know when or what days I go to the theater. I don't know exactly when I have to be at my office (I do a lot of traveling and meetings so I'm rarely there).

Smart Actions is completely useless here. It can't toggle 4G on and phone depending on whether screen is on or not.

 

[rushmore]

Seems the one glaring omission is no ability to activate 4G only when plugged in or in a 4G area. When in a 3G area, the device should only have CDMA radio active, but still.

Would be cool to be able to manipulate 3G/4G, rather than all data.

 

[pm1066]

Seems the one glaring omission is no ability to activate 4G only when plugged in or in a 4G area. When in a 3G area, the device should only have CDMA radio active, but still.

Would be cool to be able to manipulate 3G/4G, rather than all data.

Agreed. Would also be cool to be able to explicitly turn rules on or off with other rules.

Does Moto have a feedback program on this? I haven't bothered to look.

 

[rushmore]

Not sure. just started messing with it, but that is the key function I was looking for.

 

[jroc]

I use Smart Actions also as a one button setup for all things I need to enable/disable at one time. I also get to work and leave at different times so going by strict time frames doesnt work all the time.

So even tho its time related, if I set it for all day, either during the week or the weekends, I just enable the Actions for that setup, no matter the time frame. I do have some the I have work automatically. The ones that are time related to functions like data, Wifi and what not I only use one timeframe setting at a time. Stuff like trying to set my alarm, stays on all the time. So far this way works for me until either the app gets updated or I switch to something else like Tasker or Locale.

I wish ALL the volume would go up or down, not just the ringer. I also wish it was a way to have Wifi turn on when I got near the router. Like have it sleep and it wakes up when I'm near it, not just searching for a connection all day.

Smart Actions is what I wanted Profiles to be on the Droid X1. When I switch to a specific Profile, I wanted the phone to go completely silent and go into Airplane Mode. Switch to another profile, it goes back to 100% and comes out of Airplane Mode. I do appreciate that Moto shed light on this. Without Smart Actions, I woulda never even considered Tasker or Locale. Now I might give them a whirl to see if they do more of what I want as far as the volume and Wifi.

 

[scguy29464]

As a few people on here have mentioned... If Motorola were to make any changes to this app... I wish they would have a "Not Connected" option. Like if my phone was not connected to my home wireless, turn off wireless. If my phone was not connected to bluetooth, turn wireless on and data off. I understand that it will generally do these things, however, if it was just easier to trigger, rather than having 25 actions, hahah.

 

[milkshed27]

I agree with the last few posts. Motorola should have or should implement an option to shut off/sleep Wi-Fi at set user determined time if it has not connected to a network and an option to switch it back on as well. This would be similar to an option found on the Juice Defender app.

 

[budwizer]

I use Smart Actions also as a one button setup for all things I need to enable/disable at one time. I also get to work and leave at different times so going by strict time frames doesnt work all the time.

So even tho its time related, if I set it for all day, either during the week or the weekends, I just enable the Actions for that setup, no matter the time frame. I do have some the I have work automatically. The ones that are time related to functions like data, Wifi and what not I only use one timeframe setting at a time. Stuff like trying to set my alarm, stays on all the time. So far this way works for me until either the app gets updated or I switch to something else like Tasker or Locale.

I wish ALL the volume would go up or down, not just the ringer. I also wish it was a way to have Wifi turn on when I got near the router. Like have it sleep and it wakes up when I'm near it, not just searching for a connection all day.

Smart Actions is what I wanted Profiles to be on the Droid X1. When I switch to a specific Profile, I wanted the phone to go completely silent and go into Airplane Mode. Switch to another profile, it goes back to 100% and comes out of Airplane Mode. I do appreciate that Moto shed light on this. Without Smart Actions, I woulda never even considered Tasker or Locale. Now I might give them a whirl to see if they do more of what I want as far as the volume and Wifi.

If you are going to evaluate Tasker or Locale you may also want to check out Setting Profiles app. You can make the phone completely silent, airplane mode, etc. Also you can have NOT, AND, and OR rules which is very nice. For example I have a rule to turn my ringer on during working hours if date is Mon-Fri AND am connected to my home wifi. They have a lite (free version) for evaluation. I have ended up going back to using it until Moto provide more enhancements to Smart Actions.

 

[BullyDawg]

2. Here's what I do: As a basis, I have a 24/7 profile that has BlueTooth on, WiFi on, GPS off. For my home profile (based on connection to home WiFi), BlueTooth is turned off. When I leave my house to get in my car, it obviously disconnects the WiFi, which in turn, turns on BlueTooth automatically and then automatically connects to my car. I have a "Car" profile that says when connected to BlueTooth in car, turn on GPS, turn off WiFi. WiFi will remain off until you disconnect from the BlueTooth in your car (when it auto turns on because of the 24/7 profile). So, when I turn my car off to walk inside, BlueTooth turns back off because of the Home profile I have setup. I literally just did all this after reading these posts so I haven't tested battery life on it.

For the "visual" person, here are my profiles.
...
Hope that makes sense and helps.

UNCCMAN--

Thanks! I have tried using a default setting in the past with mixed results. I am going to try your 24/7 setting as my default.

Now that it's been a few days, are your other smart settings "playing nice" with your default setting? And how has your battery life been?

 

[AeroEngi]

I'm still trying to figure something out so any help would be appreciated. I have a Smart Action set up to disable background sync when my screen is off. What I wanna do is when I'm connected to wifi, I want the background sync to stay on regardless of whether or not the screen is off. I can't figure this out for some reason.

Thanks.

 

[pm1066]

I'm still trying to figure something out so any help would be appreciated. I have a Smart Action set up to disable background sync when my screen is off. What I wanna do is when I'm connected to wifi, I want the background sync to stay on regardless of whether or not the screen is off. I can't figure this out for some reason.

Thanks.

Anything I can do to help a fellow aero...

Have you tried setting the order of the two rules? I believe SA goes by order for precedence. So one rule shuting off sync followed by another that turns it back on under wifi should do it.

 

[jroc]

I'm still trying to figure something out so any help would be appreciated. I have a Smart Action set up to disable background sync when my screen is off. What I wanna do is when I'm connected to wifi, I want the background sync to stay on regardless of whether or not the screen is off. I can't figure this out for some reason.

Thanks.

Try making another Smart Action to keep background sync on when connected to Wifi. Dont know how it will play with the other SA you have for background sync tho.

Try making SA's with Wifi on, screen on and Wifi on screen off: background sync on. That might take precedence over just screen off, BG sync off.

We all need to do some experimenting....lol. What I wanna know is what SA takes precedence over another when its not time related, like what you're asking for? Is there a way to move SA to the top or bottom? Does that even matter?

 

[IDEAL41]

I'm still trying to figure something out so any help would be appreciated. I have a Smart Action set up to disable background sync when my screen is off. What I wanna do is when I'm connected to wifi, I want the background sync to stay on regardless of whether or not the screen is off. I can't figure this out for some reason.

Thanks.

have your original action trigger "screen off" and "wi-fi off" and the result "background synch off"....on your second action have the trigger "wifi on" and the result "synch on"...***don't put anything about screen on or off in the second action***...this will have the synch auto on whenever wifi is "on" but disabled when wifi and screen are both off...I use actions just like this.

 

[AeroEngi]

have your original action trigger "screen off" and "wi-fi off" and the result "background synch on"....on your second action have the trigger "wifi on" and the result "synch on"...***don't put anything about screen on or off in the second action***...this will have the synch auto on whenever wifi is "on" but disabled when wifi and screen are both off...I use actions just like this.

Thanks for the help but I don't think the RAZR has an option for a "wifi off" trigger.

 

[AeroEngi]

Anything I can do to help a fellow aero...

Have you tried setting the order of the two rules? I believe SA goes by order for precedence. So one rule shuting off sync followed by another that turns it back on under wifi should do it.

Thanks dude, much appreciated. I'm not sure how to change the order of precedence but I added a time trigger to my wifi smart actions to turn on background sync and hopefully that'll work.

Are you an aerospace engineer as well?

Try making another Smart Action to keep background sync on when connected to Wifi. Dont know how it will play with the other SA you have for background sync tho.

Try making SA's with Wifi on, screen on and Wifi on screen off: background sync on. That might take precedence over just screen off, BG sync off.

We all need to do some experimenting....lol. What I wanna know is what SA takes precedence over another when its not time related, like what you're asking for? Is there a way to move SA to the top or bottom? Does that even matter?

I will try the wifi on screen on and wifi on screen off thing. That might actually work.

I know what you're saying, I know smart actions takes into account order of precedence but I have no idea how to rearrange them to make them work the way I want.

Thanks for the help!

 

[pm1066]

Has anyone gotten a suggestion yet from smart actions?

Yes, I'm an AE. My good looks, charm, keen intellect and most of all humility make it hard to hide.

 

[AeroEngi]

Has anyone gotten a suggestion yet from smart actions?

Yes, I'm an AE. My good looks, charm, keen intellect and most of all humility make it hard to hide.

Haha! Awesome!!!

And to answer your question...I have not gotten a single suggestion from smart actions yet. I'm thinking I probably never will.

 

[IDEAL41]

Thanks for the help but I don't think the RAZR has an option for a "wifi off" trigger.

your right...I was sure there was something lke that...there should be

 

[tlhord]

pretty good. gonna give it a shot.

the problem with leaving wifi on all the time is that it's an extra drain on the battery throughout the day, so i was thinking of possibly using the wifi connection to my home network to be the trigger, and then just toggling on my the wifi radio on the phone when i walk in my front door, so it connects to my network, then the other actions kick on.

at this point, i'm overthinking it. gonna go tinker

Does leaving wifi on all the time drain the battery? I would think it would only be active if it's within range of one of the networks you have set up.

Maybe I'm wrong about this - does anyone know for sure?

 

[tlhord]

you could always do something similar to what i'm doing with wifi (see my above posts), where the trigger is somewhat manual... mine is turning on a wifi toggle, whereas yours could be toggling on GPS.

what i mean is: get in your car, toggle on GPS (that's your trigger) and your actions can be to launch navigation or maps, change your ringer, etc. so you'd have one tap (maybe two, since GPS widgets only take you to that setting and you have to tap it on from there) before you drop the phone in your car dock.

just a thought.

I'm trying to create a smart-action where when i turn on GPS, maps is launched. But "turning on GPS" isn't one of the trigger options when i go to create a rule.

What am i doing wrong? Sounds like some of you guys have this figured out - so I'm sure i'm just overlooking something.

Thanks!