Help Automating app launch to pull the birds!

[HappyJoe]

I am hoping to automate the playing of an mp3 recording of bird calls twice a day to attract Swifts to some nest boxes. I have a small Duronics SPB2 Bluetooth speaker and an ageing Nexus 10 tablet to do this with. The only audio software on the tablet currently is the very basic ES Explorer audio player.

The idea is to leave the speaker on continuously, plugged in to the mains or a power pack, and have the Nexus' software play and pause the birdsong as needed.

I suspect that I'll need automation software and another more compliant player. I would be grateful for some software suggestions, preferably for something as simple to implement as possible! Of course, if you've actually done this, I'd love to hear your experiences and any 'hazard warnings' you may think I'll need!

HJ

 

[steiny180]

Have a look at IFTTT...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ifttt.ifttt&hl=en_US

 

[HappyJoe]

Thanks, Steiny. Looking at IFTTT right now. Ditto Tasker and Automate. I take it you have a little experience of this type of prog and maybe have noticed (unless it's just thick ol' me) that, although they are selling themselves as super-simple and easy, they are surprisingly opaque and someof them have very little well thought out documentation. Hell, IFTTT, probably the 'simplest' of them all, seems to be little more than a showcase for hardware vendors selling their products' extensiblility. Maybe I'm tired or getting old...

 

[svim]

Regarding Tasker, here's a tutorial that might help:
https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/...ow-to-automate-almost-anything-on-your-phone/
Yes, it's something of daunting project to come to grips with. Don't focus so much on the end result, but approach this one step at a time. Get comfortable just using the app, then create a task of your own doing something simple, like just playing that audio file of Swifts. Then set up an automated profile so it plays on a schedule twice a day.
Oh, and note that ES File Explorer is primarily a file manager app, it's intended function is file and folder management. Any multimedia functionality (i.e. viewing photos, playing audio/video files) is incidental with a very limited feature set.
Also, what version of Android is that Nexus 10 tablet currently running? Use an actual multimedia app instead, something more appropriate for this purpose (a lot of third-party media players already include a function like playing a file repeatedly so it just loops over and over).