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How can we launch more than 1 app at the same time, pls?

T

Tristan Raghnall

Member
I don't know if this is a feature than is invoked specific to a phone, like my Nexus 4, or if this would go in a general forum, so just posting here and mod(s) may kindly move to most appropriate spot as has been done in the past (much appreciated!). I have certain tasks that require several apps be launched at the same time that is turning out to be a pain to do manually (esp. since on the phone, it's a bit more cumbersome than, say, a PC to see all running applications). For example, I'm trying to bring back forgotten French by reading a French eBook out loud. For that, I need to launch the eReader, a notepad page (where I am keeping new words with their translations in) and 3 Fre->Eng dictionary programs. The last is because I'm reading "Les Mis
 
Drat, thanks for the info but it's not free to try at all . Is there any other solution, preferably a freeware one? I prefer freeware, if at all possible, or at least an app with some restrictions but that works so that I can test it out properly. I was burned way back when buying applications for Windows and then finding they didn't do what I needed. Thanks.
 
Tristan Raghnall said:
Drat, thanks for the info but it's not free to try at all . Is there any other solution, preferably a freeware one? I prefer freeware, if at all possible, or at least an app with some restrictions but that works so that I can test it out properly. I was burned way back when buying applications for Windows and then finding they didn't do what I needed. Thanks.
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Seriously? It's $2.99, not $29.99, and is considered one of the "must have" root applications by most major Android news groups... but then again, I have had every Android I have owned for 4+ years rooted and never used it. :)

Anyway, I don't know of anyway to do this for free automatically... I would jump over to the forums for Tasker and ask, I would think you would get your answer fairly quickly, the app has a very large following.
 
I haven't looked into it, but at the very least, you can put shortcuts into a folder on the homescreen (drag one shortcut onto another one). Hopefully your apps don't have splashscreens or long loading times. Launching from the shortcut can be nearly as quick as switching to an app that's already open, and you'd only have to do it once for each app.
 
Hi Tristan,

Llama is another popular automation app. It may be easier to configure than Tasker, and it's also free. I'd suggest giving it a try to see if you can create a shortcut similar to what you're after. :thumbup:

You could also try an app like Switchr or Sidebar, which make it easy to launch favorite apps without having to return to the homescreen.
 
acejavelin said:
Seriously? It's $2.99, not $29.99, and is considered one of the "must have" root applications by most major Android news groups... but then again, I have had every Android I have owned for 4+ years rooted and never used it. :)

Anyway, I don't know of anyway to do this for free automatically... I would jump over to the forums for Tasker and ask, I would think you would get your answer fairly quickly, the app has a very large following.
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Thanks but it doesn't matter if it's $29.99 or $2.99, I don't buy things without trying first. Just a smart thing to do. <g>
 
OhSeven said:
I haven't looked into it, but at the very least, you can put shortcuts into a folder on the homescreen (drag one shortcut onto another one). Hopefully your apps don't have splashscreens or long loading times. Launching from the shortcut can be nearly as quick as switching to an app that's already open, and you'd only have to do it once for each app.
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Thanks, I did try this but it doesn't net me any gains at all in efficiency. I already downloaded a launcher that I use pretty much over the stock launcher - and I organized all my apps on it very nicely. But it, too, doesn't seem to be able to launch multiple apps or have other types of automation, either, that I can see. But no gains in putting multiple shortcuts on the main screens of my Nexus as this doesn't do more than having them separate or on the launcher app. Now if they would only launch in sequence by pushing the group once .... but, no. They don't work that way, it seems.

It would be nice to have the type of automation I do via a scripting language on my Windows PC. With one click, I can do a variety of tasks all with 1 button.

This type of functionality would be even more important with my Nexus 4 that doesn't have any sort of taskbar. You have to keep 'minimizing' and 'maximizing' screens when launching multiple apps.

When I'm doing my french reading, that means the e-reader, the 3 dictionaries and the app I have where I'm collecting the new words and their definitions. Considering I only have a few minutes at a time to do this at any given moment and that I now consistently read 3 times a day, it's become a hassle to fritz around before I can even begin to read. If I had a one-button click to launch everything and then could get immediately down to the business of reading, that would be awesome.

The answer is out there but just have to find it.

Thx.
 
codesplice said:
Hi Tristan,

Llama is another popular automation app. It may be easier to configure than Tasker, and it's also free. I'd suggest giving it a try to see if you can create a shortcut similar to what you're after. :thumbup:

You could also try an app like Switchr or Sidebar, which make it easy to launch favorite apps without having to return to the homescreen.
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Hi, there! Thanks for the info.

The link above to Llama led me to "Llama Location Profiles" which doesn't seem to be an automation app. It talks about being location-aware, which some might think of as being soem form of automation, but it seems to be something you'd use for changing sound profiles according ot where you are, that type of thing. Not app automation in the sense I'm looking for where we're looking for scripting of repetitive tasks.

Switchr seems interesting but it just seems to be another type of launcher app. Not quite a scripting or automation thing at all, just another platform/app to launch your apps from which I already have.

Same with sidebar.

A scripting language of some kind, an Android batch file language or something, seems ideal. Something that can replace a bunch of keystrokes and button pushes.

Well, will keep looking. There has to be something, somewhere - it's just to find it.

Thanks!
 
Tristan Raghnall said:
Hi, there! Thanks for the info.


A scripting language of some kind, an Android batch file language or something, seems ideal. Something that can replace a bunch of keystrokes and button pushes.

Well, will keep looking. There has to be something, somewhere - it's just to find it.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Again, this is beyond my level of knowledge but here's a start.

Shell scripts (.sh) are similar to batch files, and may be able to do what you want. The problem is I've never just run a script like you would a batch file via the GUI. A quick search suggests they need to be run from a terminal. Here's info about a command of interest (note, "adb" is used when running a terminal from a computer connected to an android):

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/android-developers/ur33XNeFCDY/rqFqVj6n8MYJ

Good luck!
 
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