When I first saw the Tasker app, it was advertised on the front page of the Google Play Store. The reviews were really good and I had some Play credit burning a hole in my phone. I parted ways with the $2.99 it cost and began my first steps into programming my Android phone to automate tasks for me.
At first look, it seemed very intimidating. I have never done any programming before but wanted to enhance my Android experience. This seemed like the perfect medium. GRANTED, if your phone is rooted, you can take more advantage of this app along with all the add ons available. For now, this is working for me and I know I have a lot of room to grow with it.
Some examples of what I have programmed into Tasker are things I need done that I might forget about doing. I always would put my phone on silence during the night so I don’t get woken up by some alert. The nights I forgot made for a very angry wife. With Tasker, I set a simple “If-Then” command. For instance, IF the time is between 7:00 pm & 6:00 am AND plugged in to a/c, THEN put the phone on mute. If not, put the volume on 100%. Having this task active, I will never forget to silence my phone. Having the added function of having the a/c plugged in as part of the IF makes sure it doesn’t go to silence if I am out of the house later then usual.
That is just a simple task that can be created. I have Tasker send text messages automatically to people for their birthday…incase I forget. I have some designed to keep the phone’s screen on while certain apps are open to avoid the device from falling asleep. I also have one where if a specific app is opened, it will take a picture using the front camera unbenounced to the user. That way I can see who has been peeping through my phone. This app is almost endless in what you can do with it. You can even get as specific as setting up macros to run out long strings of commands that you want automated.
A big thing with Android users is battery conservation. Why have apps and services running when you don’t need them. Set up a task to kill apps. Another big one is WiFi. Since your phone is always searching for cell towers anyway, I have a task to turn on my WiFi radio when I am near the towers by my home. When I am out of range of those towers, the WiFi radio turns off and save the use of the phone searching for wireless networks.
This is just the surface of what this app can do. I barely use the app to its full potential. I watched YouTube videos to get some of the basics down on how to setup tasks. There are some good resources out there that have pre-configured tasks setup that you can download and customize. As I mentioned earlier, you don’t need a rooted phone to use this but there are plenty of features built into Tasker that will be unlocked for use if you are. I recommend you to download this app and try it out. Why not have some things automated for you. It will give you that much more time to do more of the things you love to do…like reading posts on HaveAGeekasm.com!
