Tasker Profiles

[Vance14]

Interesting. Well, obviously if you don't need it, don't use it. But it seems strange to me. You don't mind being awaken in the night by a notification for a junk email? There aren't any times when you want your ringer silent (work, asleep, church) or extra loud (at home when phone may be in a different room, out and about when there are masking sounds like crowd noise or road noise)? Do you ever miss calls because you turned the ringer silent and then forgot to set it audible again?

I use Gentle Alarm, which controls all of my nighttime functions when it is being used as a night-table clock, including options for silencing, etc.

And, sure there are other times when I want to mute my phone or make it louder, but not a regular event by time or place, so automating doesn't help me. And really, the only time I mute is in a movie theater and meetings, which are random events.

I have no problems with my battery life, so leaving wifi turned on doesn't bother me, and I have a toggle for brightness. And I never use bluetooth for anything. And I don't use any type of lock on my phone.

And, when I get in my car, sometimes I listen to podcasts, sometimes to Rdio, sometimes to nothing at all, so I can't think what automation would help me there, either.

I guess I use my phone pretty much the same way everywhere, and when there are differences they don't seem to fit any pattern that can be tied to a time or place. That is too bad, really, since I like the tinkering nature of Tasker as an idea.

 

[joncat84]

I use Gentle Alarm, which controls all of my nighttime functions when it is being used as a night-table clock, including options for silencing, etc.

And, sure there are other times when I want to mute my phone or make it louder, but not a regular event by time or place, so automating doesn't help me. And really, the only time I mute is in a movie theater and meetings, which are random events.

I have no problems with my battery life, so leaving wifi turned on doesn't bother me, and I have a toggle for brightness. And I never use bluetooth for anything. And I don't use any type of lock on my phone.

And, when I get in my car, sometimes I listen to podcasts, sometimes to Rdio, sometimes to nothing at all, so I can't think what automation would help me there, either.

I guess I use my phone pretty much the same way everywhere, and when there are differences they don't seem to fit any pattern that can be tied to a time or place. That is too bad, really, since I like the tinkering nature of Tasker as an idea.

When you listen to things in your car so you use an aux cable? If so you can make a profile that lauches a popup that gives you options as to what to lauch. It times out after a set amount of time. So if you dont pick anything then it disappears. Mine popups with power amp, pandora, tinyshark and phone. Extremely handy.

 

[Vance14]

When you listen to things in your car so you use an aux cable? If so you can make a profile that lauches a popup that gives you options as to what to lauch. It times out after a set amount of time. So if you dont pick anything then it disappears. Mine popups with power amp, pandora, tinyshark and phone. Extremely handy.

Yes, that could be useful, but I have widgets to my audio apps right on my primary homescreen, so they are right there like the pop up. But that does sound cool to have anyway!

 

[clicq0]

A few profiles I use with tasker:

1. At work (using network location context) -- automatically sets my phone to vibrate when I get to work
2. At home (network location) -- switches my phone out of vibrate (otherwise, I'll forget and miss calls!)
3. Night (time based) -- sets my phone to vibrate
4. Important calls -- if the phone is in the night profile, it switches the phone out of vibrate and turns the volume up if people in a list call me. This way an important call will wake me up.
5. Bluetooth music -- when my bluetooth music headset is connected, start my preferred music player (rocketplayer). If I don't start the app, the controls on my bluetooth control the stock google music app.
6. Headphones -- when I plug in headphones, it sets the volume to a sane level (why ICS doesn't have separated volumes for the speaker and headphones I have no idea...)

How do you get tasker to replay audio events via the media stream?

 

[mysterx]

How do you get tasker to replay audio events via the media stream?

In short, a lot of trial and error. Basically, when headphones are connected, I turn down the audio levels for notifications/ringer streams. So, the normal sound events for these streams are completely muted when headphones are connected. But I still wanted to hear these sounds through my headphones. My solution to that problem was to re-create the sounds using the Tasker event system, like incoming call -> play sound on media stream. Or, incoming text message, play sound on media stream. It took me an afternoon of trying things. One challenge was making the sound stopped playing after I answered a call. Tasker has a tremendous event structure to script these actions. And as a software developer by trade, I guess it just makes sense to me. I use K9 for email, and Tasker happened to have that as a 3rd party event option. I wish Tasker had a 3rd party event for IM+ inbound messages.

In the end, I'm mostly happy with the solution I have, but the real fix would be for Google to include an option in the sound settings to truly silence the external speaker when headphones are connected, while still allowing all streams to play through the headphones. I thought about building an app that would do this, and I looked through the Android API for methods that might serve my needs. But in the end, I'm a noob at Java development (by trade I'm a MS .Net developer), and Tasker offered what I needed.

-me

 

[ScooberJake]

I use Gentle Alarm, which controls all of my nighttime functions when it is being used as a night-table clock, including options for silencing, etc.

And, sure there are other times when I want to mute my phone or make it louder, but not a regular event by time or place, so automating doesn't help me. And really, the only time I mute is in a movie theater and meetings, which are random events.

I have no problems with my battery life, so leaving wifi turned on doesn't bother me, and I have a toggle for brightness. And I never use bluetooth for anything. And I don't use any type of lock on my phone.

And, when I get in my car, sometimes I listen to podcasts, sometimes to Rdio, sometimes to nothing at all, so I can't think what automation would help me there, either.

I guess I use my phone pretty much the same way everywhere, and when there are differences they don't seem to fit any pattern that can be tied to a time or place. That is too bad, really, since I like the tinkering nature of Tasker as an idea.

Like I said, not trying to convince you to use it. If it isn't for you, no big deal. But you say that you think you would like to tinker with it. So here are some thoughts.

Someone already mentioned the pop-up menu for audio options in the car. Sure, you may already have a widget on your home screen for stuff like that. But if it already opens the options when you plug in the cable (or connect to bluetooth, or whatever) then you only have to click on what you want rather than turning on the screen, unlocking, opening the widget, then clicking on what you want. Saves two or three clicks/actions. I guess it's not really a big deal, but I'm big on automation and efficiency, so I find it very satisfying when the phone does exactly what I want it to on it's own.

I also set other things in the car, like speakerphone on. One less thing to press when taking a call, especially important in the car. I also launch my car home app automatically in the car mount and turn on GPS. So I can easily take an incoming call, pull up a map, etc. Plus the phone reads aloud any incoming text messages so I don't have to take my eyes off the road. Also auto-responds to let the texter know I am driving. These are all things that I think would help make anyone's driving experience more safe and enjoyable.

I use Gentle Alarm as well. Great app. But I handle all of the volume options with Tasker. Way more control.

Movies and meetings may happen at random times, but they probably do not happen at random places. You can set a location at your local movie theater to automatically silence the phone (and give you a little vib to let you know it did it). Even if your meeting locations and times are both random, you could still do something like put the phone into silent mode when placed face down (a lot of people like that one though I don't use it). Just put the phone face down on the table and you know it is silenced. No need to turn the screen on, unlock, set to silent. Maybe not a big deal, but it is nice to not have to do that right at the start of a meeting (which can be distracting/imply a lack of interest).

Just some stuff to try if you want to get into it. If nothing else, I think it is pretty fun to tinker with.

 

[Vance14]

Jake, those are definitely some good ideas, and I think I will get it just to mess around with stuff like that!

 

[Turkey01]

Can anyone tell me how to set Tasker to:

When home, make a call checking minutes then hang up. My issue right now (hopefully corrected by next software release) is once I get home (3G) area I don't get phone calls. All I need to do, once home is make a call to anyone or thing and then everything works fine. This has never been an issue for me in the past, I moved from a Droid X to Bionic now Galaxy Nexus 4 weeks ago and noticed this issue. Please don't suggest contacting Verizon I'm on phone number 4 after upgrading 4 weeks ago. First two were Droid Bionic one with same issue and now on second Nexus this one also with receiving call issue

Thanks

 

[TabGuy]

I have a question about Tasker regarding sending messages. I use Google Voice to send/receive messages. It sends/receives messages under my Google Voice number and not the phone's native number. Can Tasker do this? If I sent messages via the native voice number, no one would know who it's from.

 

[ScooberJake]

Can anyone tell me how to set Tasker to:

When home, make a call checking minutes then hang up. My issue right now (hopefully corrected by next software release) is once I get home (3G) area I don't get phone calls. All I need to do, once home is make a call to anyone or thing and then everything works fine. This has never been an issue for me in the past, I moved from a Droid X to Bionic now Galaxy Nexus 4 weeks ago and noticed this issue. Please don't suggest contacting Verizon I'm on phone number 4 after upgrading 4 weeks ago. First two were Droid Bionic one with same issue and now on second Nexus this one also with receiving call issue

Thanks

Yes, I think you can do that with Tasker. Here is a rough outline.

Create a task called "Activation Call" or something.
Under the Phone Action you can make a call. It will store the number. There is a check-box for auto-dial (which I think is what you want).
Under the Task Action you can insert a wait (say, 5 seconds?).
Then under Phone Action you can end a call.

Create a location based profile for "Home" and have it run the task. It should make the call, wait, and hang up without any input from you. You could potentially run into some issues with it executing the task multiple times if it thinks you leave home for a split second. But that probably won't be too big of a deal. Might be able to negate that with a variable. Also you may want to run a check to see if you are already on the phone first, not sure how to do that.

 

[ScooberJake]

I have a question about Tasker regarding sending messages. I use Google Voice to send/receive messages. It sends/receives messages under my Google Voice number and not the phone's native number. Can Tasker do this? If I sent messages via the native voice number, no one would know who it's from.

If I understand what you are asking, I don't think Tasker can do that. Texts still have to be sent out over some kind of network. Tasker can send a message either through the Verizon network or using Google Voice, but it doesn't have it's own independent network to send messages through.

 

[jakeh0]

what is a good source for NFC tags to try some of these? this is very interesting to me

 

[ScooberJake]

what is a good source for NFC tags to try some of these? this is very interesting to me

Technically Tasker doesn't support NFC tags. It is all based on other conditions (time, date, location, wifi, screen, accelerometer, gps, etc.). But you can use the NFC Task Launcher app to run things within Tasker.

 

[alicharles]

A good thread and some interesting points, here is my contribution. I am sure I could tweak these forever but I have a job and busy social/family life… I have glossed over the real detail of my tasker profiles mainly due to time. I hope to do a full write up for my blog at some point. I just wanted to contribute to this thread. Comments, feedback and suggestions always welcome.

Devices
Running S2 unlocked/rooted and running with [Rom]GT-I9100 Resurrection Remix JB v3.0.2[08/08][AOKP JB PRE](AROMA+OTA) - xda-developers
Nexus 7 unlocked and rooted

Tasker
Locale Execute
Secure Settings
Locale WOL
HTTP Post
NFC launch plugin
Synker
K9 Mail Locale Plugin

Profile Name
Home:-
Contexts:- Connected to or Near Home SSID - Time Frame 07:00 - 23:15
Settings:- Wi-Fi on, adjust brightness launch and connect Tablet Talk app to allow SMS and voice from phone to my Nexus 7

ScreenUnlockatHome:-
Connected to or Near Home SSID Turn off Pattern Unlock security, you need the Secure Settings plugin and you still need to unlock the device once

(I separated this to allow the pattern unlock to remain constant night and day while at home) See Night and Morning)

Awake House:-
Shake device (using phone) (hard with very low sensitivity, it kept displaying the menu when I received an SMS with vibrate on)
Touch NFC tag in my oyster card (using tablet)

Presents menu to send WOL packets to laptop and media centre;
Wait 3 minutes (I am getting a beer and waiting for the SSDs and applications to boot and be ready)
HTTP post command to communicate with X10 module to turn my desk lamp on (also using Arduino)
Wait 2 minutes
Launch XBMC menu, because the XBMC remote I use is “functional” but it doesn’t allow me to start XBMC with a random playlist of my music and I can’t use it start my fav internet radio streams so again using the older XBMC http API and http post I can send custom commands to start my music as desired

(note: XMBC box is setup to automatically get new podcasts and update the library accordingly, it is also configured with some cron jobs to gracefully close all the running applications and shut down at 23.55. The Linux XBMC box also runs Subsonic Server (Subsonic ? Free Music Streamer) so I can stream movies and music when I am not at home, If the media server is not turned on I simply run a tasker shortcut to execute commands to ssh (using keys) to the router and run my WOL script)

I have since split this lot into separate functions for more control and to allow launching XBMC app on its own

Keyboard Swap
Context:- Launch Connect Bot, Terminal App or Email launches present input selector so I can get hacker keyboard or swipe for my input
Exit Task does the same to get back to my default

Night Lights Out:-
Context:- 23:30 – 06:00
Screen to min brightness, Silent. Desktop lamp off (I was having real issues with my Morning profile and screen pattern unlock reactivating if wifi was disabled on the night profile, I need to do some debugging to set the collision detection and profile governance correctly I guess

Morning:-
I didn’t want to have to unlock the screen before this profile was visible hence keeping the wifi connection up and allowing the ScreenUnlockatHome profile to remain constant. I am sure there is a better way of doing this.
06:10 – 06:35 Launch Alarm Pro app (https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...de6.android.appalarm.pro&hl=en&token=PLrXrf0H)

So all ready for my 6:20 alarm call, because the alarm pro app enables launching custom apps and alarm notifications I use those setting instead of Tasker.
Alarm Pro in turn launches the Sunny Air app (https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...randed.sunnyair.SunnyAir&hl=en&token=RtYMzDw1)

So when I roll over and snooze the alarm I get a nice simple weather app telling me it is still raining in London.
The exit Task for the Morning starts the background sync for my mail clients.

NotAtHome:-
Again relying on WiFi inverts (not connected, not near Home or Work SSID) enable a roaming profile
Set Notification to vibrate and loud, custom ring tone, set brightness, Pattern lock back on)

Work:-
I reply on WiFi a lot rather than GPS. So Connected to or Near Work SSID
Silent and vibrate only

Some of this is a little haphazard but I like the experimentation aspect and I have pretty decent working set up at the moment.

 

[tiramg]

I see people are using Tasker to automate the pattern unlock...
is it possible to have it turn off screen unlock?
When I'm home i just want to hit the power button and go right to my homescreen. I don't even want to see the lockscreen.

 

[TabGuy]

I would buy Tasker immediately if it had one feature: Detect bluetooth connection/disconnect.

When I get into my car my phone automatically connects with my Ford Sync via bluetooth. (I don't use a car dock, it just sits in the cup holder.) If I could change settings based upon the bluetooth connect and then undo those settings when I get out of my car and the bluetooth disconnects I'd be golden.

Is there a way to do this in tasker? Or maybe some other app?

 

[TauntingBull]

Excellent thread

 

[tiramg]

I would buy Tasker immediately if it had one feature: Detect bluetooth connection/disconnect.

When I get into my car my phone automatically connects with my Ford Sync via bluetooth. (I don't use a car dock, it just sits in the cup holder.) If I could change settings based upon the bluetooth connect and then undo those settings when I get out of my car and the bluetooth disconnects I'd be golden.

Is there a way to do this in tasker? Or maybe some other app?

I use NFC Task Launcher to toggle bluetooth....

 

[TabGuy]

I use NFC Task Launcher to toggle bluetooth....

I leave bluetooth on 24/7 I don't need it toggled. I just want Tasker to detect when it connects or disconnects and perform actions.

 

[hillwoman]

I have Tasker detect when my bluetooth connects to my Honda. It then sends a reply message to anybody on my contact list who sends a text during that time that I am driving and will text them back when I am no longer driving.

Tasker can tell different bluetooth connections so that command is for when it connects only to my Honda.

Tasker is worth every penny.