Tasker: The app that can really do everything

Dominik Bärlocher

9.9.2016

Translation: machine translated

There is now an app for everything, not just the important things. But there is a single app for almost everything. This is the dream of every Android tinkerer. Its name: Tasker.

Security-conscious users and those who take the trouble to read the app permissions before installation will probably feel nauseous when reading this. This is because Tasker demands a great deal of openness from users:

The big but

Tasker is a stroke of genius in app development, even if it turns the principle of an app on its head. Where an app simplifies a single function, Tasker goes and allows unlimited access with the promise of simplifying everything. Essentially, it's about automation. Of everything.

My previous Tasker projects include, among others:

This all sounds great, but there's a catch. Tasker is anything but intuitive. Not because the developers mean users any harm, but because they have to fit a huge number of features, variables and options into one app.

I guess I have no choice but to repeat the search and restart the whole process. There are at least three possibilities that I can think of in a hurry:

The app manufacturers rarely support Tasker and do not provide support for Tasker problems. A community of tinkerers, hackers and coders has therefore formed online, which does not meet anywhere centralised, but has nevertheless set itself the goal of automating everything. Somehow.

Tasker is a great way to get to know Android as an operating system and your smartphone or tablet as a device. Tasker also brings the hacker spirit to life. Rarely will you have so much fun and frustration at the same time thinking outside the box and doing things you shouldn't be able to do.

Lifehack of the day - Spotify plays music

After an evening of tinkering on the sofa and countless attempts, I managed to create a function that lets Spotify play music as soon as I plug in my headphones. A small side note: Just because it works on my old Samsung Galaxy S5 doesn't mean that this solution will work universally.

However, here is a guide that will certainly put you on the right track and probably even become the solution:

Profiles

Tasks

Start Spotify:

1. Click on the +
2. Optional: Give your task the name "Spotify*
3. Click on the +
4. Click on App
5. Click on Launch App and select Spotify
6. Click on < at the top left

Wait for the app:

Play music:

1. Click on Media
2. Click on Media Control
3. CMD: Toggle Pause
4. Set a tick in Simulate Media Button
5. App: Spotify
6. Click on < top left

Adjust the volume:

1. Click on +
2. Click on Audio
3. Click on Media Volume
4. Set the level to a comfortable volume

5. Click on < at the top left

Finally, click again on the < at the top left and that's it.

In Tasker's exported syntax it looks like this:

Spotify On (3)
A1: Launch App [ App:Spotify Data: Exclude From Recent Apps:Off Always Start New Copy:Off ]
A2: Wait [ MS:0 Seconds:2 Minutes:0 Hours:0 Days:0 ]
A3: Media Control [ Cmd:Toggle Pause Simulate Media Button:On App:Spotify ]
A4: Media Volume [ Level:13 Display:Off Sound:Off ]

I assume that this also works with other audio players. Just adjust the apps in the list accordingly.

In this sense: Happy hacking!

Dominik Bärlocher

Senior Editor

dominik.baerlocher@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.

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