Most people have played with the smart automation features on our phones. Between Samsung routines, Google Assistant and Gemini, it feels as if there were many ways to automate a job. However, I’ve always found them to be disappointingly shallow, especially when you compare them to the iPhone Shortcuts app, which is stellar.
Fortunately, there is a third-party app called Tasker that gives you as much automation control over your Android device as you could want. Once I tried it, I found the default tools hollow and even more disappointing in comparison.
What does Tasker do?
Automation taken to the limit
In its most basic form, Tasker is designed to trigger specific tasks or actions whenever specific conditions are met.
At its core, Tasker is based on profiles: the conditions that trigger specific tasks or actions. You can also configure optional exit tasks, which essentially revert changes made once the condition is no longer met.
The variety of contexts you can use is incredible. You are not limited only to time or location; can trigger actions based on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections, app states, system settings, incoming messages, NFC tagsand most of your phone’s sensors. It also comes with over 350 built-in actions, letting you control everything from notifications to music recall and connectivity.
Best of all, it is not even necessary to root the device for the vast majority of functions, although there are some that do require it.
- Weight
-
1g
- Flag
-
White
- Connectivity
-
NFC
These affordable NFC tags use the NTAG215 chip that can store up to 504 bytes of memory. They are easy to stick to any surface, giving you a convenient way to activate automations in your smart home.
Tasker surpasses the automation that’s already on your phone
You can design any rule you want.
The big problem with The automations you can create with stock Android. is that you are limited to a relatively small list of pre-approved triggers and actions. Tasker lets you control almost all of that. Can stack context, create your own variables, and combine as many layers of conditional logic as you like, which can lead to very specific automations. Standard tools simply don’t provide that level of granular control.
If Tasker’s built-in features aren’t enough, there are plenty of plugins you can add, including AutoInput, AutoVoice, and Join. They all do slightly different things, but allow you to control other apps or even send commands to or from other devices.
Complexity has a learning curve.
Of course, like any tool for advanced users, there is one major drawback: a learning curve. The jargon isn’t super transparent (it’s not immediately clear what a variable actually does just by reading the term) and there’s no single built-in tutorial to get you used to the software.
Even beginner mode still gives you a lot of information very quickly. The first time I tried Tasker, I had to play with it for about 45 minutes before I fully understood how everything worked. Today, there is AI designed to help create automations. It’s decent, but it shares problems with
Try something simple as your first automation
I recommend starting with something simple as your first automation, ideally something that really bothers you in your daily life.
Maybe you want your phone to automatically silence when you’re in specific locations, or you want the theme to intelligently change based on the time of day.
Create a simple profile: choose a single context and attach a task with one or two actions. Before you trust that it will automatically fire like it should, use the manual run button to make sure the action actually does what you think it does.
Remember to add an exit task if the situation requires it. Forgetting a proper exit task has caused me a lot of problems.
If you find it a little daunting to create something from scratch, I recommend checking out some of the pre-built options to get a better idea of how tasks, profiles, and actions are actually set up. Makes it much easier to build your own.
However, once you get used to it, Tasker is pretty awesome. I’m currently working on an automation that will automatically transfer all the screenshots I take during my work day to my desktop PC. using KDE Connect so I don’t have to worry about moving files manually. Once this is done, I hope it will save me a lot of time every time I cover a phone-related topic.
The complexity is worth it this time.
Tasker can be quite daunting. If you want something simpler and possibly more intuitive, you can try MacroDroid or Automate. Also, Tasker isn’t free: it costs around $5 one time, or you can get it through game pass.
However, for the $5 and the time you spend learning it, you get the ability to make your phone shape more personalized than is normally possible. Even smart AI features designed to “learn” from you can’t beat the flexibility that Tasker offers.
