Tasker | all about it

Why doesn’t Tasker work in the background on my device?

To make sure Tasker and the AutoApps run in the foreground:

Why won’t Android let me uninstall Tasker ?

It's probably because you're using an action which needs Tasker's device administrator function (e.g. Display / System Lock).

You can disable it by going to Android Settings / Location & Security / Device Administration.

Why isn’t GPS coming on for my profile with Time And GPS Location contexts ?

Why can’t I select Tasker for an application context ?

This is considered too dangerous. A mistake could easily result in being unable
to enter Tasker and therefore being unable to rectify the mistake.

Why does it take my Wifi Near state so long to exit ?

Wifi Near requires two check periods to pass without seeing the Access Point before the
profile exits. This is intended to avoid the context activating and deactivating if the
AP is briefly not visible.

Note also that there are different check periods for when the device is on or off, and by default
the off-period is much longer than the on-period. See Menu / Preferences / Monitor/ Display On/Off Timings.

Why isn’t Tasker detecting when my Location Context changes ?

Your radius is probably too small.

As an example, if you are not using GPS the accuracy of your fixes is probably
around += 2km, so your radius should be also minimally 2km.

If you *are* using GPS, the accuracy may still be only +-400m in built-up areas.

Here’s a good way to create a location context:

• go to the geographical location you want a context for
• make a new location context
• deselect GPS if you don’t want to use it
• press Grab Fix, and wait till it’s done

This will set your radius appropriate to the accuracy of the location providers at that spot.

If there’s still nothing happening:

Why does Tasker mess up the app launching when I have an Application Context for
it ?

Some applications are sensitive like this. Probably all you have to do is put as the
first action in the Enter task the action Wait and give as a
parameter e.g. 300ms. If that doesn’t work keep increasing the value until it does.

That gives the application time to finish initializing before messing around
with the screen brightness etc.

Why aren’t my settings restored ?

Some possibilities:

• if your profile sets setting x to on, then
  if x is already on when the profile goes active, it will be left at 1 when the
  profile exits. Test for this by putting an Alert / Notify action in the enter
  task to see what the original value was.
• some other apps installed on the system can cause Tasker to be killed and
  therefore the original settings being forgotten e.g. this has been reported to be
  a problem with Titanium Backup.
• similarly, if the system is rebooted suddenly, some devices aren’t fast enough
  to save all the settings before the system turns off.

Why does my profile not do anything ?

Firstly, if are you using any of these other apps which have been reported as interfering
try disabling or temporarily uninstalling them:

• ‘Task Killers’
• Quick System Info
• Autostarts

After that:

Why does nothing happen when I click a Tasker widget ?

Usually this is due to Tasker not being enabled, see the On/Off button in the first UI screen.

Why does Tasker crash when I try to create a Location Context ?

The likely cause is that you are running a non-standard Android ROM which doesn't
contain the correct (or maybe any) Google Maps library.

Why can’t I see any Tasker widgets in the home screen widget selector ?

This is almost always because you have Tasker installed on the SD card, which is just not
possible due to several reasons related to how Tasker works.

Why doesn’t my repeating Time Context work ?

It’s important to understand that a repeating time context is a series of instant events.

Trying to combine a repeating time context with another context that does
active monitoring usually won’t work e.g.


Time: Repeating Every 5 Minutes

Task: Enable Wifi (no toggle)



State: Wifi Near

Task: XXX


Wifi Near is checked on a static schedule. You currently can’t change the schedule dynamically,
so the above two profiles will only do XXX when the 5 minute repeat happens to coincide with
when Tasker is doing it’s Wifi Near check.

Why aren’t my exit tasks run / settings restored before the device shuts down ?

Android gives an app very little time to perform cleanup during shutdown, this is especially
a problem on slow devices.

Therefore (as of 1.0.9), Tasker only attempts to run Variable Set, Clear, Add and Subtract actions
when the device shuts down, since they take relatively little time.

In the future, Tasker will have some concept of default values which will then be restored when
it starts after the device has booted again.

On Android 1.5 devices, Tasker cannot do anything at shutdown because the system does not send a notification.

Why does my location exit task fire multiple times ?

Probably the location Android reports is bouncing between a point inside
your location radius and one outside. This is relatively unusual because Tasker
has some built-in mechanisms to try and prevent it.

A quick fix is to add a Cooldown to your profile. Click on a context,
select Profile then Properties and slide the Cooldown Time to 30 minutes.

The profile is then prevented from going active more than once every 30 minutes.

Why does my Cell Near state keep going inactive ?

Even when your phone is motionless, it will probably still often switch between
different cell towers. Going to a different room in your house may involve
a whole different set of cell towers.

When you notice your Cell Near state going inactive at your location (and assuming
you still have a signal), launch Tasker, click on the Cell Near context and edit
it. Click Scan and you should immediately see a new Cell added to the list.
Click Done and then Apply and your context should go active again.

Sometimes the new cell will only be visible for a few seconds and will not appear
when you press scan. In that case, press the Recent button and
select it manually from the list.

Why doesn’t Notify LED work ?

From the action help (hint hint):

• not all devices support all colours. Many devices will only support red and green. In general, colours near the top of the list are more likely to be supported.
• some devices will only flash the LED when the device is off at the time the notification is received.

Why do Tasker widgets disappear after a reboot on my Wildfire ?

This is a bug on some Wildfire firmware version.

It’s not possible for the Tasker developer to
work around, but is reported as fixed in version 1.25.405.1 of the firmware.

Why isn’t my docking station detected ?

Some docking stations just aren't recognized as such (Android doesn't indicate that
a docking station has been connected).

Depending on other things you connect your device to, you might be able to use one of
the following as a workaround:

• State: USB connected
• State: Power
• State: BT Connected (if it’s a BT dock)

Why aren’t I getting any cell data for the Cell Near state ?

A user reports being able to fix this issue as follows:

I was able to fix this issue by going into the EPST menues using
##DATA# on the keypad and changing the EVDO Preferred mode from HDR to
Automatic.

It’s possible that you will only be able to receive, not make, phone
calls as another symptom of this problem.

Why isn’t there a green light for the On/Off radio button on the main screen ?

A user discovered that this happens when the DPI value of the Android build is set to
particulart values (e.g. 200,240 is OK, 220 the light disappears).

Why does the action Display Brightness cause my keyboard or application to close ?

Normally Android does not effect changes to brightness immediately, so Tasker has to
use a trick to make it happen. That trick can sometimes have the side effect that
e.g. some dialogs like the soft keyboard may close.

To avoid that, you can deselect the Immediate Effect checkbox in the Display Brightness action.

Why is the date in Tasker’s notification list completely wrong ?

This occurs if you select a transparent Notification Icon at Menu / Prefs / Monitor,
but don’t specify a Custom Notification Layout.

Changing to a non-transparent icon or a custom layout will fix the problem.

Why won’t Tasker install on my custom ROM ?

The most likely reason is that you don't have Google Maps installed on the device. With
several custom ROMs that comes as a separate package.

Why doesn’t my Perform Task action work when I Test it ?

When task (a) runs a Perform Task action to start task (b), the order in which the two tasks are executed depends on their relative priorities.

A feature of the Test button is that the tested task (a) runs at extremely high priority
to ensure that the task runs even if other tasks are running in the background.

So testing Perform Task with the Test button will only work as expected if in actual usage task (a) will always have higher priority than task (b) or the Perform Task action has Stop specified.

Why doesn’t my App Context work ?

First, we need to find out which method Tasker is using to detect app changes on your device.

Disable Menu / Prefs / UI / Beginner Mode then look in
Menu / Prefs / Monitor to see if you have an entry App Check Method.
If you don’t have such an entry, Tasker is using its Accessibility Service.

If Tasker is using Usage Stats for app detection, you need to ask Android to give Tasker
permission to do that, see Menu / More / Android Settings / App Usage Stats.
Otherwise, you need to make sure Tasker’s Accessibility Service is enabled in Android Settings,
see Menu / More / Android Settings / Accessibility service.

Further tips:

• if Tasker offers you the choice to use different methods, try the other methods. Remember to give Tasker permission in Android settings for the new method (see above).

• If you are using Nova Launcher, set Settings / App & Widget Drawer / Advanced / Automatically Close to off.

• Some apps (very few) aren't detected by Tasker, usually due to their internal structure.

• Some custom Android ROMs also have special configurations which prevent Tasker's app detection working.

For the latter problem, there are a few things you can try:

• look for special settings in your ROM that relate to ‘keeping the launcher in memory’. They should be disabled.

Event: Variable Set, %WIN<br>
Alert / Flash, Win is now %WIN

Why doesn’t the Keyguard action work properly ?

Android does not officially support toggling of the Keyguard by an app. The Keyguard
action was introduced in an early version of Tasker when a reliable workaround was
possible.

In more recent Android versions, the workaround is no longer so reliable due to
internal changes made within Android. If Keyguard works at all, there may be
disturbing side-effects.

The Keyguard action will likely be most reliablewhen the display is on and and the
Keyguard is already unlocked.

Why doesn’t Tasker think my device is rooted ?

Tasker requires two things before root functionality is enabled:

1. the su program must be in your path
2. one of the following must be found:
   • a superuser package
   • the word modversion somewhere in the file /system/build.prop

If root is not being detected on your device but you are sure that root can be used by Tasker, you can therefore probably fix that by adding a line like:

# modversion this line enables Tasker root support

to the top of the file /system/build.prop.

Why doesn’t Tasker show my Local Media images anymore ?

When you select a Local Media image, Android grants Tasker rights to keep using
it.

However, when you uninstall Tasker, Android forgets those rights and doesn’t
reassign them when you install Tasker again. This is clearly a failing in
Android… On some devices Android also forgets the rights when the device is rebooted, but this is very rare and almost certainly a problem with the particular device
involved.

To fix the problem, you wil unfortunately need to reselect the Local Media images
in the Tasker UI so that Android grants it access rights again.

How can I contact the developer ?

There is a contact email given at Menu / Info / Support. In
general, this is intended for order and validation help, which is
often confidential, and other private issues.

How can I send the developer a bug report ?

• go to Android Settings then About Phone
• tap 10 or more times on the Build Version entry
• go back one screen
• select Developer Options
• check the USB Debugging option if it’s not already checked
• do whatever it is that causes the problem
• go back to Developer Options and tap Take Bug Report (the first entry)
• wait a short while until the bug report is ready (a notification will appear)
• share using an email application
• the destination email address is listed in Menu / Info / Support in Tasker
• include at the top of the email a brief description of the problem that the email concerns
• disable USB Debugging and Developer Options (switch at top)

Try to make the log as soon as possible after the problem occurs.

How can I send the developer a long-term log ?

• deselect Menu / Prefs / UI / Beginner Mode in Tasker
• enable Menu / Prefs / Misc / Debug to Internal Storage in Tasker
• when the problem has occured, email the file /sdcard/Tasker/log/tasker.txt
  (and tasker.txt.1, if it exists) to
  the developer email listed at Menu / Info / Support
• include at the top a brief description of the problem that the log concerns

Can I change an app’s settings / press it’s buttons ?

Standard Android doesn’t allow an app to change, poke, prod or peek at anything within another app,
including simulating keypresses and screen taps.

On a rooted device, you can use some of the actions in the Input
category to navigate around an app, click on UI elements and enter text automatically.

Can I control / respond to events in application X with Tasker ?

How can I stop Tasker restoring a setting ?

Tasker will restore any setting which is changed in the Enter
task of a profile.

There are four ways to prevent this:

1. deselect the Restore Settings in the Profile Properties
   of the relevant profile.
2. if you set the same setting in the Exit task of the profile
   Tasker will take that as a hint that the previous value shouldn’t be
   restored.
3. create a separate task to run the settings actions and
   in the Enter task of the profile do a Perform Task action
   (from the category Tasker) on that separate task. This trick is
   known as Stefan’s Setting Sidestep.
4. you can use the corresponding Javascriptlet function
   instead of the setting action. Settings made in Javascriptlets are
   not restored.

Can Tasker detect volume button presses ?

No, sorry, that's not possible ATM.

The closest you can get is to detect changes in a volume variable
(e.g. %VOLR for the ringer volume) via event Variable Set.

Can Tasker be used from an external SD card ?

Prior to Android 6.0, that is not possible, even using apps2SD.

With Android 6.0+ if the external SD is being used as ‘adoptable’, ‘flex’ or ‘internal’
(the wording varies) storage, there should be no issue.

Can I use Tasker to turn the screen on and off ?

Turning on, use the Display / Turn On action. Unfortunately, that action
is inaccessible with Android 2.3+.

For turning off, you can use the Display / System Lock action with Android 2.0+.

For Android 1.6, you can set the Display Timeout to it’s minimum (around 7 seconds)
and then set it back to normal in response to a Display Off event.

How do I create my default settings ?

You don’t have to configure ‘default’ settings in Tasker.
The ‘default’ settings are how your device is configured before any Tasker profile becomes
active. This ‘default’ is automatically restored as profiles become inactive.

Exception: changes to settings made in Exit tasks are not restored.

How can I run more than one task when a profile goes active ?

Add an action Perform Task from the category Tasker for
each task that you want to run (don't click the Stop button).

Warning:: settings in the called tasks will not be restored by Tasker,
only settings changed directly within the Enter task.

Can I hide the notification list entry when Tasker is running ?

If the notification is very annoying, it can be removed
on many devices by setting the icon transparent at
Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Notification Icon.

If that doesn’t work, disable the Run In Foreground setting which can be found
at Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Run In Foreground

Please read the help text associated with this option first.

Can I change or remove the status bar icon when Tasker is running ?

You can change it with Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Notification Icon.

You can remove it with Menu / Prefs / Monitor / Show Notification Icon.

What if I want a repeating time context, but I need to do something that takes a while ?

• GPS On
• Wait 3 minutes
• GPS Off

How can I do something every minute ?

Set a repeat period of 2 minutes (the minumum allowed) and specify a task
like this:

• Perform Task, TaDa
• Wait 1 Minute
• Perform Task, TaDa

How do I specify 9:30AM on Monday and 10AM on Tuesday with the same profile ?

You can’t, because the Time and Day subcontexts operate completely independent of
each other. You have to specify two profiles and run the same Task(s) with each of
them (by giving the task a name).

How do I specify weekend night-times ?

It's tempting to say:


Time: 23 - 09
Day: Friday or Saturday


But that won’t work, because on Sunday at e.g. 3am the Day context (and hence the
whole profile) won’t be active.

For this kind of situation, you need to specify a profile for which morning you want
to be active and another for which evenings. In the example, you want Friday and
Saturday night plus Saturday or Sunday morning:


Time: 23 - 24
Day: Friday or Saturday



Time: 00 - 09
Day: Saturday or Sunday


How do I stop the screen dimming when I have the display Stay On set to e.g. ‘With AC’ ?

The screen dims around 10 seconds before the current Screen Off Timeout value is
reached. You can set Screen Timeout (for the relevant context e.g. 'while docked')
to Never (set all sliders to maximum) if you don't like that behaviour.

How can I stop Wifi Near toggling wifi on-off when the phone is in Airplane Mode ?

Add a state Airplane Mode to your profile and click the Invert button, which
means if Airplane Mode is off.

Can I divert incoming calls ?

It's not possible to divert incoming calls via Android, but most Mobile Carriers accept special dialled
sequences to do it before the call reaches your phone.

You can then use Tasker’s Phone / Call action (with Auto Dial checked) to setup
and cancel incoming call diversions.

How can I detect if Wifi is connected (not just enabled) ?

The 'standard' way is to use State Wifi Connected to set and clear your own variable with
an enter and exit task respectively.

An alternative trick is to match the word connected or connection in the %WIFII variable (the actual word and lower/upper case changes with Android version).

How can I import/export individual profiles, tasks or scenes ?

Import:

Go to the main screen, long click on the tab for the type of thing you want to import.

Export:

How do I turn off the flashing notification LED ?

Use the Audio / Notification Pulse action.

If you’re wondering what a flashing light is doing in the Audio section: ask Google,
that’s where they put it in Android Settings.

>How do I put my phone in Silent or Vibrate mode ?

Use action Audio / Silent Mode.

Do not try to do it with Volume Ringer or Vibrate on Ringer.

Can I automate sending of an SMS / Call through Google Voice ?

Can I change/remove the notification sounds for particular apps ?

Can I silence all notifications except from particular applications ?

With Tasker versions from 1.0.10, you can try turning off all notifications
(e.g. via Silent Mode or setting the Notification Volume to 0) and then
using Tasker to do alerts for particular app notifications using the
Notification event in the UI category.

Can I change the input method ?

On a rooted phone, yes, using the free Secure Settings plugin.

How do I test whether I can reach the Internet (ping) ?

  HTTP Get URL (a known webpage), Continue Task On Error
  If [ %HTTPR = 200 ]
     ...
  Endif

How can I use whitespace (newline, tab etc) in action parameters ?

Tasker trims the start and end of all parameters to prevent whitespace causing problems.
The only exception is the Variable Set action.

Therefore, if you want to use whitespace you should first assign it to a variable and then
use the variable where you want the whitespace to appear:


Variable Set, %white, THISISANEWLINE
Flash, Here's a newline: %white


How can I run a task from a terminal login ?

am broadcast -a net.dinglisch.android.tasker.ACTION_TASK -e task_name YOUR_TASK_NAME

That’s only possible on a rooted phone because otherwise there will be a permission problem.

How can I silence the camera shutter sound ?

This varies per device.

Try creating a new profile with an App context
and select the Camera app. When asked to create a task,
add the following actions:

1. Task / Wait, 2 seconds
2. Audio / Sound Effects, off
3. Audio / Media Volume, 0
4. Audio / System Volume, 0
5. Audio / Notification Volume, 0
6. Audio / Silent Mode, on

Then go to the Camera app, wait a couple of seconds and try taking a picture.

If you still hear the shutter
sound, go back to the Tasker UI, click on the task that you created and hit
the Play button bottom-left to run the task manually. Then go
back to the Camera app. If you still hear the shutter sound, then it’s
not going to be possible for Tasker to disable it on your device.

Some manufacturers deliberately prevent disabling of the shutter sound,
perhaps for legal reasons.

Addendum

A user has reported that setting DTMF volume to 0 removes the focus sound
in the camera app.

Why am I an idiot if I use a pirated copy of Tasker ?

The hacker can do virtually anything with your phone. Record your
calls and upload them to a website, SMS your location and all your
contacts, make calls automatically, wipe your SD card, secretely
record from your microphone any time etc etc

Why is GPS often scanning when I unlock my device ?

When the device wakes up, Tasker switches from a low-frequency GPS check schedule to a
higher-frequency one. Android's GPS software always does an immediate scan when
switching the check frequency.

It’s not because Tasker is constantly scanning while the device is off

You can change the frequency in Menu / Prefs / Monitor.

Why does Tasker need so many permissions ?

Because it can do so much!

Unfortunately, Android requires that an app specify it’s permissions even if they are
never used, which means that permissions for all of the things which the user could
potentially ask Tasker to do need to be specified.

If you are still concerned, consider that Tasker has over 25,000 downloads at the time of writing and any abuse taking place would quickly be discovered.

Why does Tasker need the INTERNET permission ?

The INTERNET permission is used solely for:

• google maps downloading map data, only for setting up a Location context
• to carry out HTTP Post/Get actions and other actions that require an Internet connection by their nature
• to verify the order number, and only until it has been successfully verified
• to check whether a new Tasker version is available, if configured in Preferences

Tasker never directly uses Internet access for anything else.

Why isn’t Tasker shown in the Application Context list ?

Because it's easy to get into trouble firing tasks in Tasker. For example, if
a profile is setup with a Tasker Application Context and a task with Load App Calculator,
it will not be possible to enter Tasker anymore.

Why does Tasker have it’s own music player and controls for the system music player ?

• the system music player is not guaranteed to be present or the same on all systems.
• finer control can be exercised over the Tasker player e.g. starting the track
  from a preset seek point
• Tasker’s player is more discrete, there is no notification bar icon.
• by having two players available you can do things like alternating audio from different
  music sources or even playing simiultaneously.

Why does a Cell Near context not become inactive when I turn on Airplane Mode ?

Cell Near is sticky. That means that once active it stays active until a non-matching
Cell ID is seen. In Airplane Mode no Cell IDs are seen and so the context stays active.

Many people use Airplane Mode at night e.g. to save battery. If you also have a Cell Near
profile that detects when you are home, it would become inactive at night if Cell Near wasn’t
sticky.

A couple of points:

• the Cell radio isn’t being turned on by Tasker in Airplane Mode.
• if you want a profile to become inactive for Airplane Mode, just add an Inverted
  state Airplane Mode to it.

Some things just weren't meant to be (i.e. Android doesn't allow it).

To solve the shortcut problem, you can always use a widget though.

For notifications:

Why does my profile have 2 enter tasks ? Why can’t I add an exit task ?

Does app creation support profiles and scenes ?

Sure. You can export projects as apps and projects can contain
profiles, tasks and scenes.

For help accessing projects, see Menu / Info / Help This Screen
in the main screen.

Why is the app always shown as running ?

Tasker tries to detect when it’s monitor service is no longer needed but that is
not always possible. You can put a Disable action from the Tasker
category at the end of your launch task to ensure that it happens.

The monitor will be started again automatically each time the app is lauched from the home
screen.

How do I do initialization on the first launch ?

Setup your launch task something like this:

If %LaunchCount = 0
   ...initialization actions...
Else
   ...normal actions...
Elsif
Variable Add, %LaunchCount, 1

How can my task tell if it is running in Tasker or a child app ?

Use the Test App action and select the mode This Package.

The resulting variable will contain the package identifier you specified in the
App Configuration screen if the task is running in a child app, otherwise
it will contain one of net.dinglisch.android.tasker or net.dinglisch.android.taskerm.

Why isn’t my app detecting background events ?

One possible cause is: when an app has just been installed on Android it is in a 'frozen' state until
there is some user interaction with it (usually clicking the home screen icon
at least once).

How can I send the developer a short-term App Factory log ?

• download aLogcat, free from Android Market
• disable Tasker in the main screen bottom-left
• in the App Config screen, check Advanced Properties and then Debug
• create and install the new app *twice*
• launch the new app from the home screen
• reproduce whatever conditions cause the problem
• go to aLogCat, click Menu / Pause then Menu / Send
• the destination email is listed in Menu / Info / User Support in Tasker
• include at the top a brief description of the problem that the email concerns

Try to make the log as soon as possible after the problem occurs.

How can I send the developer a long-term App Factory log ?

• disable Tasker by long-clicking the icon top-left in the main screen
• in the App Config screen, check Advanced Properties and then Debug
• create and install the new app *twice*
• enable the Storage permission for the app in Android Settings if necessary
• launch the new app from the home screen
• reproduce whatever conditions cause the problem
• send the developer the log files in the directory NAMEOFAPP in the root directory of the SD card
• the destination email is listed in Menu / Info / User Support in Tasker
• include at the top a brief description of the problem that the email concerns

Try to make the log as soon as possible after the problem occurs.

Can I include Google Play’s licencing service in my app ?

No, this is not possible.

Tasker’s code does not include the licencing service because of continual problems
it caused. In any case, the licensing service is ineffectual for preventing
unauthorized code distribution.

If you really want to include licensing in your app, you could e.g. require the
user to enter their order code and check via the HTTP Get action on your
server if that is a valid number.

Setting up such a server to download Google order details and accept verification
requests is a lot of effort and requires some technical knowledge, however.

Can I get the java source code from my created app ?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: when a new app is created, Tasker doesn’t create new java code to
implement the things in your task or project configuration. Instead, the existing
Tasker code is used with the new app and executed similarly to how it’s executed
in Tasker, but in the shell of a new APK.

Do you plan to include feature X ?

The developer has a large list of potential features and works through it according
to a mystical method based on star configurations. It's difficult to say what
will be done in advance, sorry.

Should I worry about using Tasker’s Accessibility service ?

Not at all.

Although the Android warning says Tasker might read passwords, in fact:

• Android doesn’t allow apps to see the contents of fields labelled Password
• Tasker doesn’t even ask Android for data about text fields, only buttons, windows
  and notifications

What’s an Instant Profile ?

Most profiles have a duration. Their enter task fires, they are active for a while, then they go inactive and settings
may be restored or an exit task fired. However, profiles with

• an Event context, or
• a Time context where the From parameter is the same as the To parameter, or
• a Time context with a repeat value specified

are only active for an instant and hence it does not make sense to talk about an exit task and restoration of settings.

There’s no point setting brightness from 200 to 30, and then a millisecond later back to 200,
therefore settings made by an instant profile stay at whatever value is specified.