Tasker is one of the most useful, but more complicated apps available for Android. It is the complexity that makes Tasker so great. You can use Tasker to automate many things your phone can do. You set up profiles where certain actions, events, or conditions will trigger another action from your phone.
Want your music app to launch whenever you insert your headphones? Tasker can do that. Want to send a text to your significant other that you're on your way home from work every day? Tasker can do that. Do you forget to turn your phone to vibrate or silent during class? Never have this problem again, with Tasker.
I will the the first to admit that I have only scratched the surface of what Tasker can do. There are so many options that it can be overwhelming for a new user. Luckily there are is a great thread on the xda-developers.com forums with instructions on how to set up many profiles. There is also a useful user guide here.
Tasker becomes even more functional when you have other apps that integrate with it. Seal (password protect apps) and Locale (location-based automation) integrate with Tasker to further automate your phone.
What do I use Tasker for? The main thing, and what has made it worth every penny to me, is setting my phone to silent for certain events. I keep track of everything with my Google Calendar, so I created a profile that turns my phone to silent every time I have an appointment where my status is set at "Busy." I never have my phone ring while I'm in class or at work. When the appointment is over, Tasker sets my ringer back to normal. Brilliant!
The other main profile I have turns my wifi on when I'm within a certain area near my home (location determined by cell tower, so no gps battery drain) and turns wifi off when I leave that area. The same thing can be done for other locations where you use wifi.
As I said before, these profiles are just scratching the surface of what Tasker can do. Check out the two links above for more examples of Tasker profiles, and find Tasker on the Android market for $6.49.
Feed back is always welcome. If you use Tasker, what are some of your favorite/really cool profiles?
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