[Q] Multiple Android devices, synchronized alarms, remote(?) snooze/dismiss - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting
I have a somewhat complex question, and I am hoping that someone knows a good approach or apps that I can use.
I have Android devices in multiple rooms around my house, primarily set up as clocks, all on the home wi-fi network, of course. I have a primary phone, a couple of retired phones with wi-fi only, a couple of tablets with wi-fi only. (My eventual goal is to have them all connected together for several purposes, including an intercom system; this current project is a stepping stone.)
I have reminder alarms that go off all day long. Due to physical problems, the ability to control an alarm remotely is very handy.
I used to have the reminder alarms on my chumby, and I could ssh into that and control the alarm. I could change the alarm time, snooze, turn alarms on or off, etc. I used to just ssh into the chumby, then leave that konsole open on a virtual desktop on the linux machine, and switch to it when I needed to access the chumby. I also had an android remote control for it, very spiffy.
Sometimes, though, I was in another room and I didn't hear it. Problematic.
Yes, my obvious solution is to put all the alarms on my phone and carry it with me all the time. Except if I were the sort of person who has a mind like a steel trap, I wouldn't _need_ the reminder alarms in the first place It doesn't help much if the phone alarm is going off and it's three rooms away. Either I won't hear it, or I'll have to get up to shut it off, and I might not be able to.
So here's what I'd like to do:
* For each alarm, ALL the android devices sound off.
* Snoozing or dismissing the alarm from one device snoozes or dismisses the entire alarm (they all stop making noise, and they all start again when the snooze is up).
* Snooze or dismiss the alarms from my linux box with the same effects as from the android devices.
* Have some way to direct the alarms to just my phone until further notice--when I am going to be out of the house, I'll still need those reminder alarms, and the poor dogs don't need to deal with alarms sounding for hours until I get home.
1) It seems like the easiest way to manage this would be to set up something like a streaming media server on the linux box, and have it play on each of the android devices at times set up in a crontab. I *think* it was possible to stream media through multiple chumbies at the same time, so surely it's possible to do it through multiple android devices? Yes?
But I don't know how to use one to snooze a program set off by a crontab. I also don't know how to divert all the alarms to my phone [for use when leaving the house] if the alarms are primarily controlled by a linux server at home. I don't think my wi-fi reaches that far.
2) It seems like the next-most easy way to do this would be some kind of script that remotely controls the various android devices, but I have no idea where to start. I do know that you can access the terminal on an android phone, you can write shell scripts, and that you can ssh into phones if you have the right apps. What I don't know is how to control the android alarms from the command line or how to synchronize media on multiple devices.
Again, I'd want to snooze/dismiss alarms from any of the android devices on the wi-fi network, or from my linux computer.
I'd want to be able to turn off all alarms except the primary phone occasionally. It'd be awesome if the other devices could automatically detect if the phone were on the network, and only sound if it were present.
3) Other options? Are there apps or programs or scripts or methods that I don't know about, that would make this easy-peasy? Am I fretting when there is already a solution?
Thank you.
Bump? Please? Anyone? Anything?
Well, I'm just throwing my thoughts out there. This definitely sounds like a difficult task.
I assume that you are not able to write your own android apps, neither am I. So we just can't build our own solution.
I don't have an idea that solves all your questions, but I have some ideas for some of them.
Regarding your need to change the behavior if you leave your perimeter:
There are apps that can trigger predetermined tasks based on your location (wifi, GPS, etc), so you could use that.
You definitely need some kind of Webserver, connecting your phone to the other devices when you're on UMTS.
There are apps like "Android lost" that enable you to remotely control your devices, for example triggering alarms, etc. Maybe you could put that into some use.
Regarding your idea with the streaming server:
Could you set up all the devices so they start playing as soon as the server starts streaming? Maybe let vlc constantly run listening to your server on all the devices. Or a Internet radio is probably better because it can run in the background playing "silence" the whole time.
Create a shortcut on all devices to send a command to the server to stop the streaming, those servers should be manageable through ssh.
Install a normal alarm on your phone. Combine this with the location based triggering, so it is only turned on while your outside your house. Have a shortcut on your phone to manage the server and the house alarms as well.
I think this might work and should be actually be possible to realize.
I know this is not well written at all and not really in a straight line, I just made it up on the fly.
I'll try to turn it into a Tl;dr
1. Set up Internet radio server on your home network.
2. Tune all house devices in to said server.
3. Play alarms over Internet radio
4. Use command shortcuts to turn off alarm
5. Use app to automatically toggle the alarm on your phone based on your location.
6.???
7.profit
Let me know what you think, especially if it was any help at all. I like projects like that!
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Okay, great, that is really helpful and gives me a place to start Thank you!
I do have Tasker, and I'm willing to buy other apps if they look like they'd help, but I think Tasker is probably going to be my biggest help with the location detection.
I do not have any idea how to tell Tasker "turn off alarms on [primary phone] phone if [home network] is detected, turn on X, Z, and Q alarms if [home network] is not detected." I've played around a bit with it and realized that getting Tasker to execute specific actions with other programs--in this case, Alarm Clock Xtreme--is really kind of obscure, if it's even possible. It must be possible, yeah?
--Wait, is there an alarm clock for the Alarm Control Freak that will *also* detect [home network]? I loooove the way I can use Alarm Clock Extreme: unlimited numbers of preprogrammed alarms, just toggle the ones I need; all kind of options with respect to what happens when the alarm goes off, choice of snooze duration, etc etc. If there's one like that that _also_ has the option to detect location, that would be awesomeness.
Or...hmmm...I suppose I could have it freeze Alarm Clock Xtreme if it's on [home network] but activate it if it's off. I really do have to get around to rooting the phone, I suppose.
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Do you have any suggestions for what to use for streaming from the house server, and what apps to use for receiving the streaming? Oh, I see you mentioned VLC (for some reason my brain parsed that as VPN); I'll look into that.
I think if there's a decent app for listening to streaming (suggestion welcome!), and the server can stream to all the devices at once, I can probably figure out how to use just one device to ...mute the server? (With the app itself, or a shortcut, or a short ssh script maybe.) Since they all need to be listening 24/7, muting is the thing to do, right? If I turn off the server, that could make them disconnect or stop listening, right?
I still need a snooze mechanism, though. Among other things, sometimes I need to postpone whatever the reminder alarm is going off for; sometimes I need it to help me keep track of the passing of time after the alarm goes off. It's complicated. I need to be able to snooze.
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Question: In this setup, how do we prevent the alarms from going off on all the devices when the primary phone has left the house? I can see how we get the alarms on the primary phone TO go off, but not how we turn off the streaming alarms. I mean, I don't know how to tell the server to stop serving if it can't detect [primary phone]; is that possible?
It's not that I object to music playing when I'm not home. It's that if the dogs wake up while I'm gone, they'll need to pee. I'd really, really like not to have to clean that up every time I leave
Hm. A kind of bulky and inefficient way to do it could be turning off the streaming on the devices. Perhaps have them turn off the streaming app when the phone leaves the network, and then start it up again when they detect it again.
This is slightly problematic, because my house has very, very, VERY bad reception inside. We have to have a repeater (effectively a second network) for The Spouse's computer, which is FIFTEEN FEET from the wi-fi router. With no walls between. Really, really terrible reception. My phone drops off the wifi network, and immediately reconnects, dozens of times in a day. So does my laptop.
Soooooo I probably need a better metric than "is [primary phone] visible on wifi? No? TURN IT ALL OFF!" Maybe this is better: "Has [primary phone] been off the network for 15 minutes? Okay! TURN IT ALL OFF!" But reconnecting would still be a bit of a pain, unless the other devices only check for re-connections when the streaming app is already off. Hmmmm. I suppose they could check, say, 20 minutes before an alarm is due to go off, then 5 minutes before, and otherwise not check at all.
Except that, drat, it's the server that knows the alarm times, not the devices. They're _mostly_ on the hour, but not always. And what if I forget and it's partway through a "snooze" when I'm heading out the door? They should definitely shut off rather than continue once the snooze duration is up.
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Nuts, it looks like this is not going to be the jumping-off point for a whole-house intercom system the way I hoped it would be. Not if everything is strung though the server, which is only working with streaming media. I could really, really use that intercom system. I just want to be able to touch a shortcut on one device and have all the rest of them repeat whatever that device hears. Then tap it again [to stop broadcasting] and let someone else respond, if they want to, from another device, the same way.
This will eventually need to reach to an outbuilding, with either a cat6 line run to it or a wireless repeater, so bluetooth won't do. I'm wondering if Skype set up to call all the other devices in the house would do it, but I want push to talk, not push to dial. (Not to mention the pain in the neck of giving each wi-fi only device a whole voip setup.)
(The various intercom apps I've tried don't work very well. The first time one of the devices leaves the home network, they never seem to reconnect and accept transmissions again. Even the apps that are _supposed_ to work if they have ANY kind of reception, including mobile data or other wifi networks.)
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You've given me a lot to think about, thank you. But I know I am not there yet. I am wide open to further suggestions, for mechanisms, for apps, for anything!
Just a quick reply to signal you that I'm still there
I, hopefully, will come back later with a more detailed answer.
Regarding your WiFi connection problems, are you living in an area with a lot of different wireless networks present? Because this sounds to me like the channel your WiFi router is set to is already overcrowded. At such a close distance, as you described, there should be excellent reception. Unless other signals interfere, causing your mentioned frequent disconnects.
Solution: Download the free app "WiFi Analyzer" from the market and run it to see if other networks are causing interferences.
Regards, Ichwillquark
ichwillquark said:
Regarding your WiFi connection problems, are you living in an area with a lot of different wireless networks present?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, no, actually. Quite the opposite. We're way out and surrounded by non-technically-minded people. We're the only wireless network anywhere near here, according to, for example, OpenSignalMaps and The Spouse's various wardriving type apps. Hm, pretty sure he uses Wifi Analyzer too, actually.
It's the freaking HOUSE. We can't get _any_ reception inside; not wifi, not cell, not radio, not TV. Go three steps outside the house and we have crystal-clear cell and radio reception. We've _tried_ to change "channels" on the wifi router, change routers, change DSL modem, all kinds of things; nothing works. It's the freaking house.
Being so remote is part of the problem. I have reminder alarms that go off all day; if I leave, I am gone ALL day. The poor dogs!
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Thanks for bouncing the signal and letting me know you still exist I do too. Would love to hear anything else you have to suggest. [Hey! I think I finally hit the minimum post limit necessary for being able to click "thanks!" Spiffy!]
I don't know how helpful to you this could be, but Timely, a recently created alarm clock app has alarm syncing. I don't know to which extent (snooze sync?) but it might be worth inquiring to the creator(s).
There's a trial function too from what I can remember, but after that you will need to purchase whichever functions you'd like to keep.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.bitspin.timely
If this suits you, I imagine it would be more convenient than a convoluted Tasker task.
polobunny said:
Timely, a recently created alarm clock app has alarm syncing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Manage, dismiss and snooze alarms on all your devices at once"
Oooooooh, that sounds WONderful!
That does sound a lot easier than running a media stream from a server, and working out scripts to snooze or dismiss.
I don't _see_ any mention of anything except a ringtone for the alarm sound, either on Play or on their website. I'll try it out and see.
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The Tasker [or some other location detection] looks like it's still going to be necessary, though, and I still don't know how to do it. I need to disable the alarms on ALL the other devices when I--and the primary phone--leave the house. But the alarms on the primary phone still need to go off.
So I do still need some way for [something] to detect the phone, and to disable the alarms on [everything else] when it leaves the house.
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Oh, POOP. Timely is not *compatible* with some of the devices.
Those are rooted Sensations with ancient versions of Android. If I put updated ROMs on them, will they be able to handle more recent apps? I mean, they can't even get Google Play, currently, they're still using Market. We didn't want to mess with them, because re-setting up a phone is annoying enough once, and we _thought_ they had all the apps they were going to need.
elfchick said:
Oh, POOP. Timely is not *compatible* with some of the devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might be wrong, but this might be just because the resolution of some of your devices is not supported. Which doesn't necessarily mean that the app won't work just fine, it's just the market trying to safe you from an inconvenient user experience. A possible workaround would be to download the app on a supported device, extract the apk, and then install them on the unsupported ones.
Other workaround would be to get an app that spoofs the information that is send to the market about your device's resolution. I just read about this possibility today. The xposed framework has an applet that does that.
Interesting about the possibilities of getting an app installed without the Market's "approval"; I'll try that if Timely responds to the questions I sent them. And hey, if it's just that I have a really old ROM on there...well, it might be worth updating the version of Android on those phones anyway.
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I just read about NFC tags, and I wonder if I could use them for this. Apparently you can buy NFC tags and program your phone to recognize them. So you can, for example, save battery by tapping the phone to a pre-programmed NFC tag on your door as you are leaving, and the phone will turn off wi-fi.
Perhaaaaaaaps I could use this in some way to turn off alarms in the house as I am leaving. Tap the NFC tag, a script disables the alarms on everything but [primary phone]. Tap it again when I get home, re-enable the alarms. That way nothing has to be constantly checking for the presence of [primary phone]. I can be scatterbrained, but if I put it by my keys I *should* manage to see it and remember to tap it, and tap it again when I get home and put my keys away.
Very intriguing. This seems like it _might_ be something I can script. As soon as I figure out just what I need to do to disable and re-enable alarms automatically.
Don't forget it's necessary for your phone to be NFC enabled. So definitely the Sensation cannot use the NFC directly, don't know which phone is your primary so that's to consider.
polobunny said:
Don't forget it's necessary for your phone to be NFC enabled. So definitely the Sensation cannot use the NFC directly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thanks The Sensations were retired this year when we replaced them with HTC Ones, so not a problem. I thought it'd be more clear, though, throughout the thread, if I use phrasing with descriptors like [primary phone] instead of expecting people to rmemeber which of my devices is which. (I found this thread hilarious; I could almost have been the one who wrote it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2486180 ...very helpful.)
I'm thinking touch the NFC tag on the way out and the way in, and [...profit?] the HTC One somehow sends signals to the other devices to disable/re-enable their alarms. Don't know how to do this yet, but it seems like a MUCH better idea than having all the other devices constantly scanning the network to make sure they can find [primary phone]. Especially since they might be trying to find it while it's temporarily disconnected.
Hey elfchick, just following up as you mentioned that syncing multiple devices for an Alarm clock app was just a first step and I was wondering if you had taken this concept any further?
I've got several unusual ideas about setting up tablets as Home Automation devices and wondered if you had taken this idea any further.
Thanks, Earl
Related
Anyone else using Tasker? If so, what profiles you setting up?
I love Tasker. I use it a lot on my phone for all kinds of automated tasks. For the Prime, I have set up the following so far: 1. at 11pm it shuts off WiFi and starts back up at 6:30am (save battery if I forget to put it on charger) 2. at 10pm it shuts off BT and never starts back up in morning (save battery if I forget to put it on charger or forget to turn BT off) 3. at 10pm it shuts off GPS and never starts back up in morning (save battery if I forget to put it on charger or forget to turn GPS off) - UPDATE: I see now this one will not work in the HC OS as the system requires user interaction to set GPS 4. at 11pm it shuts off Sync and starts back up at 6:30am (save battery if I forget to put it on charger and I dont want to hear gMail alerts all nigh) 5. When on power cable, it (a) turns off the need to unlock it (b) leaves the screen on 6. give me an alert tone at 20% battery 7. if it is in my car and attached via BT it turns up the brightness (since I am outside) and leaves on display (as I normally also have it plugged in) so I can use things like Torque and the Navi/GPS and see the screen thats all for now... anyone else?
Lock-N-Load said: I love Tasker. I use it a lot on my phone for all kinds of automated tasks. For the Prime, I have set up the following so far: 1. at 11pm it shuts off WiFi and starts back up at 6:30am (save battery if I forget to put it on charger) 2. at 10pm it shuts off BT and never starts back up in morning (save battery if I forget to put it on charger or forget to turn BT off) 3. at 10pm it shuts off GPS and never starts back up in morning (save battery if I forget to put it on charger or forget to turn GPS off) 4. at 11pm it shuts off Sync and starts back up at 6:30am (save battery if I forget to put it on charger and I dont want to hear gMail alerts all nigh) 5. When on power cable, it (a) turns off the need to unlock it (b) leaves the screen on 6. give me an alert tone at 20% battery 7. if it is in my car and attached via BT it turns up the brightness (since I am outside) and leaves on display (as I normally also have it plugged in) so I can use things like Torque and the Navi/GPS and see the screen thats all for now... anyone else? Click to expand... Click to collapse Never heard of that but it sounds like an awesome app Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Lock-N-Load said: I love Tasker. I use it a lot on my phone for all kinds of automated tasks. For the Prime, I have set up the following so far: 1. at 11pm it shuts off WiFi and starts back up at 6:30am (save battery if I forget to put it on charger) 2. at 10pm it shuts off BT and never starts back up in morning (save battery if I forget to put it on charger or forget to turn BT off) 3. at 10pm it shuts off GPS and never starts back up in morning (save battery if I forget to put it on charger or forget to turn GPS off) 4. at 11pm it shuts off Sync and starts back up at 6:30am (save battery if I forget to put it on charger and I dont want to hear gMail alerts all nigh) 5. When on power cable, it (a) turns off the need to unlock it (b) leaves the screen on 6. give me an alert tone at 20% battery 7. if it is in my car and attached via BT it turns up the brightness (since I am outside) and leaves on display (as I normally also have it plugged in) so I can use things like Torque and the Navi/GPS and see the screen thats all for now... anyone else? Click to expand... Click to collapse Haven't gotten my Prime yet, but that Tasker app sounds pretty cool. It sound kind of like JuiceDefender, except there's a lot more options. With those settings, what kind of Battery life do you get?
If you don't know what Tasker is, you have no idea how powerful it is. It is amazing, you can control virtually every function, setting, alert, automation, etc. What I have done here is the tip if the iceberg. I have some for my phone that sense I am in my car, thanks to BT, and does a series of 3 to 4 steps like turn up brightness, play a tone to tell me it is connected to my car, start up a certain app, etc..
Lock-N-Load said: If you don't know what Tasker is, you have no idea how powerful it is. It is amazing, you can control virtually every function, setting, alert, automation, etc. What I have done here is the tip if the iceberg. I have some for my phone that sense I am in my car, thanks to BT, and does a series of 3 to 4 steps like turn up brightness, play a tone to tell me it is connected to my car, start up a certain app, etc.. Click to expand... Click to collapse That's epic. Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Tasker is pretty awesome! A bit of a learning curve, but once you figure it out, the sky is the limit. I have a profile that if I receive a text while driving, it autoresponds telling the person texting and driving is dangerous and I am currently driving at xx MPH and will get with them later. I get a lot of people inquiring about that one. The most useful one I have is it looks at my calendar and if it is during the time of my meeting, it automatically puts my phone on vibrate. That way I don't have to worry about it. When meeting is over, it reverts back to normal.
Yes, tasker is INCREDIBLE. Once you figure it out, it can almost double your battery life (at least it did on my phone). You can try reddit.com/r/tasker, where most people post awesome tasker profiles and ask for help accomplishing certain settings. There are also a ton on the internet if you google search for tasker set-ups: http://tasker.wikidot.com/profile-index (this is a great one)
I have been using Tasker for a while. It is incredible. My current challenge is switching to switftkey when I have my TFP keyboard undocked, and to the asus keyboard when the keyboard is docked. Tasker can detect the keyboard being plugged in, but not being unplugged. If anyone solves this, I would love to hear about it.
Tasker is one of the defining differences between ios and Android. Really shows off how powerful android can really be if you're willing to take the time
OP wanna post your profiles? And maybe a quick writeup (or link) how to apply them for those who dont know... I used to use tasker for BLN to enable notifications from various apps that normally didnt work with BLN, as well as making my phone vibrate every minute or so if theres a missed notification (text, etc) for aprox 5 minutes just so that way if i was with a customer at work (retail) i could deal with the customer but wouldnt forget about the messages i got Awesome app indeed.
poniard said: I have been using Tasker for a while. It is incredible. My current challenge is switching to switftkey when I have my TFP keyboard undocked, and to the asus keyboard when the keyboard is docked. Tasker can detect the keyboard being plugged in, but not being unplugged. If anyone solves this, I would love to hear about it. Click to expand... Click to collapse Put a small SD card in the dock. Have Tasker check when it mounts/unmounts. Might not work since there's no notification on unmounting /Removable/SD. Maybe have it check for access to /Removable/SD every X minutes?
poniard said: I have been using Tasker for a while. It is incredible. My current challenge is switching to switftkey when I have my TFP keyboard undocked, and to the asus keyboard when the keyboard is docked. Tasker can detect the keyboard being plugged in, but not being unplugged. If anyone solves this, I would love to hear about it. Click to expand... Click to collapse if you are rooted, keyboard manager is a free app in the market that does this. when im not docked, i gvet thumb keyboard 4. when i am docked, asus stock. hasnt failed me yet
Got mine setup with a profile to set off an alarm when the microsd gets unmounted. Almost lost my mircrosd once before with it popping out and not realising to later - hopefully this should help
I have 4 profiles that I copied from my phone to do the same tasks: Home: When near my Home wi-fi AP, turn on wi-fi. When no longer near the AP, turn off wi-fi. Sleep Mode: Put device on silent, turn on airplane mode (11PM-5AM). Work Location: When near my office wi-fi, turn on wi-fi, turn on silent mode. When no longer near the AP (i.e. not at work), turn off wi-fi, turn off silent mode off. Work Timer: During work days/hours (M-F 6-3), turn silent mode on. After work hours, turn silent mode off. Exception: if there's an event with a description of "Vacation" on the calendar. If that exists, device does not go into silent mode. There are others that I use on my phone.
korax85 said: Got mine setup with a profile to set off an alarm when the microsd gets unmounted. Almost lost my mircrosd once before with it popping out and not realising to later - hopefully this should help Click to expand... Click to collapse BRILLIANT! I have actually seen no use for tasker for myself til now. I've always REALLY liked he concept, but there isn't ANYTHING that I want happening automatically. Until now. Thanks!!!
korax85 said: Got mine setup with a profile to set off an alarm when the microsd gets unmounted. Almost lost my mircrosd once before with it popping out and not realising to later - hopefully this should help Click to expand... Click to collapse GREAT idea. Just set one up so "card Unmounted" plays an Alarm that will go on and on and on until I address it. stretchwookie said: but there isn't ANYTHING that I want happening automatically. Until now. Thanks!!! Click to expand... Click to collapse Really, you don't want to shut BT or WiFi or GPS or Sync while you sleep to conserver battery overnight?? That alone is a useful set of tasks.
Lock-N-Load said: GREAT idea. Just set one up so "card Unmounted" plays an Alarm that will go on and on and on until I address it. Really, you don't want to shut BT or WiFi or GPS or Sync while you sleep to conserver battery overnight?? That alone is a useful set of tasks. Click to expand... Click to collapse i understand how powerful this tool can and is. but i shut my prime off at night... there is no battery to conserve... lol sorry. im glad it works for you guys though! it REALLY may be worth investing the money into though JUST for microsd unmount alerts.
Something tells me you don't fully grasp the true depth & scope of Taskers abilities. Thus far the tasks listed are child splay that barely scrape the surface.
Lock-N-Load said: Something tells me you don't fully grasp the true depth & scope of Taskers abilities. Thus far the tasks listed are child splay that barely scrape the surface. Click to expand... Click to collapse i believe you are correct. but i am not very imaginative. so its very possible that i cant just find a use for it, doesnt meant that it isnt there. i plan on doing some research into some of the already made profiles to see if someone interests me. so far, the unmount microsd seems to be the only plausible for me
Not sure how I missed this thread before; I'm a huge fan of Tasker. All of what follows was written for my Samsung Epic 4G: I don't even have Tasker installed on my TFP because so much of what I do is smartphone-focused. Sooner or later I'll get around to putting together some tablet-specific scripts. Surreptitiously snaps a photo from the front-facing camera every time the screen is unlocked, with no visual or audio indication. This is set up so as to always keep the last 2 photos stored, and will overwrite older photos. Images can be retrieved remotely via a secret text message. Set up secret text messages that trigger the phone to gather information such as GPS location (reverse geocoded to an address), speed, heading, altitude, local cell tower ID and signal strength, nearby and connected WiFi SSIDs, WAN IP, currently open app, whether the screen is turned on, battery strength, and covert photographs taken from the front and rear cameras (including the one that was captured from the front camera when the screen was last unlocked) and text/email me back without notifying whomever has the phone. Another message will make my phone freak out, announce it's been stolen, announce that all of the above information has been sent to the owner of the phone, flash the LED in an SOS, and force all outbound calls to go to me. If I send a secret message to my phone, it calls me back, and enables speakerphone, so I can speak with whomever has my phone. It also reroutes any outbound calls to my number. I can also ask it to send me photos from the front and rear cameras on the phone. Ensured that when the phone is connected to my home's local cell tower, it always rings when I call it. I never have to worry about it being on vibrate while under a couch cushion or in a snowbank next to the driveway. When I plug in a headset or it connects to my car's bluetooth, it pops up a list of media applications for me to use, and if I don't select one or back out of the selection, it automatically starts my Pandora, and kills the app when I unplug / disconnect. Basically, I get in my car, my music plays. I get out, it stops. Same with headphones. When it detects the cell tower near my work, it enables vibrate. If it detects a cell tower that is not the one near my home or work, it turns on the ringer and disables WiFi (unless I re-enable it). If someone calls me that I don't even want a voicemail from, I add their number to a list in Tasker, and when they call me, it picks up the line and immediately hangs it up. Working on one that will play back a fake "Your call could not be completed as dialed" message. Checks accuweather.com in the morning on work days to see if it's raining, snowing, sleeting, or hailing. If any of the above, it rings an alarm 30 minutes early. I also built in snooze functions and a voice notification in the morning about the outside temperature and conditions. This script recently broke (accuweather probably did something to affect the output of my HTTPGet) so I've been using the voice notification in Alarm Clock Plus, though it doesn't wake me up early. With current weather conditions I'm going to have to get my script fixed for the head start. My how-to on this script is on Tasker's wiki, here: http://tasker.wikidot.com/weather-clock If I start Google Navigation with GPS disabled, it closes the app, enables GPS, and starts the app back up again. No more fiddling with GPS settings while on the go. Sometimes this script is not 100% reliable... I've got to look at it again some time to figure out why. I made a blog post a while back about how to take the pictures remotely with the camera, and you can read about it here: http://sean-the-electrofreak.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-fun-with-tasker-covert-mugshots.html The email-attachment part can also be used to send audio recordings, which I've not actually implemented yet but wouldn't be difficult. I've been putting off for the last 6 months or so my write-up on all the rest... I just have to find time for it!
What's the purpose of NFC tags ?
I've been seeing videos of NFC tags and was wanting to know what is the real benefit from using them ? Some people turn on WiFi, Bluetooth, brightness and so on by swiping a tag on the back of the phone. I can see a real use for payments, can anyone shed some light on the tags . I've seached the net but was wanting to get you guys opinions on tags. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
There's a lot you can do with NFC but really not much use right now. There are apps that allow you to program a tag with what ever info you want, there are apps that use NFC to launch tasks like set an alarm, switch profiles etc. Right now I'm helping a friend promote his group and at are events he has me and his promoter give out NFC bracelets that have his info and a link to a mobile site with free music and concert info. If you have a bracelet already we can also keep track of the concerts you have been to and he picks a few of the fans who come to multiple concerts and let them back stage to hang with his band. Pretty cool stuff
The tags are a neat gimmick and I use several. I have one in my car that I swipe when I get in and it turns off wifi, turns on bluetooth, and resets my volumes for car use. When I get home, I have swipe it again and it turns off bluetooth, turns on wifi, and resets my volumes for home use. I also put a tag on my Aircrew ID, so I can swipe my ID on my phone and enable or disable airplane mode. Now I could do all this manually, but a swipe of the NFC tag takes less than a second. Plus my employer requires my phone to be password locked but I can swipe a tag and execute these functions without unlocking my phone. Lastly, it is pretty cool to show off the capabilities of your phone in front of an IPhone geek. Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
I have one that users can tap and it automatically connects their phone to my protected wifi network. It gives them everything needed to log on. I have another in my nightstand that sets my alarm when I place my phone on my nightstand at night. Finally, I have one under my lightswitch as I leave that turns on/off wifi
I actually just ordered a couple last night, I can't wait to get them. They threw in a free keychain too, which is cool cause I'll probably use it as my "car mode" invoker. The guest WiFi tag is a cool idea, I might have to give that a shot. +1 on impressing your iFriends , it's hard to deny how cool the technology is... Sent from my EVO LTE
Disabling everything that has to do with phone- emissions
Ok Allow me to explain. I am sure there will be naysayers saying it isn't possible or attribute it to placebo effect or whatever. I am having really sensitive issues with my Samsung galaxy S2. Before I had a simple nokia. I didn't use it as much, and I didn't experience any discomfort. Now with my S2 I am feeling pains/stings, in my stomach, brain, teeth, heart, eyes, legs, fingers. I know how it sounds, but that's appearently how sensitive I am. I know it is caused by the device, but I don't know what causes it. For example wifi feature, basic call/receive- cell phone technology something else or a combination.. I didn't test this as much. Even if I am doing something else and someone *activates their phone* meaning the screen lits up, and I don't even see the person doing it. I know usually very quickly that a phone is nearby. So when the phone screen is dark. I don't experience it as much, more so when it is in *usermode*. Anyway I don't wanna sell it because I don't know exactly what is causing it and it cost me 300 euro's. I still have my basic Samsung for calls. I still want to use it for mp3 playback because I like the way it works + some offline games. So my question here is. I already disabled wifi+ mobile data+bluetooth icon Is there a way to de-activate the MOST components other then what I need to use the mp3 player+ play plats vs zombies for example. I want to de-activate or freeze everything with Titanium backup tool or maybe you guys know a better way? Please assist me in what is safe to freeze.
look at the stickied thread in themes n apps section.. :good:
This is not helping my friend. I need someone who knows what they are talking about. I want to shut down every service/ app that may communicate any kind of signal, mobile/wifi. Does the Samsung really not put out any wifi signal when u press off the icon? What services may block incoming calls or "checking" connecting to the airwaves/network. Basically I want the telephone dead of emitting anything.. I don't care about normal apps that don't use any kind of emittance.
Hi chrisssj2, When you press off the icon it just shuts down wifi so no it doesnt put out any wifi signal. The best and safest way is just to freeze apps since you have to do more work when you accidently deleted an neccesary app. The service that does checking connecting to mobile network is telephony/ril service, I dont know the exact name how samsung calls it but you can use airplane mode since it disables simcard/mobilenetwork and it disables wifi. You could also disable bluetooth and location services/gps. It seems that you are very, very sensitive to electronic devices. There is also probably also a list of applications what you can disable on your galaxy s2 but I cant find it for you since my browser on my tablet (chrome) updated and now bugs like hell. Did you already went to a doctor or maybe googled on internet about your sensitivity for electronic devices? Maybe there is like a temporary fix or a solution for that problem like some kind of case which reduces it so it won't irritate you.
Hello, How do I use airplane mode? I have heard of this but I have never used such thing. I have wifi gps, vibrate, screen rotate, blue tooth. mobile data, power saving, sync . Only things on are powersaving, vibrate and sync. (not sure what sync does) No I haven't. Because I know it isn't an accepted thing... you know people calling you crazy and all.. I read they have stickers for it, but there also naysayers on this.. not sure. I also have disabled wifi on my internet router. I hope the signal is really 100% off when you do this. So I can really test how Ill feel. I did not find this "telephony/ril service"... I am not overreacting because I have been annoying on it for like 1 year now (got the phone almost 2 years now.) And I just seem to get more sensitive to it.. and have been ignoring it, but now something said enough is enough.. Anyway I took out the sim and put it in my simple nokia phone. I will be so happy if I not get electrocuted by my phone and can listen music on it ^^ Very important to me, I like it way better then a normal mp3 player.
Is it possible to automate the toggling of a WiFi Hotspot?
I have an Android head unit that I'd like to get a constant internet connection to every time I'm in my vehicle. I am trying to accomplish this without root. I have a Nexus 6P right now, but I have an S8+ coming and I'm not likely to be rooting it. Basically what I want to do is that every time my phone connects to my cars bluetooth, it enables the hotspot. When bluetooth is disconnected, I want wifi to enable again. I want this to happen automatically, if it requires a widget or something to toggle, I may as well just use the normal hotspot toggle in my notification bar. I own Tasker, but I can't really figure out how to use it. I don't know if it can help me without root anyway. I tried MacroDroid, and I was able to make a macro that did what I wanted it to, but not make it automated, I had to manually run the macro every time. So then I tried Automate, and I was actually able to make it work, but I had to make it an infinite loop for it to detect the bluetooth state change, which was hell on my battery. Otherwise, without the loop, the story was the same as MacroDroid, I had to run it manually to make it function. So, anyone know of a way I can accomplish this (without having it drain my battery by keeping my CPU awake)? I don't mind purchasing an app if there's a reasonable amount of confidence it will do what I want.
How to kill the Android 8.1 "Turn off mobile data?" popup?
I'm running Lineage 15.1 on my Moto G5 Plus and I have to say I'm very satisfied with everything in the new release with the exception of one thing: the annoying popup it gives you when you turn off mobile data. Does anyone know how to turn this off? It's driving me nuts, reminds me of my old Samsung. Any help, suggestions, or simply +1s are appreciated.
I'd like to know that too. Mighty annoying little popup.
Why Android, Why? So makes me want to toss my phone every time, multiple times a day, all day long. YES, I'm f** sure, that's why i clicked it and additionally that's why I put it in a list of fixed quick commands because I fully am aware exactly what the f*** it's suppose to do. It's a popup that covers 85% of my screen that can be swiped away ONLY if you DO NOT want it to do what you want, why is this backwards. Asking Bixby or Google to turn of mobile data as part of a list of commands is not possible, ie. "I'm home" is set up to 1.turn on wi-fi 2.Turn off mobile data 3.Open calendar - What happens instead is 1.wi-fi-on 2.attempt to mobile data off - popup for confirmation 3.opens calendar - But mobile data never turns off because the popup was never confirmed, so for all I know I get booted off wi-fi and am streaming movies on mobile data. So makes Bixby and Goggle "quick commands" USELESS to me. Forcing me to touch my phone more often than I should have to, forcing me to really think that Android may believe we are as clueless to customization as iOS users, Forcing me to have to stop and stare at phone in disgust Do I really need to be told 6 times a day this same message over and over? On top of the daily harassment of 2 dozen popups about damaging my hearing from loud volume. IT'S MY HEARING ! Where is the "Don't show again" button? Why need a confirmation instead of just a notification? You want to tell me that wifi is disconnected - sure, tell me data is off/on - sure thanks, but why is there an extra button to push for anything to happen anymore. Not very "Smart" these days, OR they think we're not as smart these days. IDK but I need a fix, anybody?
I know how u feel bro am having the same problem on my asus zenfone max pro. I searched everywhere. Haven't found a clue how to.