Tasker has always been an incredibly versatile and useful tool letting you automate your phone and even your smart home. The latest beta, 5.9.beta.8, makes the app even more powerful: It has gained the ability to react to Logcat events on your device, so it can now be triggered by snoozing an alarm or holding the back button. It can also discern which finger you're using to unlock your phone and start an action accordingly.

Logcat is the place in Android where apps can save logs of any event happening. The Tasker beta is able to tap into it by recording logs for a user-specified timeframe. Developer João Dias demonstrates this by logging how he taps the snooze button on Google's clock app. After he's done recording, he isolates the specific snoozing log in Tasker and makes it a trigger that activates a voice recording saying "Alarm snoozed."

There are more useful examples. The Tasker beta allows you to augment the Pixel 4's Motion Sense gestures, letting you add swipe movements to adjust media volume while a supported app is playing something. You can make a device with a fingerprint reader recognize which finger you're using to unlock and set up Tasker routines unique to each one. You can also program reactions to the software keyboard being shown or hidden, create actions triggered by long-pressing the back button, or use the power or Bixby button on Samsung devices as triggers.

Other improvements in Tasker 5.9.beta.8 include the native integration of AutoShortcut, a more accurate location action, and the option to long-press a variable to know its value.

You can get the update by joining the beta release channel on Google Play or by downloading it from the developer's post on Reddit, where he also shared a detailed changelog.

Source: Reddit