Tasker is among the most powerful Android apps out there that can unlock the door to a world of possibilities. You can use it to automate daily tasks or create complex actions which can be triggered when a specific event occurs. What's even better is that the app is regularly updated with new features and enhancements. Now, Tasker 5.15 is rolling out on the Play Store with some useful additions, including support for Android 13's dynamic app icons.

Google first introduced themed icons in Android 12 but limited them to its own apps. That's changing with Android 13, and Tasker is among the first apps to take advantage of it. This means if you are running the developer preview of the OS on your Pixel, the Tasker icon will now blend in with other supported shortcuts on your home screen.

tasker-android-13-icon

Another notable new addition in this update is support for custom toast messages that can be themed as per your liking — you can even make them use the same Material You color as the system UI. Toast messages can also be made clickable, so they only disappear when you tap on them. Alternatively, you can configure the tap on it to trigger a specific task or action.

A new Get Clipboard action can pull multiple details from the clipboard like text, image, or URL, with the Clipboard Changed event allowing you to trigger a task every time a new item is copied.

More importantly for heavy Tasker users, the update adds the ability to show an error when an action fails to run, including the profile that was triggered, the time it happened, and the exact error. This will help pin down the exact cause of failure when creating complex action tasks in the app.

You can find the detailed changelog for Tasker 5.15 below:

Main Additions

  • Added dynamic app icon for Android 13.
  • Added Title, Icon, Icon Size, Background Color, Task, Timeout, Continue Task Immediately, Text Color, Hide On Click, Show Over Everything, Use HTML and Position options to Flash action.
  • Added Image field to Set Clipboard action allowing you to set put an image on the clipboard. Also added Get Clipboard action and Clipboard Changed event that triggers every time the clipboard changes. These allow you to get text, uri, html text, image uri, mimetypes and extras clipboard values.
  • Added option to show an image in the Text Dialog action and so renamed it to Text/Image Dialog. Also added option to show some text in the List Dialog action.
  • Added Action Error Notifications: when an action ends in error and Continue On Error is not enabled you'll get a notification alerting you of the error.
  • Added a helper to the Output Format field in the Parse/Format DateTime action.
  • Added Variable Map action.
  • Added Clone option when long clicking an action which will clone and edit the new action right away.
  • Added %array(*) array function that gets a random item from the array.

Other Additions

  • Added option to reset action error notifications
  • Made text color in Flash action automatically be set to a contrasting color if Background Color is set but Text Color is not set
  • Made long-click Clone and Enable/Disable actions show icons depending on which you use more often
  • Added all_metadata and all_metadata_keys variables to the Music Track Changed event
  • Added continueTaskImmediately parameter to musicPlay javascript action
  • Added Manage All Files option to Menu > More > Android Settings menu
  • Added Manage All Files permission which is mandatory for target API 30
  • Added Use Glocal Namespace option to all relevant actions that use file related root enabled operations
  • Added Your First Variable begginer's video in the Tasker menu and when you first select the VARS tab
  • Added Continue Task On Error option to the Variable Convert action
  • Added missing permissions from GetCurrentAppAndActivity() function in Tasker Function action
  • Added MMS Body filter field to the Received Text event
  • Added option to Ignore DND in the Sound Mode action
  • Added option to output colors in the Get Material You Colors action without the hashtag
  • Added option to run the Run Shell action in Tasker Settings. Some commands like ip neigh stopped working when Tasker started targeting API 30.
  • Added privacy policy on the first screen that shows when you first open Tasker in a fresh installation
  • Added tip about being careful about what you send with the HTTP actions
  • Added tip that you can use HTML formatting when sharing to TaskerNet
  • Added warning when running a root action without the Use Global Namespace option enabled
  • Moved Run Log to a Monitoring sub-menu. More to come there later.
  • Show link to Android issuetracker when setting up Sound Mode action showing that Android has a bug that doesn't allow it to work properly in all situations
  • Workaround for getting art for Spotify music in the Music Track Changed event because of a bug in the Spotify app
  • Updated Ukranian translation

If you find the app a bit too daunting, make sure to check out our beginner's guide to Tasker to automate (almost) anything on your phone.