Tasker tips
Meeting Reminder (Mobile)
When I’m on the go, I don’t always know when a meeting is about to start. On my phone, calendar reminders often go ignored (there are so many of them that it’s just too noisy to keep up). So I set up Zoom reminders to ensure that I never miss an important scheduled meeting.
Disable Waiting Room
Zoom recently turned on a bunch of privacy-related settings by default. One of those is the waiting room, which requires you to admit each attendee individually. Our calls are mostly internal anyway (and it can take a while to admit 10+ people individually), so we turned this setting off under Settings > In Meeting (Advanced) > Waiting room. (Note: It takes a while to scroll through all the options on this page, so we suggest you CTRL+F “waiting room” to find it quickly.)
Touch Up My Appearance
This is more on the spectrum of “fun” than “useful,” but I love that it’s a feature. In Settings > Video, check “Touch up my appearance,” and Zoom will soften the focus on your camera, theoretically minimizing any issues with your skin.
Slack
We meet in Zoom, but we live in Slack. Which is why the Zoom/Slack integration is so helpful. You can use it to start Zoom meetings right from Slack. Just type “/zoom” in Slack to see all the options. We also use Slack’s recurring reminder feature to remind our team when the daily huddle is about to start, both 5 minutes in advance and right as the meeting is starting. To set this up, just type this into Slackbot:/remind #[roomname] every weekday at 9:55am that Daily Huddle is starting in 5 minutes! [zoom link]
Zapier
Zapier connects Zoom with hundreds of other apps, but perhaps the most useful integration of all is scheduling tools. When you schedule a meeting with someone, whether using Calendly or Google Calendar, rather than following up with that person to send them a Zoom meeting link, or manually updating the calendar invite with the link, you can have Zapier automatically add your Zoom link to the event, making meeting scheduling hands-free. Note: Want more advice on all things remote work? Subscribe to our email list!
Tasker Profile to Disable Lock Screen When Looking at Pictures
I have it when I’m looking at pictures, and just because the screen timeout is up, I have to sign in again. If you don’t want this happening to you, you have the following Tasker profile:
- Go to profile and choose Application
- Select Camera from the apps listed
- Create a new task and tap on +
- Choose Display and change the screen timeout as high as you want
Tasker Profile to Auto-Answer Calls
Not being able to answer a call can be devastating, especially if it’s an important one. Don’t let that happen to you with this useful Tasker profile.
- Go to Profile
- Choose New state making sure that the context is Bluetooth connected
- Make sure the name is the same as the Bluetooth of your phone
- Choose Done
- Choose the profile and select Add Context and Incoming Call
- Leave the Call Number empty, so every call is answered
- Create a new task and choose +
- See if your device is idle and wait for about 5 seconds
- Take the call
Tasker Profile to Have Tasker Read Out Your WhatsApp Notifications
Having your WhatsApp notifications read out loud can be really helpful sometimes. To set this up, below is the Tasker profile you’ll need:
- Create a new profile
- Tap on the + icon
- Go to an event and look for a notification
- Choose WhatsApp from the list
- Make another profile
- Choose the + icon
- Select Display in State
- Create a new task and choose +
- Select Misc and choose Say
- Type New WhatsApp %NTITLE under the text field space
Flash a Message When Someone Tries to Open Your Files with this Tasker Profile
I don’t think anyone likes it when someone tries to get into their personal files. It’s no one’s business but your own, but there are some people out there that just don’t get that. To get an alert when someone tries to open your personal files, you can use the following Tasker profile:
- Create a new profile
- Go to Application and choose what files you want to get an alert for
- Create a new task and set action 1 to home screen
- Go to Alert and choose beep
- Go to flash and type in the message you want the intruder to see
Tasker Profile for Low Battery Alert
Sometimes you’re busy that you don’t realize that your battery is low. Experts say that your battery should never fall below 40%, but sometimes it’s hard to follow that advice. With the following Tasker profile, a particular song will play when your phone reaches a certain battery level.
- Create a new profile and go to State
- Choose Power and select Battery level
- Set how low the battery has to get so, you’ll be alerted
- Make another profile and choose State
- Go to Hardware and choose USB connected
- Select Any Checkmark invert
- Create a new task and select the + icon
- Go to Media and choose Music Play
- Paste the storage path of the MP3 file
- Go to Net & turn off Bluetooth, WiFi, and Auto-sync