Tasker on Android TV

Sorry. I need to use an Android TV device to test it on when I can :/

couldn't you emulate it with android studio for example?

or you could start another fundraiser.. there are google tv devices under 50€.

Yea, get a Google TV with Chromecast dongle. The HD version is can be as cheap as $20 second hand.

If you actually want want to invest so you can get something nice to use after.

There's many good boxes for $100 (Walmart brand is one)

Nvidia Shield is the best though. The AI upscaling is amazing.

I actually didn't remember to use an emulator for this before, you're right! How could I forget?

I was able to experience the issue now, so that's a start. The problem is that I'm not sure how to fix it yet.

You don't happen to have any experience with this issue on the development side, do you? 😅

not seeing the forest vor the trees.. happens to the best ;)

unfortunately that is as far as i can help, but i'm sure you'll find a solution or that someone else can help. 

Unfortunately I didn't find a way around it yet. No matter what I try the pesky menu doesn't want to appear on the TV :/...

that's really strange.. i haven't experienced this with any other sideloaded app. 

join even has an icon on the original launcher.. (can't use it though, because google doesn't allow login anymore, same with solid explorer google drive etc) 

Thanks for the suggestions! About Hotkey, do you mean a key on the TV's remote?

You can sideload apps on Chromecast with Google TV.

To get the apk to it you can either use an app to send the file over or use a USB hub and flash drive.

Can you explain to me exactly how to connect the phone and TV to perform such an action?

@sequlla: it's not really worth the effort at the moment since the Tasker UI is so incredibly busted on Android TV. That's what this enhancement request is for.

I just want when I get notification from camera (motion detected) open my xiaomi camera pip mode on phone and then on tv. I just don't know how to do it 🤣

I agree -- most/all of us whom are asking for, "Android TV Support" aren't asking for much more than the basics: Android TV Launcher support, fixing the hamburger menu, fixing the inability to access numerous UI elements, and a few other basic Android TV things I'm forgetting off the top of my head.

@Joao: minimal amount of effort is being asked for at this time, not full-blown Android TV support. To be specific, most/all of us aren't even consciously aware of features specific to Android TV, so we don't really know what we're missing. I know there are a few cool things specific to Android TV I've seen in the dev docs, but since I've since forgotten them, they aren't much of a concern, lol!

I haven't tried this yet, but AppCloner may work for most/all of these issues. However, it would take a bit of work to fix the UI issues, plus AppCloner rarely seems to work, so YMMV.

@ Patrick

Fyi: for your YouTube button, try Button remapper (I believe it's even in the play store), but you have a point, lots of use cases for Tasker on Android TV

Thank you very much for your kind comment 😁

I would just say this though: are there really that many people trying to use Tasker on Android TV? 😅 

I do get some requests here and there about it but there other issues that are much more pressing to me at the moment unfortunately...

I don't want to minimize the issue, I'm just trying to understand how many people this really affects...

About bringing in more developers, yes, that would be cool, but it's a very hard step to take :) Maybe I'll eventually have to do it but for now I think I can still handle it, albeit more slowly than I would like.

Thanks again! :)

@João Dias I think there are a lot of people that want this, but maybe don't react to this message specifically 

@João Dias Yep, there are a number of useful applications for Tasker on an Android TV. My remote has a dedicated YouTube button, and I use Tasker's logcat feature to capture the button press, and open the ad-free SmartTubeNext instead. And some apps will run on Android TV, but will be rotated 90° in portrait mode, and I use Tasker to lock the rotation to landscape when they're opened, and reset when they're closed. My workaround for not having the hamburger menu is often to write my profile/task on my phone, export it, and import it to the TV, but I too would rather just do it all in one place.

Thanks!

@João Dias

This is a catch 22, is the application not popular on the platform because it can't run it correctly, or that it doesn't get support because it not popular.

I found other ways to do what I needed, but I stopped looking into it because it didn't work correctly...    I subscribe to this to know if it ever gets fixed.

There isn't a huge customer base, so I don't know how much time you want to put into it (though this seems like a simple fix even if you tell users they need a mouse or something).  But the whole platform also suffers from this same catch 22 issue...  Devs don't support it because it isn't popular, but it isn't popular, in part, because devs don't support it...

I might have a use-case that is not standard but I am looking to use a cheap Walmart Android TV box to provide basic Android functionality to an outdated car navigation display for canbus gauges. I was hoping to achieve the handling of autostarting apps on boot, automating shutdown and other car related functions using Tasker. I tried sideloading Tasker to the box and while it *sort of* works, functionality is limited due to the interface.

I understand the difficulty and am not complaining, just maybe thought you might find it interesting :)

Thanks a ton for all of your work @João Dias!

@João Dias - I'm not sure if this is because something has changed recently for Android TV or what, but not only does it have a 'hamburger', but you can actually open settings > system > about > click build number 7 times > and boom enable developer options -including usb debugging!! Tasker would be AMAZING for being able to force apps to stay locked in landscape mode amongst many other things including the ability to access and use custom settings.. I tested the latest option of tasker on it and it functioned just fine as far as navigation and control -only issue really is that its listed as 'incompatible with this device' on the play store -i didn't extensively test functionality of all the features to be fair but seems to work fine so far..

Thank you for the update :) That's good news.

If it works already it might just be a matter of getting the UI to play nice with AndroidTV..  

There are actually a few more requirements like making sure that the app is usable with a d-pad... 😅 I don't think Tasker is able to be controlled that way very well, is it?

Not really, ideally, and i'm talking blue skies, it would be awesome for tasker (on TV) to have some sort of webserver that would allow the owner to login to a webpage and create the tasks from there as a remote-like solution. obviously this could also be used on the normal tasker version, thinking about it it could even be a seperate application connected through some port... Would be awesome to be able to create/edit my tasker items through a webpage on my PC :-)

@João Dias, d-pad functionality is admittedly a bit janky, the elements aren't properly in order; I had to use a keyboard to tab through it at points; using a mouse works though just fine.. The *PRIMARY ISSUE* is being unable to obtain (verify) a license because you can't download it from the play play store and tasker (unless this has changed since my last post) doesn't have an alternative method of verifying the purchase/license coded into it, yet, anyway.. 😏

Pro-tip: get an RF-based remote from Amazon that has, "mouse cursor" mode. That solves all of the UI issues. Also, consider TeamViewer, although the last time I tried it I thought it didn't work for some reason.

@Nick Betcher Or you can just use a spare mouse you have lying around, bit cheaper 😉

@Nick Betcher

no, it doesn't solve all the issues.

on many devices the top bar is cut off, so even with a mouse, you can't use it.

@Andy Sounds like an issue with the ROM shipped with the Android device. I've found that an NVIDIA SHIELD is worth every, single, penny that you put into buying it with. (And it doesn't have that issue either) Regular updates, amazing Q&A, polished finish, true connection to the community's desires, and not too expensive of a price. A++

@christophe vandingelen Sure, but then you kinda need a keyboard. An RF remote that I have has a useful (and not too painful) keyboard on the back of it and on the front a button for mouse cursor mode... Like $12 lol. But yeah, a mouse is kind of an obvious, "duh" -- and I'm pretty oblivious to the obvious occasionally LOL

in my case it's a sony tv.. it's rom is very close to stock android tv, compared to other brands. 

nvidia shield is a good device, but i need android directly baked in for some of my tasks (hdmi cec isn't enough).

I have a 2019 Shield TV Pro and I'm also using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse.  But it would still be much better to have Tasker work natively on the device instead of sideloading, manually updating, and having some of the UI issues that still exist.

Sweet!  You can just side load it.  THANK YOU!!!

@Brian

of course you can sideload it, but it get's frustrating really fast, when you get stuck because of the missing burger menu. then you have to go back to home screen and start the app again from the painfully slow sideload launcher, only to realize that you have to start your task from scratch.. 

@Brian Yes, you can sideload it

@Andy Like I said, not a perfect solution, but it's the only one we've got. And it's working for me, that's the most important thing. BTW, I do have a hamburger menu in tasker. 

The example that I have is that when my doorbell rings and the TV is on, since my phone gets a notification from it, my phone sends a specific text via Join to the TV (sideload Join on the TV the same way as described in the video). Tasker reacts to that text and opens the nest app on the TV (sideload nest the same way as in the video), so I can see who's at the door

sure it's better than nothing ;)

i use it to dim the lights when i press play and to brighten it when i press pause.

also it automatically sets my sound system to music mode when i open spotify.

very strange that you got the menu.. what version are you on?

i don't have anything in the top bar (no menu, check mark, etc)

btw join has a handy way to install local apps directly on other devices. easiest way to sideload and it even appears on the android tv homescreen (whish tasker would too).

I don't know the version by heart, and I'm not able to check right now, because I recently moved in with my girlfriend and probably will be here for a long time. But it's one of the latest, cause I didn't do it long ago. 

Very nice setup. I do that via home assistant. 

Nice, I didn't know Join could do that. I'll definitely gonna use that in the future, thanks.

You're welcome

Doesn't seem that Tasker will get leanback support in the near future. But there's some 3rd party apps that can help on some of the issues.

There's an old app called TV App Repo. It can generate a companion loader for sideloaded apps that dont have leanback support. (You need the Github version, not the one in play store) 

https://github.com/ITVlab/TvAppRepo/releases/

For easier sideloading apps from Android phone to TV box, check out Easy Fire Tools. (Works on all TV boxes) 

It allows you to install apps directly from the phone unto the TV box.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.agondev.easyfiretools

I used Tasker to make a kid app that create an overlay on TV screen, showing various info. Such as connection type icon, vpn status, time and more.

Works great, but was a real pain creating and testing due to the problems running Tasker on TV box (Lack of hamburger menu and navigation)

I ended up doing the coding on phone. Then create kid app and test that on TV box. Not a very effective development cycle. 😒

I have latest version of Tasker on TV box and hamburger menu is still missing.

It might be an android OS issue since it works for others? My box is running Android 9/Pie. 

Wow, that's nice. Would you be so kind to share this profile/overlay (don't worry, I'll fit it for my tv, just want to see how you did it)

I'll see if I can find the profile/script. It's not really usable as standalone, as it's made to work as a kid app.

With the issues with hamburger menu and the absence of any fix/update of Tasker, I gave up coding and running the script on the TV. And instead create a kid app using phone that was easier to run.

It was one of my 1st larger tasker scripts and I was working on an improved V2, but never finished it because of the problematic development cycle.

What Android OS version you you run on your TV box?

Mine is Android 9 Pie. And I have no hamburger menu. (I tried EVERYTHING) 

I haven't checked that in a while, but it's the Nvidia shield pro with the latest update, so my guess is Android 10, although it could still be 9 with an updated interface, don't know what Nvidia did for that. The only thing I do know it's that they screwed up my Disney plus 😜🤣🤣

Heres my tasker project/script.

One of my first attempts at Tasker code, so not the best coding example

https://we.tl/t-rDhajq2aMK

Ok, thanks, I'll try it out

Here's the kid app version if you want to try it.

https://we.tl/t-m8f4Rq8BxX

Thanks

Original post is 3+ years old and still no changes or fix of reported issues. So don't get your hopes up 🤬

As you can see it doesn't have too many votes.. Sorry!