Tasker's long-overdue redesign is in beta, and it looks awesome

Android's most powerful automation app Tasker has always been about form over function, and when so much functionality is crammed into one app by one single developer, it's easy to see why he'd rather spend that time on adding more functionality instead of making things look pretty. That said, every app eventually needs a redesign, and Tasker's is finally in beta.

And it honestly looks pretty good.

New themes

Tangerine, Clouds, Dark, Light, Light with Dark ActionBar

There are two completely new themes in Tasker 5.0: the new default Tangerine and the greyscale Clouds. We also have the new UI in some of the old theme colors: Dark, Light, and Light with Dark ActionBar. Beyond the colors of each theme, the new layout is quite similar to the old one function-wise with some Material Design loving, but there are a few functional switches, too. Most notably, the New Task/Profile/Action button is now consistently in the bottom right Floating Action Button rather than moving to the bottom middle during Task assembly. This now pushes the icon picker for a task to the middle of the bottom bar where the new action button used to be during Task assembly.

This is for certain a beta, and while the new UIs are interesting to play with, the app is a little crashy right now, so if you rely on Tasker for anything super important like your alarm clock, you might want to wait a while. Tasker 5.0 also seems to only support Android 5.0+, so if you had any old devices kicking around on Kit Kat, it looks like you'll be staying on the current version.

Tasker 5.0 Beta

Ara Wagoner

Ara Wagoner was a staff writer at Android Central. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing about cases, Chromebooks, or customization, she's wandering around Walt Disney World. If you see her without headphones, RUN. You can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.

16 Comments
  • form* over function
  • Thanks! Sorry, I am useless before breakfast.
  • Function over form. Its form was pretty horrible :)
  • Now, how about someone have a word with the Titanium Backup developer? There's a truly great app that needs a UI overhaul in the worst possible way.
  • This app was great when it came out. Then it became far to complex.. Stopped using it. Stopped caring. Still don't..
  • You might want to check out Llama for a simpler life. I went through phases of Tasker being too complex (although now with Autovoice + Google Home it's amaaaaaazing).
  • Awesome app. As long as making it pretty doesn't impact functionality, I'm all for it. We use Tasker *constantly* to interact with home automation and our home server. It should be built-in to Android as the End-user Automation and Scripting Environment. @DWEIL mentioned Titanium Backup; that should be part of Android as well. Both could then have root access, without having to root the device. Hide them behind a developer option for advanced users if you want to keep things simple, but the functionality needs to be included.
  • Hear hear!
  • I hope some updates come to the 'Scenes' in tasker. Hopefully along the lines of Material.
  • Ara, re-read your first sentence: "Tasker has always been about for over function". From context, I think you meant to write "Tasker has always been about function over form".
  • Any time I even think about switching to iOS, I remember this app and the possibility of switching is immediately gone. Is it user friendly? Oh hell no, but I'm willing to google for help/recipes to get this kind of control and convenience. I hope the new UI changes don't interfere with that.
  • Still too much work to use. With every new Android/handset upgrade this app had been used less by me. Same for the need to root.
  • Thanks for the post. I use Tasker to automatically monitor my texts - who the text came from - key words inside of those texts - and take action depending on those key words. NOAA Tsunami warnings etc through Twitter - which using Tasker will automatically forward those texts to my family and friends depending on those key words. I know of no other application with that ability - to me that's just about priceless...
  • Yup love it, one of my top paid for apps, Tasker and Music Boss (for automation with my Pebble) and Diaro for my diary needs.
  • You basically neeed to be a programer to use this app. If I knew how to code, I'd simply write The apps i needed and avoid this app to make the little applets it offers. This app is not for the masses, but a VERY small niche. Maybe the developer finally wants to make money by making his app for the average android owner instead of the XDA crowd
  • I'm not a programmer, yet I've set up quite advanced things in Tasker. Does it require some work and thought? Absolutely. Do you need to be a programmer to use it. Absolutely not.