I don’t know about you, but until a few weeks ago, I hated my cell phone ritual right before bed. I’d snuggle up next to my wife, only to be jolted by an unsilenced notification a moment later. The process of doing my “goodnight notification check,” adjusting my alarms for the day ahead, and silencing my phone annoyed both me and my wife. I get done work at 11pm, so every second spent fiddling with my phone before bed is time I could’ve spent unwinding with Hannah.
A few weeks ago, I was browsing Google Plus and stumbled onto a post from the developers of Trigger, an automation app for android that I use with my NFC tags. It mentioned that they’ve created an app that’s easy to use, beautiful, and effective at automating tasks on your Android device.
Terms
What do I mean by automating? That would be creating an action for your phone to perform when certain criteria are meant. For example, I have an NFC tag in my car that, when tapped, will open up Google Play Music, connect to my Bluetooth speaker, and start playing the next track. Another would be to set your phone to vibrate or silence when you connect to your work’s wifi network. It’s allowing your phone to do for you automatically, what you would otherwise have spent time doing. To see some really crazy examples, check out my friend Armando Feirrera on YouTube to see what you can do when you go all out.
The problem with apps that allow you to perform these actions are they are often inaccessible to entry level users. They get very complex very quickly, and since many aren’t free, there’s a price to pay for failed attempts. That’s why I recommend Agent.
An Easier way to “Do All That Stuff”
Agent is an entry-level automation app that has different general profiles with tweakable settings tucked into each category. Once you open the app, Agent enables all profiles (Battery, Sleep, Parking, Meeting, and Drive) automatically. My personal favorite profile: Sleep.
I’ve tweaked the Sleep profile to start at 11:45, silence all calls and text, but allow those from family members I’ve designated. I also use the “send text to verify urgency” option, which, when checked, will send the following message to someone who texts me:
I’m sleeping. If you text “urgent”, my phone will ring loudly and wake me up.
Yeah. Crazy. You can also specify which days for this profile to be activated, as well as different settings to be tweaked like auto-sync disabling and Bluetooth toggle.
I don’t use the other profiles near as often, but they’re detailed as follows:
- Battery- “Conserves battery when you need it most.” You can set what percent the profile will kick in, and what functions of your phone it disables to maximize those last drops of energy.
- Parking- “Remembers where you parked automatically.” Logs when you’ve stopped driving and places a pin on a map so you can find your car in that crowded holiday parking lot.
- Meeting- “Sildences your phone so you’re not disturbed during meetings.” Pulls info from your calendar and silences your phone during appointments.
- Drive- “Reads out and auto responds to messages and calls.” Detects when you’re in your car and helps you to be distraction free by responding to calls and texts for you.
This can really help you streamline your busy schedule and shoo away some distractions that keep us from doing the important stuff in home and ministry (like spend time with our wives…especially spend time with our wives).
If you’ve ever tried an automation app, how was your experience? Did you find it cumbersome or confusing? Could you benefit from a simple, clean app like Agent? Let us know on social media sites everywhere, or in the comment section below.
[…] that ignores all notifications except for preselected apps and numbers. Android users, you have something similar in Agent. Turn on this feature when you are reading Scripture, praying, and spending time doing devotions […]