Best Automation App for Android: Routines and Six Apps

Phone automation is one idea repeated: when this happens, do that. The phone goes silent when you reach the office. Texts are read aloud once the car’s Bluetooth connects. Your phone can set up the simple ones with no app at all, and the apps on Google Play take over where the built-in tools stop.

We read Google’s and Samsung’s help pages for the built-in tools, then went through each app’s Google Play listing and its maker’s website. All five apps this article named in 2019 are still on the store, and one more has earned a place beside them.

What your phone already does

Samsung Galaxy: Modes and Routines

Of the built-in tools we read about, this one does the most, and it works the way the apps below do. Open Settings, tap Modes and Routines, go to the Routines tab and tap the plus sign. Under If, you pick a trigger. Under Then, you pick an action. Save it, give it a name, and it runs by itself.

Samsung’s support page describes a wide variety of triggers, and the Discover icon on the Routines tab offers ready-made routines you can adjust. Modes, on the other tab, are broader presets that can switch on automatically and change things like Do not disturb. Samsung notes that availability varies by device and software version.

Pixel: Rules

Pixel phones have a much smaller tool. Go to Settings, System, Rules, then Add rule, and choose a Wi-Fi network or a location. Google’s help page lists four things a rule can do there: turn on Do Not Disturb, or set the phone to silent, vibrate or ring. The phone can also suggest a rule from your habits through a “Settings suggestion” notification.

Any recent Android phone: Modes

Under Settings, Modes, Android’s help pages describe a Bedtime mode that follows a schedule or switches on while the phone charges, a Driving mode that switches on while driving, and custom modes with their own time range and notification filters. Google says some of these steps need Android 14 or later, and that settings can vary by phone.

Google Home routines

The Google Home app automates the house more than the handset. A routine there starts with a voice command, a set time, a dismissed alarm or a smart device doing something, and can then adjust lights and plugs, play media or read out the weather and your calendar. Google’s help page says routines are only available in some regions and languages. If the home side is what you are after, see our guide to smart home hubs.

Automation apps compared

MacroDroid: the easiest start

MacroDroid’s listing explains a macro in three steps: pick a trigger, choose the actions, and add constraints if you want the macro to run only at certain times or places. Triggers include location, battery level, an app opening, a shake of the phone, a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection and an incoming notification. Actions include changing the volume, speaking text aloud, sending a message and dimming the screen.

The free version carries ads and stops at five macros. ArloSoft describes the Pro upgrade as a small one-time payment with no subscription, and Google Play lists the app’s in-app purchases at $1.49 to $10.00 on the US store. Five macros is enough to find out whether automation suits you before you pay anything.

On permissions, the listing says features that tap through other apps’ screens use Android’s accessibility services, that this is optional, and that MacroDroid collects no data through it.

Tasker: the most control

Tasker is the one the others get compared with. Its listing counts more than 130 states and events to react to and more than 350 actions, from sending an SMS to switching dark mode, Do Not Disturb or the Wi-Fi hotspot. You can also design your own on-screen controls, and many other apps publish Tasker plug-ins. MacroDroid and Automate both say they can run those plug-ins too.

It is the only app in the table you pay for up front: $4.49 on the US store, ₹480 in India, £3.99 in the UK and ₦6,990 in Nigeria, once. The developer’s site offers a direct download that works for seven days if you would like to see it first.

The listing is clear about its limits. Root is not needed for most functions, but a few actions, such as killing an app, do need it because of Android’s security rules. Tasker also uses an accessibility service for some features and the device administrator permission for its lock action.

Automate: flowcharts, and a generous free version

Automate draws each automation as a flowchart. You add blocks and connect them, and LlamaLab says beginners can fill each block from preset options while experienced users write expressions and variables. Other users’ finished flows can be downloaded inside the app.

LlamaLab’s documentation says the free edition has a single limit: 30 blocks running at a time, which it works out as 15 two-block flows or one flow of 30. Every feature works without paying. Premium is one in-app purchase tied to your Google account, and Google Play shows it at $4.99 in the US. The listing carries no ads label.

The app uses the device administrator permission to lock the screen and watch for failed unlock attempts, and the accessibility API for anything that works on what is on screen. LlamaLab adds that some features cannot be offered in an app on Google Play because of store policy, so it packages those in a separate add-on downloaded from its own site.

IFTTT: for online services more than the phone

IFTTT connects accounts and gadgets: a smart light, a spreadsheet, a social feed. Its Android device service is small by comparison. On IFTTT’s site it has 14 triggers, all to do with notifications, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, and eight actions, such as setting the ringtone volume, turning Do Not Disturb on or off, changing the wallpaper and starting Google Maps navigation.

The free plan allows two Applets, which is what IFTTT calls an automation. Pro is $2.99 a month, billed as $35.88 a year, for 20 Applets with several actions each. Pro+ is $8.99 a month, billed as $107.88 a year, with no cap. IFTTT’s site also says some triggers are checked every hour on the free plan and every five minutes on the paid ones. It is the only app here sold as a subscription, so choose it for what it links to, and leave phone settings to one of the others.

AutomateIt and Automation

AutomateIt works in simple pairs: one trigger, one action. Its listing names triggers such as a battery level, an SMS containing certain text, a Wi-Fi network, a location and an NFC tag. Combining several triggers or actions in one rule is kept for AutomateIt Pro, a separate $3.49 app that also removes the ads. The listing says shutting down, restarting and killing apps need root, and two of its caveats refer to Android versions as old as 4.2 and 2.3. With five macros free in MacroDroid, we would try that first.

Automation is one developer’s project with no ads label and nothing to buy. It triggers on things like time, charging, a Wi-Fi connection, NFC tags, Bluetooth events and notifications. The developer writes that Google’s restrictions have forced more and more features out of the store version, among them the location, speed and noise-level triggers on newer devices, and points anyone who minds to the app’s own website.

Permissions and battery settings

These apps ask for more than most, and the makers explain why. Pressing buttons in other apps needs the accessibility service, and locking the screen needs the device administrator permission. A few actions still need a rooted phone. Grant them with care. Automate’s listing says the accessibility API is what lets it interact with the screen, intercept key presses and take screenshots, which gives an idea of how much that one permission opens up.

Battery savers are the other thing to know about. LlamaLab’s help pages say that when flows pause as the screen goes off, a power-saving feature or task killer is the likely cause, and the fix is to exempt the app from battery optimisation in Settings.

Which one to pick

• You have a Galaxy phone: start with Modes and Routines. It may be all you need.
• You have a Pixel and only want it quiet at work: Rules.
• You want an app and have never automated anything: MacroDroid. Five macros cost nothing.
• You want the most control and will pay once: Tasker.
• You think in diagrams, or want every feature free: Automate.
• You want your phone to talk to web services and smart home kit: IFTTT, knowing the free plan stops at two Applets.
• You want no ads and nothing to buy: Automation.

All of this changes what the phone does. For how it looks, see our guide to customisation apps for Android.

What happened to the old list

Nothing was lost this time. Tasker, IFTTT, AutomateIt and MacroDroid are all still on Google Play, and the entry the 2019 article called “Automate (Llama)” is Automate from LlamaLab. Automation is the addition.

Quick answers

Is MacroDroid free?

Yes, with ads and a limit of five macros. The Pro upgrade is a one-time payment that removes both.

MacroDroid or Tasker?

MacroDroid if you are starting out, because its free version lets you build five macros before you spend anything. Tasker if you already know you want the longest list of actions and do not mind paying $4.49 up front.

Does Android have something like Shortcuts on the iPhone?

Not under one name on every phone. Samsung’s Modes and Routines is the closest built-in tool, and on other phones MacroDroid, Tasker or Automate do the same job.

Do automation apps need root?

Mostly not. Tasker’s listing says root is not required for the majority of its functions, and the few exceptions are actions Android blocks ordinary apps from doing.

How do I automate tasks on Android without an app?

On a Galaxy phone, open Settings and tap Modes and Routines. On a Pixel, go to Settings, System, Rules. On other phones, look under Settings for Modes, which can switch on by schedule.