App detection on lollipop with nova launcher

[Tobias Hau]

Hey tasker users. Had a Problem with the app detection on lollipop. Every time I open a app it forces directly that I had closed the app but I'm in the app. I can reproduce this. Somebody has the same problem?

[Tobias Hau]

It seems that it is a problem with nova launcher because with trebuchet it works.

[Bryan Thompson]

Confirmed. Nova is stealing back the app context immediately (e.g. exit task will fire immediately and %WIN contains 'Home').

I've emailed Nova:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Bryan Thompson" <bryan...@gmail.com>
Date: 1 Feb 2015 16:12
Subject: Nova Launcher causing issues with Tasker
To: <sup...@teslacoilsw.com>
Cc:

Hello,

As confirmed by few Tasker users, Nova Launcher is exhibiting some strange app launching behaviour that is
causing our projects to fail. Namely, when an app is launched, Nova appears to immediately steal the foreground app context back,
causing Tasker to think that Nova is in the foreground, rather than the app. The lollipop GEL and several other third party launchers are all behaving as expected, so this issue appears to be unique to Nova.

The current discussion forum is here:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/tasker/V8dMMjckruc/VW0zErkz6zIJ
Please investigate, and let us know what other information we can provide.

Best regards,
Bryan Thompson

[Andrea Montagnani]

Same issue here with Nova. I'm trying to do a simple profile with the %WIN variable but, as soon as any app is launched, %WIN variable comes back to "Home".

I've created a post in Nova's Google+. To be honest, I seem to recall this issue even on KitKat.

Meanwhile, has any of you found a solution rather than changing launcher?

[Bryan Thompson]

I've been checking in with the Nova developer every couple of weeks. This isn't high on the priority list apparently. My current workaround is to kill Nova as the first step of the entry task for the app profile. The negative side effect is having Nova reload when you return home... pretty clunky. Also the Kill App action may or may not work for you if you're not rooted. On stock android 5.1 it does.

[Tobias Hau]

I've changed to Apex. 

[Andrea Montagnani]

I see your point. 

My solution is a bit different; maybe it could be useful for your purpose too. 

Since I always need %WIN to be populated by the name of the app I'm currently on, I just created a profile that sets a variable to the %WIN value IF %WIN doesn't match "Home". In this way I prevent my personal variable to be set as "Home".

It works, and it prevents Nova from reloading when you get back to the homescreen, but I don't know if having a profile like this (always active) could imply a lot of system resources (or battery drain).

[Bryan Thompson]

I don't think battery life is a concern with your profile. I believe tasker registers with the system to receive event notifications when those values change. I'm playing with trying to figure out how to make this work for my purposes. I need to know when the user exits the app, including by going home.

[Andrea Montagnani]

My case is simpler cause I don't need to know when I'm back on the launcher.

Maybe you could try using autoinput for that, some month ago I read on an autoinput update that you could check in what app you're currently on by querying the page (or something like that)

[Matteo Farina]

I had the same issue using Automate to detect if an app is in the foreground or not when launched by nova.

Disable:

Nova Settings -> App & widget drawer -> (Advanced) -> Automatically Close

I'm sure you'll happily make do with not having that as well :)

Hope this helps

[Darijo Gospić]

yes, this helps with Apex (I assume with Nova, too)

[Manuel Fernández Gómez]

Any news on this issue?

[Marta Hintz]

It's your launchers devs you may need to be asking for help with, as it works on some and not others as this thread states. On my note 4, it works fine.

[Manuel Fernández Gómez]

I know it's a launcher issue. Nova specifically. Just asked if anybody know any news regarding this issue.