App of the Day - Macrodroid Pro

This week I’ve been settling into my Google Pixel 7 and replacing some of the functions I Was used to from iPhone and in many cases going beyond.

On iPhone I was somewhat spoiled by Shortcuts - the built-in automation system. While Google has yet to go so far, because Android has long been open the capability is well established. There are many options from the venerable Tasker and Llamasoft’s Automate but in a previous round of Android experimentation I went with Macrodroid and I’ve chosen to do so again.

It’s important to note that this is not a free option. At least you can go free if you want but the roadblocks the app enforces (full screen ad on each macro save) are really obstructive. (I don’t so much mind the 5 macro limit, it’s effectively a trial).

Once you’ve know whether you can work within its conventions, do upgrade to Pro.

I am using Macrodroid for a couple of useful things, and I’m sure I’ll throw more in there as we go:

• My work has restrictions on personal phones, but I can communicate throughout the day via email. Macrodroid helps me forward my SMSes, missed calls and notifications (something I could not do with Apple’s Shortcuts) via email.
• Google provides a useful Now Playing feature on Pixel phones. As a Shazam fan, I’m drawn to this but it’s a bit underwhelming in not being able to export the history or quickly bring up lyrics. Macrodroid to the rescue.

So if you like fiddling around with programming things, go for your life here. The possibilities should be somewhat limitless as you can make web requests (in both directions!) and run JavaScript and Java code.

So glad it’s a one-time purchase. I would not subscribe to this feature, but it’s good that this app continues to get regular (monthly?) updates. For example. I had an issue with a Webhook trigger and it was fixed in the next update.

I’m now sharing my macros on my Google Drive here. Please feel free to grab any you like, there’s a README and comments in the macros themselves.

🎲