[Samsung Gear 2] Medox2:
[IMG="Gear 2 and Tasker"]http://pro.medox.ro/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/gear2_tasker.jpg[/IMG]

After a lot of troubleshooting, a rom reinstallation and a couple of workarounds, I can now finally start Tasker tasks, from my Gear 2 Neo, on my Galaxy S3, which in turn can control almost anything on the phone itself, my laptops or other devices! :) Before this, I was only able to send notifications from Tasker to the Gear 2, which is also cool but controlling your smartphone with your smartwatch gives you endless possibilities!

Back to the tutorial. There are two ways to get this working:

On Samsung devices with a stock rom (currently 17 devices)

Samsung Galaxy S5

Galaxy Grand 2

Galaxy Note 3

Galaxy Note 3 Neo

Galaxy Note 2

Galaxy S4

Galaxy S3

Galaxy S4 Zoom

Galaxy S4 Active

Galaxy S4 mini

Galaxy Mega 6.3

Galaxy Mega 5.8

Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition)

Galaxy NotePRO (12.2)

Galaxy TabPRO (12.2/10.1/8.4)

On Non-Samsung devices OR Samsung devices with a custom rom

Follow @CarbonWyre's guide first, to get your Android phone to work with the Gear 2.

WARNING: I’m not responsible if you brick your phone! Read the guide carefully!

Regarding point 1: I can’t really help with this, as I have a Galaxy S3 with a custom rom installed (SlimROM 4.4.4) and I had to follow @CarbonWyre's guide for it, but it should work out of the box and even easier. Just make sure you have Gear Manager installed from the Samsung app store and then go to the steps further below.

Regarding point 2: after following @CarbonWyre's guide and connecting your Gear 2 to the phone, you also need to be able to receive notifications and also install apps from the GALAXY Apps store correctly, not only the stand-alone apps but also those that install on the phone too! This usually gave the “Installation Failed. Try Later.(0)“ error, until yesterday, but thanks to a discovery from @drakenjin, and my install tips from the same thread, you should be able to fix these errors.

If everything goes well, you should be able to install anything from Samsung’s app store, to the Gear 2 and phone, especially the free launcher that we need for everything to work.

Now to the actual “hack”

: Tasker + App Factory Plugin + LaunchGear!

Assuming you went through either 1. or 2. successfully and you have installed GALAXY Apps, Gear Manager and connected to your Gear 2, follow the next steps:

Install Tasker from the Play Store, if you don’t have it already

(it’s not free but it’s worth every penny)

Install Tasker App Factory from the Play Store

(a free Tasker plugin to create separate apps that link to it)

Gear Manager -> Samsung Apps -> Search and install LaunchGear

(this one is free, thanks to Heedeok Lee)

Tasker App Factory is the actual workaround here, as LaunchGear supports only apps but not shortcuts to Tasker tasks (for now). With the App Factory you can export tasks from Tasker as separate applications which LaunchGear can then execute. (see example below)

Until I’ve reinstalled SlimROM, I always had problems with App Factory apps force-closing on me (“Unfortunately, … has stopped.“) but now with Tasker v4.4 (final) and the latest App Factory, it finally works perfectly! Not sure what got fixed for that, the rom or the apps.

Example

: Gear 2 -> Phone -> and back to Gear 2 again, with a notification!

Open Tasker -> Tasks

Create a new task and name it whatever you want, e.g. “Phone Battery Level”

Add a new sub-task with + -> Select Alert -> Notify

Title: Phone battery level: %BATT%​

Optional: add an icon for the phone notification (it will display only on the phone)

Go back to your task “Phone Battery Level”, you should see “1. Notify” with the title below it.

Add a new sub-task with + -> Select Alert -> Notify Cancel

This will clear the notification on the phone automatically after it appears. Useful in this case.

(don't change anything unless you really want to. just go back and do some tests using the play button on the bottom left)​

Add an application icon (important!) using the button on the bottom right.

(this it the icon that will display on the gear, not the one from step 4.)​

Go back to the main page of Tasker and press and hold “Phone Battery Level”

Press the button on the top right -> Export -> As app.

Wait for it to finish -> press the robot on the bottom right of the popup and install.

(test it by running “Phone Battery Level”. You should get the notification only on the phone)​

Gear Manager -> Notifications -> check “Phone Battery Level”.

(if you don’t see the application list at the bottom, follow the steps from Turning On Notifications)​

(on the phone) Run LaunchGear, which should be installed through GALAXY Apps.

In LaunchGear, press + and add your “Phone Battery Level” app and confirm.

Run LaunchGear and then the app, to see your phone’s battery level on your watch!

(if your LaunchGear is black, close all recent apps on the Gear. I have it set on double-pressing the Gear main button. Hopefully Heedeok Lee will fix this issue)

And these are pretty much the basics :cool:. Not to mention what other complex apps could be created! Have fun and thanks go to @CarbonWyre, @drakenjin, Heedeok Lee and other users from the guide mentioned above.

Source: my blog post :)

TIPS and TRICKS:

OBSOLETE (

use step 6 instead

): Use Ns Auto Clear if you have tasker apps that create notifications which are useless on the phone but are useful on the gear! e.g. The "Phone Battery Level" app, from my example above, will generate notifications which are rather useless on the phone and should be automatically cleared. Ns Auto Clear does not disable them completely (like this the gear wouldn't receive them at all) but clears notifications from specified apps right after you get them on the phone.

When you want icons that are not built into tasker, just install an application with the desired icon from the Play store. Then select that application's icon at step 8. in the above example and export the app. After you installed the tasker app with the desired icon, you can uninstall the application from which you've "stolen" the icon :)

UPDATES:

22.07.2014: Added a new tutorial for Media volume control with Tasker & Gear 2

23.07.2014: Replaced Ns Auto Clear with a way to remove notifications with Tasker. See step 6. Thanks [MENTION=1979434]stanguay[/MENTION].