One of Android's best qualities is its flexibility. If there's something you want to achieve on your Android phone, chances are pretty good you can accomplish it. As far as task automation, you can use the built-in Rules feature, but that's fairly limited. There's also Modes, but (again) that's fairly limited.

That's why I generally turn to an automation app to make the feature even more powerful on Android. One such app is called MacroDroid. You can read about what this app does in "This app has made me fall in love with Android," but here I'm going to take you on a journey of how to actually use it.

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As the name suggests, the app uses macros. Essentially, a macro is a rule or pattern that specifies how input is transformed into output to automate tasks or simplify complex commands. With regards to MacroDroid, you get a user-friendly GUI that simplifies the creation of macros, to automate tasks on your phone.

Trust me, this baby is worth the time, effort, and cost (you only get 5 macros for free, at which point you must pony up the$5 for the pro version). Once you experience what you can do with MacroDroid, you'll wonder why Google hasn't purchased the app and baked it into Android by default.

Let's create our first macro.

Creating a macro with MacroDroid

What you'll need: To make this work, you'll need to install MacroDroid on your Android device, which is done via the Google Play Store. The app is free, and the purchase of the Pro version is done from within the app. You also get a 7-day trial period of the Pro version.

For our test macro, we must add a trigger, so tap the + button associated with Triggers. Next, tap date/time and then tap Day of the Week/Month. From the pop-up, tap "Day of the month," and then tap OK.

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You can then configure the date to be used for the birthday message and then tap OK.

Now that you've added your first macro, you can back out of the configuration page to the main page, or you can tap the menu button (on the macro page) and do a test run by tapping "Test macro." 

The test doesn't actually send the SMS message. Instead, it logs the test so you can check it for any errors. To do this, tap System Log from the main MacroDroid page and comb through the log for any errors. If you see no errors, the macro is functioning as expected.

Also: 7 simple things I always do on Android to protect my privacy - and why you should too

Congratulations, you just created your first macro with MacroDroid. 

One of the cool capabilities of this app is that you can create complex macros that can automate just about anything. I would highly recommend you start creating simple macros first, so you can become familiar with how it all works. You can also view the MacroDroid videos to gain even more insights by tapping MacroDroid Videos on the main page.

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