Read SMS while in Car Dock

Preface

Texting while driving is no good idea. 'Writing' text messages can be done by using Voice recognition - at least if english is your language. 'Reading' text messages to you can be done using Tasker - even with other languages than english. Currently german, spanish, frensh and italian are supported.

Setup

You need two profiles and three tasks.

  1. Profile
    • Context: State -> Docked -> Type: Car
    • Enter task:
      1. Tasker -> Profile Status -> Name: Read SMS; Set: On
    • Exit task:
      1. Tasker -> Profile Status -> Name: Read SMS; Set: Off
  2. Profile named "Read SMS"
    • Context: Event -> Phone -> Received SMS
    • Enter task:
      1. Misc -> Say -> Text: "%SMSRF sent the following SMS: %SMSRB" (without quotation)

NOTE: (1) You need to create the profile Read SMS first. (2) You will need to disable the Read SMS profile in Tasker otherwise all SMS will be read regardless of whether the phone is docked or not. To disable, long click on the profile name in Tasker and select Disable. After you do this, reading of SMS will toggle when you insert and remove the phone from the dock.

August 2010 Update

I did not have any luck with disabling the Read SMS profile. If the profile was disabled I got an error that it did not exist. If it was enbled it read the messages always. I found another solution.

I created a variable %INTHECAR and set it to yes when I car dock the phone, then set it to no when I exit the dock station. I then do an if %INTHECAR ~ yes when calling the profile Read SMS. It works.

October 2010 Variation

I do not text alot, but I do take calls in the car, so I modified part two slightly to automatically pick up calls as they arrive while I am driving. My twist on the whole thing which also includes a task to turn on the GPS when in the Car Dock goes like this:

  1. Profile
    • Context: State -> Docked -> Type: Car
    • Enter task:
      1. Misc -> GPS -> On
      2. Tasker -> Profile Status -> Name: Auto Answer; Set: On
    • Exit task:
      1. Tasker -> Profile Status -> Name: Auto Answer; Set: Off
  2. Profile named "Auto Answer"
    • Context: Event -> Phone -> Phone Ringing
    • Enter task:
      1. Phone -> Take Call

Because you are in the Car Dock it will automatically toggle to Speaker Phone too!

***The "Read SMS" doesn't even show up in my Profiles at all - but the darn thing sure is working. I've created a monster! I've tried creating a new one and adding variables like only when bluetoothed, etc., but that only makes the message read twice.

You say you created a variable. If this isn't too stinking of a newbie question, how do you do that?

This phone is still really new to me (Samsung Vibrant), and I HATE the way it imported my contacts and calendars. Combined with this annoyance, I'm seriously tempted to just reset the whole thing and start over.

I still think reading SMSs aloud rocks - selectively, of course! I don't need any sexting messages to announce themselves while I'm in a meeting. ***

«New addition, from new member:
Thanks for the post, great tasker profile! I modified it to instead of determining docked status to instead check bluetooth status. Since i only have it on in the car it works perfectly! Thanks!»

«Another way to do this, which works for me on a Galaxy Note 3, and which I like better:

  1. Profile named "Read SMS"
    • Context: Event -> Phone -> Received SMS
    • Enter task:
      1. Task -> Stop, If: %UIMODE !~ car
      2. Task -> Wait, 1 second
      3. Misc -> Say -> Text: "New text message from %SMSRF: The message is: %SMSRB" (without quotation)

The reason to wait 1 second is to allow the text message notification to finish playing before the TTS starts. (You might need a different delay, or no delay at all, on your phone.)»

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