Tasker to gain non-root firewall capability in future update

Tasker is an incredibly valuable tool in the arsenal of Android modders and power users, but a future update could make it even more powerful.

Pent, the developer of Tasker, took to the project’s Google Group to tease a new feature coming in an upcoming release: network access control, no root required.

Users will be able to set Tasker to restrict the network access of certain apps or on a global basis. This will work by intercepting network packets, much like a conventional firewall.

For Pent, the motivation for adding this feature is the frustration over the fact that Android apps receive the Internet access permission by default. That makes it hard to prevent apps from pushing unwanted notifications, sending data to remote servers without justification, or silently consuming power in the background without clear functionality benefits.

There are a number of firewall apps out there that can be used to restrict internet access, but Tasker brings the huge benefit of integrating the feature into a powerful customization tool. That will make it easy to create specific rules – for instance, only give Google Maps network access when in a vehicle or block Facebook access when a specific profile is activated. According to Pent, using the feature to restrict network access to approved apps also improves battery life.

For modders: Android Customization series

For now, we don’t know when this cool new feature will be released, but regardless of that, it’s good to see that Pent is still working to make Tasker better. We’ll keep you posted.