Without even realizing it, you probably do the same tasks over and over – such as checking the weather, saving attachments from emails, tweeting your latest blog post on Twitter.
Though it takes just a few minutes to complete each task, these little jobs add up fast, and you probably have better uses of your time in today’s crazy-busy lifestyle.
IFTTT, which stands for “if this then that,” is one of a category of tools that will help you automate some of these little tasks so you don’t have to think about them.
IFTTT can save you time, make you organized and generally rock your world – if you take the time to set up the recipes. The best news is that IFTTT users have already set up a ton of recipes for you, so all you have to do is use their genius with your accounts. You can operate your recipes from the web or the app (iOS and Android).
IFTTT works with a number of devices and gadgets, venturing into the world we know as “The Internet of Things.” You can automate tasks with Nest thermostats, Philips Hue light bulbs and many fitness trackers. IFTTT’s apps also create opportunities to use specific iOS and Android features, such as location tracking, selfie photos and much more.
Many of the recipes have fine-tuning options to do exactly what you want, such as the recipe I have set up to create a blog post from videos I favorite on YouTube. You can set up a formula so that the title, description, tags and categories can all be personalized – either with text you type in or merged fields from the original video.
Awesome IFTTT Updates
Although IFTTT is amazing, many of us don’t have the time or patience to seek out and set up great recipes. Yesterday IFTTT released both an update to its main app as well as three new apps that supposedly simplify the process. The three apps are called Do Camera, Do Note and Do Button; and they Do indeed make recipes easier, but they’re limited because each app can have just three recipes, meaning you have to have three apps to automate just nine tasks.
You should watch this quick video for an overview of the three new apps.