IFTTT – If This Then That – is single-handedly responsible for bringing task automation to mainstream iOS and Android devices. They have now launch three new ‘Do Apps’: Do Button, Do Camera, and Do Note. They have also rebranded the original IFTTT app! Details after the title image!
So yes, as I was saying, I hold IFTTT responsible for creating the mainstream conditional task automation apps market. It was a power user thing for the longest time, with apps like Tasker and Activator for Android and jailbroken iOS respectively, but not anyone can do it if it interests them.
For those who are aware of it, IFTTT allows you to automate certain tasks – such as uploading photos to Facebook, Dropbox, writing notes to Evernote, receive text messages, turn on Hue lamp, etc. – when a certain condition occurs – such as a new photo addition to the Photos.app, a new article saved on Pocket, rainy weather, or say, when you reach home.
Perhaps under competitive pressure from more powerful alternative ‘Workflow’ which allows you to do things like download YouTube videos, IFTTT has made major efforts by:
- Rebranding the original IFTTT app as ‘IF‘ [App Store]. IF is literally the exact same app as IFTTT, but with a changed app icon / logo, and a revamped look for the recipes.
- Launching three new ‘Do Apps’! There is:
- Do Button: a dedicated app that allows you to run one of three recipes (from the many hundreds available in the main app) in a couple of taps.
- Do Camera: a dedicated app that allows you to run one of three camera-related recipes. You could, for example, set Do Camera app to automatically upload photos taken by Do Camera to a Facebook album, or sent to a particular set of Gmail addresses, etc.
- Do Note: same concept as other Do Apps, but dedicated to note-taking related recipes. You write down a note, and then can get Do Note to run a recipe as soon as you’re done with the note.
It is genuinely interesting, and an excellent step towards making task automation even simpler by dividing tasks into logically separate apps. What do you think?
