IFTTT.com‘s IF and DO apps provide an amazing automatic service for generating small tasks between your Internet-connected services. IFTTT has 191 “channels” available such as: Blogger, Box, Buffer, BuzzFeed, CraigsList, Dropbox, Etsy, Feedly, Flickr, Google Calendar, Google Mail, HP Print, Instagram, LinkedIn, Trello, Weebly, and various eZines and social media sites.

IFTTT has developed dozens of “recipes” to automatically trigger actions from one “channel” to the next. In addition, hundreds of users of these apps have also concocted “recipes” that they share with other users. If you want to free yourself from time spent on social media, these apps will help tremendously, but that’s not all these recipes can do for you. (Tom S., if you install Belkin WeMo switches in your home, use a recipe to turn on lights or other devices when the sun goes down.)

The IF App

To give you an idea how these recipes work, IF you like an Instagram photo, THEN the recipe instantly posts to Tumblr or IF you send a text with #cargas in the message after pumping gas THEN the purchase is automatically recorded in a Google Drive sheet. (Are you reading this post, Bob M.? Take your spreadsheets to a new level.)

Let’s look at some more recipes from The 100 Best IFTTT Recipes (PC Magazine). I’ve listed these in the same order they appear in their article:

• Judy D., use multiple recipes to create a bitmark (Bitly) for every blog post and then use more recipes to share your new public bitmarks to social media. Bitly tracks the activity on these links.
• Dayle R., receive blog comments as text messages.
• With two recipes, post on Facebook, which will instantly post to Twitter and Tumblr.
• Send automatic yearly tweets and texts. For example, let IFTTT send everyone your Happy New Year greeting annually.
• Andrea B., send favorited Tweets to Pocket to read later.

I’ve barely touched the surface! Add a new recipe every other weekend this summer and you’ll be doing amazing things by the time fall rolls around.

The Do Apps: Do Button, Do Camera, Do Note

The Do app is newer; I haven’t used any of these three yet. Here’s ideas I found:

• Run into a colleague? Automatically block 15 minutes in Google Calendar as “busy”.
• Steve and Terry M., save photos to Dropbox.
• Create a note in Evernote with a link to your location.

IFTTT has listed essential recipes for the Do app here.

Get Started!

Find IFTTT Apps here (IF, Do Button, Do Camera, Do Note). When you start checking a recipe, look for how many downloads it’s had and if it’s favorited. Newer or buggy recipes will not be as popular.

To narrow down your search, go to the recipes page after you log in and scroll vertically through the slideshow of recipe collections to find what you might be interested in. Some of the collections are recipes for:

• a healthy lifestyle
• your wedding
• photo enthusiasts
• outer space (yes, seriously)

NOTES:

• LifeHack.org included the links to 35 recommend recipes.
• Get more recipe ideas from The 100 Best IFTTT Recipes (PC Magazine).