Your digital daily routine may start with something as simple as checking email and a couple of social media sites. However, this routine can spiral and be a true time-suck before you even braved what the morning offers and your cup of coffee. Therefore, automation has become ever so important over the past couple years.
For those not familiar with the automation app IFTTT, it is a great tool to help you automate your daily life. Today, we will look at some of the best IFTTT applets that will make your life easier and better.
What Is IFTTT?
IFTTT stands for IF This, Then That. It is basically an automation tool that allows you to connect things together to automate stuff. The results, called applets, let you create powerful automation for almost every part of your digital life.
Hack Your Morning Commute
No two commutes are always alike. For many of us, our commute can begin with a good podcast and cup of coffee while we waste away in endless traffic. For others, it could mean hopping on a bike for a couple minutes. Regardless of the commute, one factor that almost all of us have to factor in is the weather. The following weather Applet can offer you a simple weather report notification at a pre-set time through the IFTTT app.
However, that isn’t groundbreaking. IFTTT’s VOIP capabilities, when coupled with Weather Underground – IFTTT’s weather provider – allow you to command the program to give you a wake-up call every morning with the weather report. You can set the time for this call to right before your afternoon run or right before you leave the office for your commute home.
Lost Device? No Problem
If you have ever lost your phone, you know your first instinct is to try “Find My iPhone” with iCloud. It’s arduous to log in, and two-factor authentication is sometimes encountered, only to get to a relative area of where your iPhone was last seen. With this added assist, IFTTT combines VOIP and Google Assistant to call any device you own with the IFTTT app installed, even when abroad. This means that even from your computer, you can quickly locate your iPhone or Android without having to go through additional hassle.
IFTTT in the Workplace
You may be a teleworker or have to otherwise track your hours. There’s an IFTTT Applet for that. This Google Drive creation allows you to have a widget on your phone or desktop, and with the press of a button, your clock starts. When it runs, it will track the number of hours you have worked. You can click it again when you need a break and again to get back to tracking. This is all being sent to a connected Google Spreadsheet. Freelance work – or any other reason you need to keep time – has never been easier.
This Google Docs/Dropbox collab also allows for any new Google Doc you create in a specified folder to be copied over to a corresponding folder on Dropbox. This can be great for team projects that are mixing Google Docs and Dropbox for collaboration.
After-Work Peace
You’re finally done with work for the day. As you peel out of the office, all you want is to have some peace. This peace offering allows you to merge Wyze and IFTTT location services to turn off push notifications when you arrive home.
As you can see, IFTTT can come to your rescue in those situations where you just don’t have the time or desire to dig through your phone or computer for a solution. It can also help you to automate your Android phone so you have more time to do your work than playing with the phone.
Image credit: Nenad Stojkovic
