If This Then That

July 14, 2014 8:49 AM

I finally installed IFTTT but I feel like I'm not getting as much out of it as I could.

I use with my iPhone, the apps I use the most that are existing channels are gmail, Facebook, reminders and photos. I don't use Evernote, and I don't have anything at home that has "the internet of things".

I've read a million articles on the best recipes, but I don't need to cross post to all my social media at once or send things to Dropbox automatically, can you recommend recipes that you love?

posted by ellieBOA to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

Best answer: Since Google Reader died, I haven't been as good at keeping up on RSS feeds. Although I have Feedly I don't look at it frequently. So I've used the RSS and Instapaper channels to save all content from certain low-frequency blogs to Instapaper, which I look at more frequently than Feedly. This has the side effect of popping an iOS notification up when new content is detected, which I find useful.

I have some iOS Location recipes connected to Evernote to add a line anytime I enter or leave certain areas (home, work, etc). You could have this add a line to something other than Evernote.

I have a notification emailed when any Instragram photos are posted from a certain location (the office). (Not being creepy!)
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 8:54 AM on July 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I primarily use it for 2 things. One, it sends me a txt every time a new Craigslist post matching my custom query is posted. Super helpful when trying to buy a particular thing that will get snapped up quickly.

The other thing I use it for is to manage my internet-connected home. I've got it set up so that I can text it certain things to turn on/off lights and other connected devices. This allows me to use Siri to do things around my house, which is pretty cool.
posted by cgg at 9:00 AM on July 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've got a recipe that texts me.of my mom sends me an email. She doesn't always do text and she appreciates a quick reply. Another one reminds me to take my meds. Another one senses when I leave or arrive in my home's WiFi range and reminds me to toggle the setting on my phone. I also get reminders to file a new regular report for work. And I get a notification each morning with the weather for my area.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:08 AM on July 14, 2014

Best answer: The trigger can be a specific time and/or day, which is nice. I am always forgetting to put the trash out so I have it set to send me an sms every Tuesday evening to remind me. And if you're waiting on an important email the email->SMS recipe as mentioned above is very useful. Another recipe I use a lot is dropbox to kindle. I have an alias to a subfolder in my dropbox which lives on my desktop; whenever I come across a PDF I need to read (I'm an academic so this happens a lot) I can just drag it to the folder alias and it magically appears in my kindle.
posted by tractorfeed at 10:04 AM on July 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

My husband usually makes dinner, and he was always asking when I'd be home. So I used IFTTT to set up an email that goes to him as I leave the office.
posted by routergirl at 10:10 AM on July 14, 2014

Best answer: I have a trigger that texts me on the last day of every month to remind me to buy a new monthly subway pass. I find that handy.
posted by maryr at 12:54 PM on July 14, 2014

Best answer: I have one set up to the weather service which tells me in the afternoon if it's likely to go below freezing overnight, so I know if I have to go home and bring the plants in from outside.
posted by symphonicknot at 1:51 PM on July 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I use it for reminders. Particularly things like when rent is due, when I should run my credit reports, when I should change my Brita water filter, etc. I like that I can set simple reminders by location or by day, and I'm less likely to ignore them if I'm already in the right location to complete whatever the task is. I also use it for things like backing up my Tweets and my photos to Dropbox.
posted by JannaK at 3:05 PM on July 14, 2014

I use mine to make a little journal in Evernote: it copies my Foursquare checkins and Instagram posts to a notebook. I'd like to get my Goodreads reviews and other little notes in there too but am still fiddling with that. It's just a low key way for me to remember events, nice to scroll back through every now and then.
posted by harriet vane at 11:23 PM on July 14, 2014

Best answer: I know what you mean… I feel like IFTTT has amazing potential, but very little in my life seems to fit into its paradigm. That said:

I use it to DM me on Twitter whenever a very infrequent world-traveling vlogger I follow posts a new video to Vimeo. Since she's currently on the other side of the dateline, many of her Tweets get lost in the overnight/at work times of my day, so this helps me stay abreast.

I also use IFTTT to monitor my gmail inbox for emails from my county library's holds address, and post a reminder on my calendar to collect my hold items. That's kinda handy.
posted by mumkin at 1:13 AM on July 15, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, some good ideas here.
posted by ellieBOA at 3:41 AM on July 15, 2014

Best answer: I use IFTTT for the following:

If I'm tagged in a photo on Facebook, save a copy to my Dropbox.
If I take a screenshot on my iPhone, it goes into a "Screenshots" folder.
If I STAR an email in Gmail, it'll set up a reminder in my iPhone to take care of it.
If I receive an email with an invoice in it, it adds it to a spreadsheet.
If I receive an attachment in Gmail, it'll automatically save to Google Drive.
If I favourite a tweet, it saves to my Pocket app.
If it's going to rain, I'll get a notification on my phone at 7am so I can dress accordingly.

I use it for a bunch of other stuff as well, but these are the ones that I think could be useful for you given your needs/apps used above!
posted by shazzam! at 4:03 AM on July 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

Any photo I take gets auto-uploaded to googleDrive. Lets me only keep important/loved pics on the phone & it's no drama if I accidentally delete a shot I want.

As has been said, I'm not sure which other what ways to bend it to my will, but I think it needs me to come up with better ideas for myself because there's potential in there, for sure.
posted by peacay at 8:56 AM on July 16, 2014