Toolkit Tuesday: New, Free Productivity Apps from IFTTT

Last week, IFTTT announced the launch of three free productivity apps that give you new ways to activate automated “recipes” using your mobile phone. The apps are available for iPhone and Android, and since they integrate with various other networks, devices or channels you use every day, there are practically limitless possibilities for how to use them. Wait, let’s back up a sec for those who aren’t familiar with IFTTT. The acronym stands for “If This, Then That” and it’s a sort of cause-and-effect tool you can use to automate almost any online task you can think of. The service

free productivity apps

free productivity appsLast week, IFTTT announced the launch of three free productivity apps that give you new ways to activate automated “recipes” using your mobile phone. The apps are available for iPhone and Android, and since they integrate with various other networks, devices or channels you use every day, there are practically limitless possibilities for how to use them.

Wait, let’s back up a sec for those who aren’t familiar with IFTTT. The acronym stands for “If This, Then That” and it’s a sort of cause-and-effect tool you can use to automate almost any online task you can think of. The service integrates with more than 150 channels such as Gmail, Evernote, Dropbox, just about any social network and a whole slew of apps. We blogged about IFTTT last year and shared some of our favorite recipes (that’s the term for the automated tasks you create).

Okay, so back to the new apps. They are called the Do apps and there are three of them: Do Button, Do Camera and Do Note. The idea behind the apps is to simplify many of the tasks you are already doing by requiring fewer taps on your smartphone to get from A to B. If you want to, say, share a photo to Facebook or add an event to your calendar, you can create recipes to automate these actions.

IFTTT’s Free Productivity Apps to Automate Your Online Tasks

Do Button

Basically, this app gives you a button and you get to decide what happens when you press it. Examples:

If you have certain other integrated devices, you can use the Do button to do really cool things like:

Do Camera

The app lets you personalize your phone’s camera by connecting it to other channels. When you click on the app, it will open your camera and then automatically share or send your photos based on the recipes you have activated. Here are some examples:

Do Note

Do Note is a notepad app that, again, connects with various other channels such as your calendar, Evernote and social networks. Here are a few recipes you can use with Do Note:

Some of the recipes seem like they could really help simplify day-to-day tasks, and others are just plain fun (I’m thinking I need to get a Wemo so I can try the coffee maker recipe)!

Do you have ideas for how you can use the new apps? What are your favorite IFTTT recipes? Share in the comments below or give us a shout on Twitter!

Heather Allen

Belle's first employee. Lover of great food, good books and spreadsheets. Mom of three. Native Floridian and city girl residing in the cornfields of central Illinois.