IFTTT—If This Then That—is an incredibly powerful tool that can automate nearly everything in your life. It’s a web-based service that lets you connect your accounts for different websites and services to automate processes. For example, you can use IFTTT to save an image to Dropbox every time you’re tagged in a photo on Facebook.
Although the web-based version of IFTTT is incredibly helpful, you probably spend more time on your smartphone than you do on your computer. Luckily, there’s an IFTTT mobile app for both Android and iOS smartphones. There are a ton of unique applets to automate your life, but here are 10 of the best IFTTT applets out there right now to start you off.
Download: IFTTT for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
With this applet, you’ll never be caught in the rain without an umbrella or in the snow without a heavy jacket. Every morning at 7AM, or whatever time you choose, you’ll get a push notification to your smartphone with a local weather report.
You won’t have to rely on remembering to check your weather app every morning because you’ll instantly see a push notification. Seeing the weather report first thing in the morning makes it easier to think about what you’ll wear while you carry on with the rest of your morning routine.
Regular users of both Instagram and Twitter know that there’s a disconnect between the two platforms when it comes to photo and video sharing.
If you connect your Instagram and Twitter, and then post a photo to Instagram and share it to Twitter, you end up tweeting out a link instead of the actual photo. For someone to see the photo, they have to click on the Instagram link and have it open up that way.
This applet takes your Instagram photo as soon as you post it and recreates it as a native image on Twitter. So people can actually see your picture without needing to click a link!
If you’re prone to missing calls because your phone’s on silent, this is the applet for you. Most people tend to keep their phones on silent or vibrate, which is awesome in most scenarios, but awful when someone’s trying to get a hold of you and you don’t know it.
If you’ve missed a call from someone, this applet automatically sets your ringer to high. Then, if that person tries to call you again because it’s urgent, you’ll be able to hear them calling the second time around.
Spotify comes out with a Discover Weekly playlist specifically for you every week that’s based on your personal listening habits. Sometimes, however, you don’t have time to listen to the playlist or you forget to save it before it updates on the following Monday.
This applet automatically archives your Discover Weekly playlists. This means you’ll never miss a new song or recommended artist again.
Who doesn’t love beautiful images of space? NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day feed shares a new educational image from deep space each day. This applet takes that photo from NASA’s feed and makes it your phone’s wallpaper. This constant rotation of new wallpapers keeps things interesting, and lets you experience the vastness of space every day.
Most people don’t even know that r/gamedeals exists on Reddit and regularly posts Steam keys to allow you to redeem for a free game. Well, now you do! And with this applet, you don’t even have to navigate Reddit or check that subreddit regularly. You’ll get an email when Steam keys are posted to r/gamedeals, so you can snag a free game or two as soon as they’re available.
If you’ve ever been stuck in a situation where you’re talking to someone creepy, uninteresting, or both, you’ll be happy to know there’s a way out. There are fake call apps dedicated to saving you from awkward situations, or you can use this IFTTT applet.
When this applet is enabled, you’re able to schedule or push through a phone call and escape an uncomfortable situation without offending the person you’re trying to get away from.
Picture this. You’re heading out the door to go to the grocery store and realize that you didn’t write down your grocery list. Some people might use a digital notes app to keep track of what they need, but if you’re still old school, this applet could save you in a pinch. As you’re leaving to go to the grocery store, you can ask Alexa what’s on your shopping list and she’ll text it to you.
Few blunders are more embarrassing than your phone loudly ringing when you’re in the middle of an important work meeting. Luckily, there’s an applet that can help you out. This applet automatically puts your phone on silent mode whenever you have a meeting scheduled in your Google Calendar.
There’s also a related applet to turn your ringer back on once your meeting has finished. With both of these applets enabled, you won’t ever have to worry about your phone startling you and everyone else in a meeting again.
If you have a habit of misplacing your phone somewhere while it’s on silent mode, then this type of applet is a lifesaver. One IFTTT applet allows you to text “lostphone” to your smartphone, which automatically turns the ringer up to full volume. Then, you can have someone call your phone and easily locate it.
Or, if you use Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa in your home, there are applets that let you use one of these virtual assistants to call your phone. By saying “Alexa, trigger find my phone” or something similar for Google Assistant, it’ll trigger a phone call with your ringer turned up.
Automate Your Whole Life With the IFTTT App
These 10 applets are just a sample of the thousands you can choose from. On the IFTTT website, there’s an entire Explore tab dedicated to the most popular applets at the moment. If you want some more ideas, take a look.
Once you have the basics of adapting and using applets down, you can start creating your own if you want. IFTTT applets can use a huge range of services like Instagram, WordPress, Twitter, Pocket, Dropbox, Telegram, Nest, and many others. Soon enough, you’ll be using IFTTT like a pro to automate your entire digital life.