The principles of "If-Then" logic can make you productive. IFTTT, or If This Then That, applies the same principles to connect web apps, iOS apps and Android apps. Now, apart from helping you connect apps, it is launching a new way to simplify actions. It's called "Do".

IFTTT itself has rebranded as "IF", although it works the same as before, so you can still use our Ultimate IFTTT Guide to master this powerful app. Do is a series of three apps: Do Button, Do Note and Do Camera.

It's Still All about the Recipes

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The basics of IFTTT remain intact in the new Do apps. You need to use triggers and channels to create new recipes, or pick up a recipe already created and shared by someone else. The important thing is that IFTTT needs access to the services and apps you want to connect, so make sure you grant it that first.

A few things to note:

  1. Each of the Do apps have their own recipes, which you can browse or create.
  2. Each Do app can store only three recipes at a time.
  3. You can swipe between the recipes and tap to activate
  4. Although all the apps are separate, the login is the same and it uses the same activated channels across all apps

With that taken care of, let's dive into the new apps and see what they do.

Do Button

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Just like how Tasker and IFTTT make for the perfect automation duo on Android, the Do Button lets IFTTT pair with third-party gadgets for perfect real-life automation.

So you can set your Nest Learning Thermostat to your favourite temperature or turn the lights on and off using the Philips Hue WiFi lighting system -- both of which are among the best gadgets for smart home enthusiasts. Since the Jawbone Up fitness band plays nice with IFTTT, you can let it know when you're feeling good with a single tap. There's really a lot you can do:

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The Do Button is the only one of the three new apps to come with a widget for Android home screens and the iOS notification center, so that you can activate any action without opening the app itself. It's this convenience that is the highlight of the Do Button. Instead of opening different apps for all these common actions, you can do them all in one place.

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Do Note

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To put it simply, Do Note is a text input field with preset one-tap buttons to specify what will happen to that text. For example, you could type a musing in the text field and then tap a button to send it to Twitter, swipe and tap another button to send it to your team's Slack channel, and swipe and tap again to add it to a Google Spreadsheet. It's "things you can do with the same text."

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Most of the recipes here are either useful to bring order to your online social life or to collaborate with others efficiently. In fact, hooking up Do Note to a great word processor or online note service would make it easy to maintain and write a daily journal for a year.

 

Do Camera

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As the name indicates, this one is all about the snapper on your phone. We've talked about how your smartphone camera can make life easier, but Do Camera takes this to a whole new level.

Again the process is similar to Do Note, where you can take a photo and then tap three different buttons to apply three different automated actions with that image. It's "things you can do with the same photo."

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One of the most creative uses of this is to maintain a record in Google Calendar of when and where you received a business card. Or if you don't like Evernote's digital version of post-it notes, you can use physical post-it notes and take a photo to upload them to a Dropbox folder. Like with anything else in IFTTT, the actions are only as far as your imagination will go.

What Do You Think of These Apps?

These are only some of the useful recipes available on the Do apps. If you've created your own or found a great recipe, please share it in the comments, we'd love to see what you came up with!