Automating everything
YOU DOWN WITH IFTTT?
LAST MONTH WE looked at how you can use simple tools like routines on your home assistant to automate devices around your home. If you want to up your automation game, however, you can use something more advanced – like IFTTT.
IFTTT is short for If This Then That, and it’s a tool that allows you to connect your services and devices with each other. IFTTT works with both hardware devices and software services. It will work with your voice assistant, your garage door opener, your smart lights and other smart appliances, but it will also talk to Facebook and Instagram, or send notifications to your phone, or work with your chosen music app, or draw information from your fitness app.
For example, you could program IFTTT to make an automated emergency call if your thermostat detects fire; or to automatically upload a picture taken by your smart doorbell to Dropbox; or to turn your smart devices on and off at chosen times.
Because it’s so open, however, IFTTT can be a little mind bending to get started with. So this month, we’ll walk you through the basics.
HOW IT WORKS
If you read last month’s Home Networking column, you’ll probably have a decent understanding of how automation works. At a fundamental level, it’s very simple: you set up a trigger (the ‘If’ in If This Then That) and an action in response to that trigger (the ‘That’). If it’s 10pm (the trigger) then turn off my hot water heater (the action). If I miss a phone call (the trigger), then add a note to call them back to my to do list (the action).
What makes IFTTT unique is the massive range of triggers and actions it supports. With IFTTT you add “applets” to the service. These applets connect to devices you own and services you use, and contain a variety of trigger and action options that you can use to create your own automation routines. What triggers and actions are available for that device or service will vary depending on the service itself.
The Dropbox applet, for example, has triggers that include “a new file is added to your folder” and actions that include adding a file to Dropbox from a URL or creating a new text file.
There are hundreds of applets available on IFTTT. They’re available for online services and for smart devices like Google Assistant, Fitbit, Samsung Smart Appliances and Philips Hue lightbulbs. They can be combined in any way you like to create automation recipes. You can use a trigger from Google Assistant (such as “assistant hears a specific phrase”) and combine it with an Action from Dropbox, for example (“upload a file”).
So let’s take a quick walkthrough on how to make this work.
SIGN UP
01 The first thing you have to do is sign up for IFTTT. Go to ifttt.com and create an account. Simple enough.
CONNECTING SERVICES
02 The first thing you’ll want to do after creating an account is to connect to the various services and devices that you want to automate.
THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF APPLETS AVAILABLE ON IFTTT. THEY’RE AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE SERVICES AND FOR SMART DEVICES LIKE GOOGLE ASSISTANT, FITBIT, SAMSUNG SMART APPLIANCES AND PHILIPS HUE LIGHTBULBS. THEY CAN BE COMBINED IN ANY WAY YOU LIKE TO CREATE AUTOMATION RECIPES.
On the IFTTT home page, you’ll see all the services that you have linked to IFTTT.
Now go up to the Search bar and type in the name of a service you’d like to be able to access with IFTTT. By default, it will show you Connections – these are automation recipes that other people have already created. We’ll get back to these in a moment. Instead, now click on Services, and it will show you matching services.
Click on the service you want. Again it will show you sample recipes that use the service, but it will also show a Connect button. Click on Connect.
Many services (such as Google) will now take you to an authorisation page where you’ll have to log in with that service’s credentials to authorise control to IFTTT. Once you’re authorised, the service will be added to the list of services on the IFTTT home page.
Do that for every service and device you’d like to control with IFTTT.
There’s one other service we highly recommend you connect to as well: Date & Time. This is just really useful, and you’ll need it if you want to make triggers based on times.
ADD A PRE-MADE RECIPE
03 Now we get to the part where we add some automation recipes. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. IFTTT has a huge variety of pre-made recipes for all devices and services. Just click on one of the services on your IFTTT home page, and it will show you a host of pre-made recipes that use that service.
Clicking on one of the pre-made recipes will allow you to connect it to IFTTT – just click on the Connect button to activate it. If it requires a service that you didn’t connect in Step 2 above, then you’ll have the option to connect to it now. If you want to change any options associated with the recipe, click on the settings button. If you want to turn it off, just click on the Disconnect button.
You can see any activities associated with a given service by clicking on that service on the IFTTT home page.
CREATE A RECIPE
04 You don’t have to just go with recipes created by other people, however. You can create your own.
Click on your profile image on the top of the page, and select Create from the dropdown list.
You’ll be taken to the very simple creator page. What you have to do here is first create the trigger, then create the action. Click on the + button next to ‘If’ to create the trigger.
You’ll be shown a list of all the services and devices IFTTT supports. Pick one that will serve as the trigger.
You’ll see a list of all the triggering actions supported by that service or device. Pick one that you want.
There may be additional options and information that you need to fill in. For example, if you chose “Say a phrase” for Google Assistant, you’ll need to enter what that phrase is.
After you’ve created a trigger, it’s time to create an action. Click on the ‘+’ button next to the ‘Then’.
Again, you’ll be asked to choose a service or device. It can be the same one used for the trigger, or a completely different one. As before, choose it from the list of available services in IFTTT.
When you choose, you’ll be shown all the action capabilities associated with that service. A smart appliance might have the option to turn it on or off, or to change settings, for example. Choose the action and set options.
And that’s it. You’ve created your own recipe, which will run as long as it’s active and IFTTT can connect to the service. Create as many as you like, and experiment. There are some incredible things you can do with IFTTT, so don’t be afraid to play around – click on the Get More button if you’re looking for inspiration.