9 IFTTT recipes Android users must try

Over the weekend IFTTT launched the long-awaited beta of a native app for Android. If you’re unfamiliar with the service, it allows you to create “recipes” that perform automated tasks based on input and output from various “channels,” which include popular sources like Gmail, Google Drive, Facebook, SMS, and more.

The wide release of the Android app will bring new possibilities tied to native Android apps, but hundreds of useful recipes already exist. The best part? You don’t even need the app on your phone to take advantage of them — you can set it all up right in your web browser. For those toying around with the beta and those eagerly awaiting the final release alike, here are 9 of our favorite IFTTT recipes.

Find a lost phone

There are plenty of apps out there useful for finding a lost phone. Google’s Android Device Manager comes to mind as a great option.  In a pinch, though, you can use IFTTT to ring a lost phone. Just send an email to yourself and wait for your phone to ring. Spoiler alert: it’s wedged between the couch cushions.

Instagram photos that appear natively in your Twitter feed

Wish your Instagram images could look as lovely as native in-feed images when shared to Twitter? Now they can, and you won’t even have to lift a finger. Actually, you will need to lift your fingers enough to add the hashtag #twitter to your Instagram post, but after that you’re good.

An escape plan when you need it

We’ve all been there: stuck in an annoying meeting or droning conversation with no clear way out. If only something more important could magically come up. With IFTTT, you have an escape plan. Simply send a text message containing the code word #helpme and within seconds you will receive a call from IFTTT’s automated messaging system. Then hurry up — get out of there — that burning warehouse full of kittens isn’t going to save itself.

Activate your personal weatherman

Weather apps…who needs ‘em when you have got IFTTT. Make it your personal weatherman with this recipe to text you the forecast each morning. You’ll never forget your umbrella again.

Save all the Google Doodles

We love Google Doodles, you love Google Doodles. Don’t you wish you could just save them all? Well, you can. Use this IFTTT recipe to save Google’s rotation of daily doodles direct to your Drive.

Make your food pics useful

Food pics — what are they really good for? While your friends aren’t likely to change their mind about your incessant need to share an photo of every meal you eat, you can at least put them to good use with this recipe. By tagging food photos with #knowyourself, you can quickly log the meal to your Jawbone UP and help keep the crave to binge eat (because that food just looks so good) in check.

Backup photos to Google Drive

Our entire lives exist on Facebook. Wouldn’t it be terrible if the whole thing suddenly crashed? Maybe because of a zombie ? Keep duplicates of the photos you have uploaded on Google Drive. There is a recipe for Instagram, as well.

Be prepared for the zombie apocalypse

Speaking of the zombie apocalypse…when it occurs, don’t the last to know. It could mean the difference between surviving and becoming the next meal of your cranky old neighbor’s reanimated corpse. Alright, so the chances of an actual zombie outbreak are relatively small, but you’ll be glad you had this one should things go all Walking Dead out there. 

Add Phandroid’s latest articles to Pocket

Obviously the most important IFTTT recipe for any Android user, the Pocket channel makes it easy to save new articles from Phandroid’s feed for later reading. You can modify this one to work for any feed, but why would you want to read anything else?