If you like to automate the action of applications you should have already searched for solutions in IFTTT (if this, then that). The free platform houses more than 65 million simple conditionals so that websites, apps, traditional software, social networks, games and electronic equipment work together – when something happens on one system, it generates a programmed and immediate result in another.
It is an equivalence relation.
Those who create all this are more than 130,000 registered developers (among them, giant technology companies). This explains, in part, the business model.
The IFTTT (pronounced similarly to gift, without the “g”), was born in 2010, at the hands of American brothers Linden and Alexander Tibbets. To get out of the role, the startup, as well as several others in Silicon Valley, obtained investor financing (about $ 40 million). Since then, he has become “king of IoT”.
Today, IFTTT is a free platform – for both the user and the developer – that can make your applications and devices talk to each other. The terms of use, however, guarantee a possible table turn. That has been happening gradually, it’s true, with a focus on technology companies and new features.
“Currently the service is free, but we reserve the right to charge for some or all services in the future. We will notify you before the service you are using starts to cost a fee, and if you wish to continue using the service, you must pay all applicable fees”, says the IFTTT. There are currently no paid applets.
How does the IFTTT Platform work?
While this is not the case, the team, made up primarily of engineers, and also focused on product management, marketing and business, is powered by partnerships. The revenue comes in addition to the initial investments of IFTTT Platform customers who pay to host solutions and connections to the (almost always new) products themselves.
Without confirming the amounts charged, which depend on the necessary infrastructure, it quoted with major clients the technology giants GE, BMW, Microsoft and Google. Others are Dropbox, The New York Times, Twitter, Slack and Spotify. At the moment, there are three monthly plans, “Lite” even worthless, “Basic” for $199 and “Enterprise” for $499.
“We charge a fixed fee that allows customers to publish services and Applets, and gain valuable insight into how their integrations are used”, the IFTTT said in a statement. The biggest difference from the more expensive paid services are unique marketing and branding tools, applet branding, 24h support, advanced user data analysis, API calls priority, and unlimited administrator accounts.
With a global user base, IFTTT suffers from some bugs with non-English characters that can cause errors in applets – which limits its use to the West. However, in order to attract new customers among the big apple makers, it promises “deep analytical data” and “works with IFTTT” (which guarantees third party users compatibility) and what it calls “trusted experiences.”
For the future, the team says it is focused on building powerful tools, insights, and new services for the platform that continues to grow in a rich ecosystem filled with individual developers, small and midsize businesses, as well as Fortune 500 companies looking for solutions alternatives.
The most popular Applets
Until you get to that business model, however, a lot of water has rolled. In 2015, official apps for Android and iOS (iPhone) arrived. And before that, a confusion of names.
“Over the years, we have used different names for what we call Applets today. In the past, they were called Tasks, then Statements, Recipes, and finally the Applets”, they explain. Nothing, however, changed the concept.
According to the IFTTT, among the first Applets that were popular seven years ago, and which are still popular today, are simple features Tweet Instagram posts as native photos on Twitter (by Instagram), 670,000 users. Receive an email every time a new Craigslist post matches your search (by IFTTT) with 150,000 users and Receive daily weather alerts (by Weather Undergroud) with over 1 million users if you’ve added all the options available since then.
Instagram solutions, for example, bypass API changes such as Twitter, which no longer allow content from other social networks or platforms to appear embedded in tweets, displaying only links instead of a post thumbnail.
Asked about the most popular partners, six names stand out. Among the softwares and web apps are Twitter, Facebook and Gmail. Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Philips Hue are some of the most popular gadgets of Internet of Things.
Utility vs. Privacy
From the user, gratuitousness follows the old rule that stands firm on the Internet: provide your data and give you the sky. The first step in venturing into the wonders offered by IFTTT is to grant Applets access to our personal data to post on our behalf, send emails or read our actions.
Except in situations involving Justice, the company states that it does not provide or sell user data to third parties. Not only does the IFTTT, however, have access to data on the use of Applets. Developers also manipulate this information.
Even if you need an Applet that looks friendly, make sure the developers are of unknown origin. All Applets have the “by developer” area, which has the name and link to the developer profile. Partner brands in the IFTTT, as well as in social networks, have the blue “verified account” seal.