Messaging app Telegram announced that it has integrated with If This Then That (IFTTT), a service used to make connections between more than 350 apps and devices ranging from Facebook and Salesforce to Alexa or Google Assistant.
Telegram also created an IFTTT bot to chat with and control those connections and bring it all into group conversations.
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By combining the IFTTT bot and integrations, Telegram says its bot can act like a multitasking personal assistant with the ability to do things like send tweets, receive alerts from social media or email, and other tasks without leaving Telegram.
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About 30 pre-made Telegram-IFTTT applets (formerly known as recipes) are available. Pre-made applets can automatically share each of your Instagram posts with a group, for example, or automatically ask a group if they need anything when you enter a store.
Custom commands can also be created to link apps and devices.
“We ask our thermostat for current temperature of the house, our productivity tools to remind us of meetings or deadlines and yet we have to use different interaction to access all these separately. Dealing with the Internet of Things can be especially frustrating if you have to interact with unfamiliar interfaces and slow outdated native apps,” Ra told VentureBeat in an email. “Adding messaging to the equation offers an elegant solution to all these problems.”
The initial version of Telegram on IFTTT will allow six specific triggers, or actions, which focus on posting messages and sharing photos.
The IFTTT bot will function differently depending on the circumstances.
In private, the bot will be able to prompt actions and send you notifications. Functionality is less flexible in groups or channels, but can still be used to do things like listen to song suggestions and then put together a Spotify playlist for a group.
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