IFTTT has been a handy web app for simple tasks that I’ve used for a while now. With IFTTT’s iOS app update to IF and the release of Do Button the integration has gotten a bit more interesting. Our IT team has been giving Slack a go these past couple weeks, which we love, and I’ve made a couple fun IF / DO integrations. First a handy DO Button that sends a message to slack saying there is coffee dripping in the main IT office, a handy heads up as I am usually one of the first to arrive. Also realistic application of a time tracker, that also notes location and saves it to a Google Spreadsheet. And another Do Button that tells the team on slack I am out for the day.
Also using the IF app on iOS we’ve began experimenting with location reporting, which tech is at which building, and an ever up-to-date status. I liken it, for all you Harry Potter fans, to the Weasley’s clock that sits in Burrow allowing for them to see what each other is up too with some generality. It’s quite simple, as IFTTT works on an If-This-Then-That. Using iOS location I set a fence around each building, and IF I cross that fence THEN post to slack THAT my location is ‘name of building’ easy as that.
Here are some of the integrations:
Now you may have noticed that the current actions are not enabled, well here is where I still need to tinker. Several of the building sit on roads that are frequently driven to access other buildings, thereby triggering the location update, even with the geofence set up fairly tight on a building. Also this requires for your location data to be active quite often, which leads to poor battery life and high overall data usage. Another issue I’ve notice, is besides switching all the recipes off and then back on everyday, theres not ay to regulate on a time table when they are active, a functionality I hope IFTTT releases in the future.
In summary the location reporting to a slack channel works, just at a cost of battery and data:
