Using Adafruit IO, you can create automated email alerts so you receive an email whenever a feed condition is met.

Here are two different ways to do it, one uses Adafruit IO and IFTTT, the other uses Adafruit IO+ (this is a paid service) with its built-in Actions.

Email alerts can take up to 15 minutes to be sent, so don't use this for time critical applications!

Email Alert with AIO and IFTTT

The IFTTT (If This Then That) service can be integrated with AIO quite easily. You'll create an IFTTT applet that watches one of your AIO feeds, and when a certain value appears in the feed, IFTTT will send an email.

First, head to https://ifttt.com/ and create an account or log in if you already have one.

Create Applet

On the IFTTT My Applets page, click the + Create button.

Add a Condition

In the If This box, click the Add button.

Choose Adafruit Service

From the Choose a service page, pick the Adafruit service.

Choose Feed Trigger

On the Choose a trigger page, click on the Monitor a feed on Adafruit IO option. This option allows you to filter the data so only some conditions will trigger the applet.

Configure the Trigger

Fill out the fields of the Monitor a feed on Adafruit IO trigger.

In the example shown here, the Feed being monitored is named door, the Relationship is equal to, and the Value is 0.

This means the trigger will run whenever the door feed has a new piece of data with a value of 0.

Once you've filled this out, click the Create Trigger button.

Add an Action

Now that you have a trigger read, you will pick what the resulting action will be. Click on the Then That box's Add button.

Choose Gmail Service

Filter the services of the Choose a service page by typing "gmail" into the search bar.

Click on the Gmail icon to select it.

Choose Gmail Action

In the Choose an action page choose to either Send an email.

Email Fields

Here you can fill in the details of the email that'll be sent when the applet runs.

You can send the email to any address you like (just please don't spam people!)

You can even get fancy and have the email sent as a text message! For many carriers you can use your cellular number at txt . carrier . net pattern, e.g. [email protected] and you'll receive a text message when the email is triggered.

Once filled in, click the Create action button.

Applet Summary

This page shows a summary of the IFTTT applet flow. You can add elements here if needed, but in this case, click Continue.

Review and Finish

Here you'll see a review of the Applet. If everything looks good, click Finish.

If not, you can click the < Back button in the IFTTT window (not the browser back button).

Email Alert with AIO+

Alert Received

Here's what a typical alert email looks like when the feed triggers the IFTTT applet.

Adafruit IO+ Actions

With a paid Adafruit IO+ subscription, you can use the Actions to send an email to your account email address.

Triggers were renamed to Actions in Adafruit IO.

Actions

On Adafruit IO, click the Actions header, and then click the View all link.

New Action

Create a new action by clicking the + New Action button.

Reactive Action

Click on Reactive Action.

Here, you'll fill out the conditions and action to take. In this example below:

If door Is equal to 0 Then email me door value and time.

Click create and you're done! The next time your feed value equals the conditional number, you'll get an email.

This guide was first published on Apr 21, 2021. It was last updated on Mar 28, 2024.

This page (Email Alerts) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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