If This Then That

If this then that is...

IFTT Doorbell

In this exercise, we will build a contactless virtual doorbell using If This Then That (IFTT). Go to https://ifttt.com/ and create an account.

After you have created an account go to create or https://ifttt.com/create

Click on this

Click this

Then search for and click on Webhooks then click receive a web request.

Choose Webhooks

Create and name your event "Doorbell"

You will be brought back to the section where you can click on that.

Click on That

Then search for and click on email then click on send me an email. You will have to verify your inbox with a pin.

Change the subject line to Doorbell then click create.

Click Finish to end the task.

Configuring Webhook

Click the user icon in the top right of the page and then click on my services.

Then click on webhooks then settings. Copy the URL, then place it into a new browser window.

Get the URL to build the trigger

Copy the URL, mine is shown below:

https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/[app_name_goes_here]/with/key/dTJObOgVj3RHOCghZtMch

and paste this into a text editor. Replace:

[app_name_goes_here]

With:

doorbell

So for my example

https://maker.ifttt.com/trigger/doorbell/with/key/dTJObOgVj3RHOCghZtMch

You should notice that you have received an email in your inbox, indicating that someone is at the door.

Check to see if you received an email

If you think creatively the trigger could, of course, be anything, a motion sensor, the action could also be anything, turn on some lights, send an SMS.

QRcodes

Users don't like long URLs. Pressing a doorbell is easy but typing in a long URL is hard so we will turn the URL trigger into a QRcode.

Go to this website https://www.qr-code-generator.com/ and paste in your trigger URL. Generate a QR code and then display it on your computer screen.

A QRcode that you can scan with your phone

Open the camera app on your phone and then point it at the screen. It should identify the QRcode, you can click to visit the link and generate the email.