Simple overview: Receive notifications to phone via HTTPS requests/webhooks from an arduino controller paired with an internet/gps sim shield. Potentially remote control the device via reverse method.
This Tines Automation project started out as a simple project using IFTTT’s applet service. The original applet service was simply integrating smart home control with 3rd party services and APIs. The next iteration led to integrating an Arduino (Do-it-yourself programmable microcontroller) with IoT devices (mainly GPS tracking services as well as to receive notifications on personal mobile phone. Once the IFTTT service went to a subscription-based model, the need for a replacement service was needed to keep costs down, as one of the main goals for the Arduino project was supposed to be an extremely low/no cost GPS tracker/controller.
Once I got ahold of Tines and began using it more, I was able to integrate my Arduino web requests properly (a lot of issues were actually Arduino programming side as well as sim/shield hardware issues). I still seem to have sim shield hardware issues now, so may end up scraping this project but it was definitely a fun little project to work on.
In Tines, this was actually a pretty simple story. It uses a webhook receiver, which receives JSON formatted data from the Arduino, and then I parse the data and resend it human readable to my notification device of choice (in this case private chat channel)