posted on June 12, 2016

Track Medicine Intake with IFTTT

by: Nick Mosher

Overview

There are a lot of ways to track your medication. You can pay for a digital tracker. You can mark your calendar. You can even just look at your pill container for the day to make sure you took them. None of these solutions are free, easy, long term, or as cool as this solution. Using a Google Spreadsheet and DO by IFTTT on your phone you can quick track each pill and have a history for analysis later!

Problem:

It’s hard to remember if I’ve taken my medication.

Solution:

Log medicine intake on a spreadsheet right when it is taken.

Requirements

IFTTT, DO button app for Android or iPhone


Detailed Steps

Setup

  1. Sign up for an IFTTT account.
  2. Download the DO button app for your phone of choice.
  3. On your phone create a new “DO” recipe by pressing the icon in the bottom right, then the “+” button, then selecting the “Channels” tab
  4. Select Google Spreadsheets, add a new recipe
  5. Add row to spreadsheet
  6. Title the action “Pill NameTrack Medicine”
  7. Name your spreadsheet something like “Medicine”
  8. Format you rows like this: Pill Name ||| OccurredAt ||| Latitude ||| Longitude
  9. Add
  10. (Optional) Add a widget to your DO action on your home screen of your phone.
  11. Press the button each time you take your pills
Join the Discussion!

Discuss this project in the Automate Your Life forums.

Nick Mosher bio image

About Nick Mosher

Nick is an Interaction and Experience designer. He creates web sites, intranet platforms, and web applications always with the customer's intuitive and effective use at the forefront of my planning. Currently, he works as a User Experience Designer for the American Academy of Family Physicians. At the AAFP, he works to champion the user experience on websites such as FamilyDoctor.org and AAFP.org.