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ActivitySmith Zapier integrationAutomate ActivitySmith with Zapier.

ActivitySmith Zapier integration: 0 triggers, 4 actions, 0 searches. ActivitySmith only listens. Another app has to start the automation, then ActivitySmith pushes a notification or opens, moves and closes a Live Activity on the iOS devices of your team.

See the 4 operations

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Overview

What the ActivitySmith Zapier integration really does

It turns events from your other tools into something your team sees on its iOS devices. A deploy finishes, a payment lands, a form comes in: ActivitySmith turns that into a push notification, or into a Live Activity that shows progress until the job is done. On Zapier, ActivitySmith never starts anything itself. It only offers actions.

A release ping on every phone. A new GitHub release goes out, and Send Push Notification reaches all paired devices. Only the title is required, so the release name alone does the job.

A live tracker for a deploy pipeline. Start Live Activity opens a tracker when the build starts and hands back an activity_id. Update Live Activity moves it forward at each stage, and End Live Activity closes it once production is live. Pick the step-based type for a pipeline with fixed stages.

A visible finish line for customer onboarding. When the last onboarding task is ticked in your project tool, End Live Activity closes the tracker the account manager has been watching, so nobody has to ask whether it is done.

What Zapier does not do here: ActivitySmith has no trigger, so a Live Activity ending can never start a Zap by itself. It has no search either, which means you cannot look up an existing activity by name. The Activity ID has to travel from step to step, or sit somewhere your Zap can read it back. If that feels limiting, the Make vs Zapier comparison shows how the two tools handle data passed between steps.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Eight words cover everything on this page. Each one is explained once, here, then used as is.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one event that starts it, then one or more steps that run each time that event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. ActivitySmith has none, so the trigger always comes from another tool.
Action
What the Zap does once started: here, a push notification sent, or a Live Activity opened, updated or ended.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action that completed successfully. Your plan counts these, nothing else.
Polling vs instant
A polling trigger is checked by Zapier on a timer. An instant trigger is reported by the app the moment the event happens.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when the incoming data matches your condition, and stops it otherwise.
Connection
Your ActivitySmith account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every ActivitySmith step in every Zap.
Multi-step Zap
Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action or a filter makes one, and it needs a paid plan.
Cost

What it costs in tasks

Every task here is one notification sent or one Live Activity changed, and only when it went through.

  • Premium appNo, free plan allowed
  • Free plan100 tasks a month
  • Free Zap size2 steps: trigger + action
  • Trigger cost0 tasks

The trigger from the other app costs nothing, however often Zapier checks it. Each ActivitySmith action that succeeds counts as one task; an action that fails is not counted. ActivitySmith is not a premium app, so it works on the free plan: 100 tasks a month, with polling triggers checked every 15 minutes. The catch nobody mentions: free Zaps stop at two steps. Chain Start then Update in one Zap, or add a filter, and you are on a paid plan.

Connect

Connect ActivitySmith to Zapier

  1. 01

    Open Apps and start a connection

    In your Zapier account, open the Apps page and click + Add connection. In the dialog, type ActivitySmith and pick it from the list. You need an existing ActivitySmith account before this works.

  2. 02

    Sign in to ActivitySmith

    Click Add connection. A new tab opens on ActivitySmith: sign in there with the account your team uses. If anything the Zap will touch belongs to someone else, make sure you have read or write access to it.

  3. 03

    Grant access and reuse it

    Grant Zapier access to the account. The connection now appears in your Apps list, and every ActivitySmith step in every Zap can pick it from a dropdown instead of asking you to sign in again.

First Zap

Your first Zap: a release ping for the whole team

GoalNotify every paired device when a GitHub release is published, skipping beta releases.

  1. 01

    Build the trigger

    Create a Zap, pick GitHub and its New Release event to start it. Test it: Zapier brings back the three most recent releases, so you map fields on a real one.

  2. 02

    Add the filter

    Click the plus icon, choose Filter, then in Configure & test set the field, the rule and the value. Use a text rule here: a number rule on a name never passes.

  3. 03

    Add the ActivitySmith action

    Add a step, pick ActivitySmith and Send Push Notification, then your connection. Map the release name into Title, the only field it requires.

  4. 04

    Test each step

    Run each step once and read what came back before going further. A notification that arrives on the paired devices is the proof the connection works.

  5. 05

    Publish

    Click Publish to switch the Zap on. With the filter, this is a multi-step Zap and needs a paid plan. On the free plan, drop the filter and keep two steps.

Actions

The 4 ActivitySmith actions

ActivitySmith gives you 4 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

End Live Activity

Action

In Zapier“Ends an existing live activity.”

Closes a Live Activity for good, identified by its Activity ID, with a final Title. It is the step that tells everyone the job is over.

When to use it
when the last stage lands, like production going live or an onboarding checklist being complete.
Watch out
without the Activity ID from Start, there is nothing to close, and the step fails.
2

Send Push Notification

Action

In Zapier“Sends a push notification to all paired devices.”

Fires a push notification to every device paired with your ActivitySmith account. Title is the only required field, so one mapped value from the trigger is enough to get going.

When to use it
a one-off event the team should notice right away, like a release going out or a large deal closing.
Watch out
it goes to all paired devices, so a noisy trigger means noisy phones; add a filter if needed.
3

Start Live Activity

Action

In Zapier“Starts a new live activity and returns the activity_id.”

Opens a new Live Activity and returns its activity_id for the steps that follow. Title and Type are both required: segmented_progress fits a job made of steps, progress fits a percentage or a value.

When to use it
the moment a long job begins, such as a deploy pipeline kicking off.
Watch out
store that activity_id somewhere, since no search can find it later.
4

Update Live Activity

Action

In Zapier“Updates an existing live activity.”

Moves an activity that is already running: you point at it with its Activity ID and send the new state. Both Activity ID and Title are required.

When to use it
each time a stage of the job completes, for example build passed, tests passed, deploy started.
Watch out
putting it in the same Zap as Start makes a multi-step Zap, which means a paid plan.
When it breaks

When the ActivitySmith Zap breaks

No help article is attached to ActivitySmith on Zapier, so the issues below come from how Zapier itself behaves.

Most problems with this app come from the Activity ID chain or from the plan, not from ActivitySmith. For deeper cases, the Zapier troubleshooting guide walks through the general method.

  • Missing Activity ID

    Update and End both require an Activity ID. If the earlier Zap never saved the activity_id from Start, these steps have nothing to target and fail.

  • No catch-up on old events

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Jobs already running before that never get a Live Activity unless you start one by hand.

  • Flood protection

    If the trigger app suddenly returns a huge batch, after a bulk import for instance, Zapier can hold it back instead of firing hundreds of notifications.

  • Stuck at two steps

    On the free plan a Zap holds one trigger and one action. Start plus Update, or any filter, needs a paid plan before you can publish.
Need help

Need help automating ActivitySmith with Zapier?

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FAQ

ActivitySmith and Zapier: frequent questions

01Is the ActivitySmith Zapier integration free?
Yes, ActivitySmith is not a premium app, so it runs on the free Zapier plan. That plan gives you 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The limit to keep in mind is size: a free Zap holds two steps, one trigger and one action. A tracker that starts and updates a Live Activity in the same Zap, or a Zap with a filter, needs a paid plan. A single Send Push Notification behind another app's trigger stays free.
02How many tasks does ActivitySmith use?
One task per ActivitySmith action that succeeds. The trigger from the other app costs nothing, however often Zapier checks it, and an action that fails is not counted. A Zap that sends one push notification uses one task each time it runs. A Zap that starts a Live Activity, then updates it, uses two tasks per run, because every successful action is counted on its own. Count your notifications per month before picking a plan: on the free plan, 100 of them is the ceiling.
03Does ActivitySmith on Zapier work in real time?
It depends on the app that starts the Zap, because ActivitySmith has no trigger of its own. If that app offers an instant trigger, it reports the event right away and the ActivitySmith action follows straight after. If it is a polling trigger, Zapier checks on a timer: every 15 minutes on the free plan, 2 on Professional, 1 on Team and Enterprise. Pick an instant trigger when speed matters.
04What does connecting ActivitySmith require?
An ActivitySmith account, and read or write access on anything the Zap will touch that you do not own. In Zapier, open Apps, click + Add connection, search ActivitySmith, click Add connection, sign in on the tab that opens and grant access. The connection is then reused by every ActivitySmith step, so this happens once. Before connecting, check that the team's devices are paired with that account, since Send Push Notification reaches every paired device and nothing else.
05Where does the Activity ID come from?
From Start Live Activity, which returns an activity_id when it opens a Live Activity. Update Live Activity and End Live Activity both require it. Since ActivitySmith has no search step, Zapier cannot look an activity up afterwards. Either keep the ID in a later step of the same Zap, which makes it a paid multi-step Zap, or save it in a tool another Zap can read from. A spreadsheet row or a database record works well as that storage spot, as long as the next Zap can read it back.
06What if the ActivitySmith operation you need is missing?
Then it is not available through Zapier today: the editor offers exactly four actions, and nothing else hides behind them. There is no trigger and no search. A Zapier agency can check whether a workaround through another app covers the case, but nothing on the ActivitySmith side of Zapier will add it for you. Read the four notes above first: chances are one of them, combined with a filter or another app, already covers most of the need.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for ActivitySmith?
Judge on three criteria rather than a ranking. On Zapier, ActivitySmith is a ready-made app with four actions and runs on the free plan, which suits a team that wants a push notification without setup. Passing an Activity ID across several steps is where the free plan stops. If your trackers chain many steps, compare how each tool bills multi-step scenarios and stored data before choosing. A good test is your first real tracker: build it on Zapier, count the tasks it burns in a week, then decide.
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