Alerts and notifications
Rules, channels, cooldowns, and how to avoid teaching yourself to ignore them.
An alert rule is a condition, a set of actions, and a cooldown. The condition is what to watch, the actions are how you are told, and the cooldown is what stops one event becoming forty messages.
What you can watch for
| Condition | Fires when | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Geofence exit / entry | An asset crosses a zone boundary | Theft, misuse, arrival logging |
| Tamper / wire cut | Power is removed or the case is opened | Someone found the tracker |
| Low battery | Voltage falls below your threshold | Catch a dying battery before a customer does |
| Speed | Sustained speed over a limit | No-wake zones, fleet policy |
| Impact / rollover | G-sensor exceeds threshold | Damage you want to know about before the return |
| Offline | No report for a set period | A unit that has quietly stopped |
Choosing channels
SMS for the things you would get out of bed for. Email for everything else. Push if you live in the mobile app. The rule of thumb: if you would not act on it at 2am, it does not belong on SMS.
Cooldowns
Every rule has a cooldown — the minimum gap between repeat alerts for the same asset. Set it to how long it would take you to respond. Fifteen minutes for a geofence exit is usually right; a battery warning can sit at twelve hours.
Three alerts you always read beat eleven you have trained yourself to swipe away. Start with geofence exit and tamper, then add only what you have actually wanted.