The Reminders app used to just be about scheduling appointments.
Now, it’s geared more towards work-related task management. It also works across all iOS devices to help for a more seamless experience.
Let’s check out how you can use this often ignored app to increase productivity.
The Reminders App to the Rescue
You might not realize what an overhaul this app has received, and there are many features you may not be aware of.
With every iOS update, these seemingly simple apps become more powerful. Here are just a few highlights as of the time of writing this:
Various smart lists: they divide the app into “today,” “scheduled,” “flagged,” and “all.” This makes it easier to spread out tasks, and then quickly find them.
Sub-tasks: This one is great because now each primary task can have subtasks — or its own to-do list — to further expand ideas and requirements.
The ability to share lists: the other person can also update the list which you will automatically get.
A variety of reminder lists: You can now get really specific for the type of reminders you need. Some categories include school, work, home, and medications.
Better search: there are also new colors and easier ways to divide up and find specific tasks.
Quick toolbar: this easily lets you add in locations and even attachments to a task. When you tap on a reminder, a camera icon is available to take a picture, open your photo library, and even scan a document to easily share.
Lists: we can now contain multiple reminders in a single list. This list can be given a specific color and icon and shared with colleagues, friends, etc. You just tap on “add list” at the bottom right of the home screen.
Text reminders: you can set the reminder to send a notification when you’re talking to a specific person in iMessage. Set it up by starting a new reminder, then tapping the “i” in the circle next to it.
A “details” menu will come up. Next to “remind me when messaging,” there will be a toggle you will move to green. Underneath that, there will be a prompt for “choose person.” Pressing this will bring up your contacts list where you choose the person.
That last feature may seem unnecessary, but it can be quite useful: especially if you set it up with Siri.
You can simply say something like “Hey Siri, remind me to ask about (blank) the next time I message (blank),” and you’ll get a notification the next time you’re texting with that person.
This is great for non-pressing matters that you still don’t want to forget about.
Another significant feature of the app is being able to see all your scheduled reminders.
When you go into the “scheduled” section, it shows you everything coming up over the coming days, weeks, and months.
This gives you a good snapshot of your work demands, and how to better manage them.
If things look too busy on a certain day, you can hold down one of the reminders and just move it to another day. You can also add a new reminder for that day.
This is one of the best features to ensure consistent productivity. Sometimes, you just need to look at everything from a distance to see how to balance it all out.
The Siri Integration
You can use Siri to schedule a certain task for any day or time. This is really helpful because you can plan out the week, and update it as you go.
You also don’t have to worry about checking the app to see what’s coming next. You know that you'll get the reminder of when you need to do something instead of risking missing it.
You can still manually schedule them out, but it’s just as easy to say “Hey Siri, set a reminder to write an email newsletter Tuesday at 10 am.”
After that, you can set a reminder to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly if needed.
Siri works so well now that I use it to schedule all my reminders and rarely type anything out anymore.
Making Use of Notifications
The notification will stay on your lock screen, so there’s no risk of missing it by accidentally closing it out.
If that task somehow slips your mind, you will constantly see it throughout the day. When you're finished with that task, just go into the app and close it out.
Or, you can just long-press it on your home screen to mark it as completed.
You can also move that reminder to later in the day, or the next day. This is another helpful feature in case something comes up that throws off your daily schedule.
Wrapping it Up
One way you can start the day is by opening the Reminders app and clicking on “today” to see what’s coming up.
You can also set a customized “today” notification. With this, you can start your day with a notification of everything coming up.
By default, this is sent to you at 9 am. To set it up, go to “settings,” then press “reminders,” and toggle the “today notification” to green.
You can schedule the reminder for another time by pressing the blue stamp under the toggle. Then, set the new time in the scroll wheel that will come up.
If you somehow didn't check the daily tasks or forgot something; there’s no worry, as you’ll get a reminder notification.
When you run your own business, your mind can swirl with all the things you need to do. It’s a 24/7 job, and this can create a lot of stress and anxiety.
This is worst at night when trying to sleep. You don’t want to forget anything and it can be a burden.
When this is the case, it's helpful to perform a “brain dump” by writing everything down.
This gets everything out of your head and can help you relax. It also eliminates the risk of forgetting it.
The Reminders app is the digital version of this — but with notifications to keep you on track.
If you're looking for a new way to manage all your work — give it a shot.