The Reminders app on your iPhone might not be the most amazing reminders app available,
but I’ll tell you what it is... it’s already installed on your phone right now, and it’s
free to use, so I reckon for most people, it’s the most suitable Reminders app for
them.
But, whilst it’s dead easy to get the basics of this app right, I mean you just add reminders
right, I reckon a lot of people aren’t using it to it’s full potential.
So, in this video, I’m going to share with you 10 tips to help you get the most out of
the Reminders app on your iPhone.
I’m making this video in early 2022 by the way, so we’re using iOS 15.4, do make sure
that you’re running the latest iOS version so you can do everything that we talk about
here.
Oh and do stick around to the end of the video, not only do I think you might not know some
of these tips, I’m leaving my favourite one until last.
OK, let’s get into it.
Use Siri
One of the biggest ‘hacks that isn’t really a hack’ for Reminders is to skip the app,
and use Siri.
Siri is hit and miss, still, across so much of the Apple experience, but one area where
it does perform well is Reminders, provided you know how to talk to it.
For example, let’s say that I want to set a Reminder to remind me to pick up milk tomorrow
when I leave work.
The steps to do that in the app would be to create a reminder, then go into the reminder,
then set a date for it, which would of course be tomorrow, then toggle on the location feature,
and choose work, assuming you’ve got your work address setup in your phone.
Yes, it’s a first world problem, but that’s quite a few steps, and it would be nice to
be able to consolidate those steps down to just a verbal command.
So, what you could do instead is trigger Siri, then say something like “remind me to pick
up milk tomorrow when I leave work.”
No matter how quick you are on your phone, it’s always going to be significantly quicker
to do it that way, than it is to manually key everything in.
Siri understands the context of ‘remind me’, and ‘tomorrow’, and ‘when I leave
work’, and it constructs a reminder from those data points.
Siri also understands context in terms of when you say ‘this’.
So for example, let’s say that you’re browsing Safari on your phone, and you see
a gift idea that could be great to buy for a friend, but you’re busy at that exact
moment in time, you’d rather look at it properly when you get home later.
What would you normally do?
Screenshot I’d guess, maybe bookmark, then forget all about it?
Instead, say to Siri, “remind me about this tonight at 7pm” for example.
So long as you say it whilst you’re on the website that you’re referring to, Siri will
understand that ‘this’ means, ‘this thing I’m looking at right now on my phone’,
and will create a contextual reminder for you, complete with a link to get you back
to that item.
It doesn’t work with everything, you’ll have to play around and see where this does
work and where it doesn’t, but email for example is a brilliant one, if you see an
email come in that you know you need to action soon, but just not right this second, you
could say something like “remind me about this when I’m back in the office” or “remind
me about this in 20 minutes” for example, and so long as you’re in the email that
you want to be reminded about, not only will Siri create the reminder for you, it will
link to the email, you get this little Mail icon appear, and tapping that will take you
to the email.
Also, when using Siri, use context in terms of which list you’d like to add something
to.
The most common one I use is to add something to our shopping list, if I were to say “remind
me to buy milk” for example, Siri would create a dedicated reminder for me to buy
milk, but I don’t need that, my girlfriend and I have a shared shopping list.
What I actually want to do is add milk to our shared shopping list, and I do that by
triggering Siri and saying “add milk to my shopping list”.
Because we have a list that’s literally called ‘Shopping’, and because I’ve
specifically asked Siri to add something to it, it knows exactly where to put the Reminder,
and won’t just randomly dump it in my Reminders app.
The key with Siri and Reminders is context, you have to think about what you’re saying
before you say it.
You could say, “remind me to send Mum’s birthday card next Wednesday”, or “remind
me to change my toothbrush on the first Monday of each month.”
I find that generally, the more context you can give Siri, the better it operates.
Final Siri tip before we move on...
The Reminders part of Siri works extremely well, even on Watch, HomePod and even CarPlay.
So for example, whenever we cross the Dartford Crossing here in the UK, we have to pay a
fee, and whilst we keep meaning to setup an account for it, we keep forgetting.
I know, I should set a reminder to do it, the irony is not lost on me.
But what we do instead, is whenever we cross the bridge, I use Siri on CarPlay and say,
“remind me to pay the Dartford Crossing charge tonight at 7pm”.
Works every time because I absolutely would forget, and so far, we’ve always paid.
Hashtags
Hashtags are relatively new in Reminders, and like Hashtags everywhere else, they serve
as a helpful little organisation tool.
There are other ways you can organise your reminders, we’ll cover them in a moment,
but for now let’s explore hashtags.
So, to add one, simply go into a reminder that you’ve created, then tap on Tags.
You’ll be able to see any tags you’ve already created and can choose any of those,
or you can create a new one by tapping Add New Tag and inputting it there.
You can add multiples if you wish.
Then, when you’re back on the main Reminders screen, you’ll now see a Tags section at
the bottom, and tapping on any of those tags will filter out the tags across all of Reminders,
showing you the reminders that include that tag.
How you use this is of course up to you, but if you’ve got a trip planned and you’re
working through jobs related to that, you could have a tag related to your trip.
If you’re using Reminders for work, and you’ve got a number of projects on the go,
you could have a project tag, and this would help collate everything together.
It’s an extremely useful tool, that’s much more flexible than simply putting everything
into folders, although you could of course use those as well if you like.
Nest lists into folders
Speaking of folders, let’s talk about them, because most people I speak with don’t even
realise that you can nest lists together into folders.
If you’re creating multiple Reminders lists, and I think that you should be, it makes sense
from a management perspective, your Reminders screen is going to start to look a little
messy.
So, what you can do is drag and drop lists on top of each other, and this allows you
to create a nest or a folder with them.
So like here for example, if I open my work folder up, you can see that I’ve got a list
for YouTube, and then I’ve got a list for my freelance voice over work that I do, and
then I’ve got a miscellaneous list.
Like I mentioned in the previous tip, you can use things like hashtags regardless of
whether or not you’re using nesting lists, so you really can use these tools as much
or as little as you like to find the perfect list organization method for you.
Create Smart Lists
If you’re not using Siri, the second fastest way to create a Reminder is to go into the
app, and press the New Reminder button down at the bottom left.
But you can see that by default, all Reminders will go into the Reminders list, which can
start to get a bit cluttered, especially if you’re not the most organised of people.
We talked about hashtags in a previous tip, but something else you can do is create Smart
Lists.
A Smart List is a list where you pre-populate requirements for future reminders, and so
long as a reminder matches those requirements, it will automatically be put into that list.
You’ll see when you come to do this, that you can get extremely specific about this
if you wish.
So for example, you might go for something as simple as a hashtag.
You have a hashtag called ‘office move’, and you select that, and any reminders created
with the hashtag office move in them, will automatically go into that list.
But you could also choose things like date and time, and you can do this in an actual
manner, like inputting a specific date range, or a relative manner, so saying something
like ‘in the next week, or month, or year’ for example.
The same with time.
You can specify that only reminders created in a specific location, or with a specific
flag or with a specific priority level get added to this list, and you can choose multiple
options for your list.
Once done, any new reminders that tick all the boxes, will go into your Smart List.
Share Lists
Sharing lists is, in my opinion, one of the most useful features in the whole of the iOS
system, and it’s something that I’m always amazed more people don’t take advantage
of.
Essentially, when you share a list, you can then work on that list with other people,
like you would a note or a document.
But what that means from a reminders perspective, is that if you’ve got a project that you’re
working on with multiple team members, or you’ve got an event that you’re planning
for as a family, you can add people to the list, and they can add and remove items from
that list as they need to.
The most basic example, and the one that my girlfriend and I use, is a shopping list.
Whenever we’re in the house, if we notice that we’re running low on something, we
add it to the list, and then when either one of us is at the shops, we just open the list
in the app, which is going to be up to date, and we’re good to go.
So, to do this, head into your list, tap the ellipsis menu up top, and then choose Share
List.
You can choose whether you’d like to allow people to be able to add other people or not,
and then you can share the list via whatever method you’d like.
Just one thing to point out, this works for regular lists, but it doesn’t work for Smart
Lists.
Flag urgent tasks
The flag tool is another simple, underused but very effective tool when it comes to Reminders.
Essentially, whenever you have a reminder that you know you need to be on top of urgently,
you can flag it, just like you would with an email.
Then, no matter where the reminder exists within the reminders app, whether it’s a
part of a Smart List or anything like that, it will show in the Flagged reminders box
on the main screen, and it will remain there until you either complete it, or remove the
flag.
I would recommend using this for short term things, jobs where you know you’ve got to
get something done quickly, but like all of the tools here, you can use it as you wish.
Use Smart Repeats
Recurring reminders can be really useful for those jobs that you do on a regular basis,
but for whatever reason, you struggle to remember, especially if it’s a job you don’t do
that often.
Maybe, booking a dentists appointment, or running the dishwasher on a self-clean cycle,
or getting your boiler serviced, or even taking the correct bins out on the correct day of
the week, these are all jobs that happen on a recurring basis, and so it makes sense to
have a recurring reminder to keep you on top of them.
It’s easy to do, just create a reminder, and when you do, where it says ‘repeat’,
choose from the different options.
Oh, and if you’re using Siri to do this, just use the correct context, so you would
say something like, “remind me to take the bins out on Wednesday, and repeat every fortnight”,
and Siri will understand and create the appropriate reminder.
Subtasks to create a project
Reminders are really useful, but some tasks require multiple steps to be completed in
order to complete the main job, and rather than creating lots of different reminders
for a project like this, you would be better off instead using subtasks.
So in a reminder, use the ‘i’ button to get information about the reminder, and then
scroll down to subtasks.
You can then add a bunch of sub-reminders.
You’ll see as well that a reminder that has sub-reminders shows in bold when you’re
looking at it on the main screen, and you can see that Reminders tells you about the
sub tasks.
Add images to reminders
Perhaps you’re working on some DIY, and you want to create a reminder, but also remind
yourself of what it is that you need to fix at the same time.
Or, maybe you’ve got a leaflet and you want to make some enquiries off of the information
from the leaflet, but you don’t want to carry a piece of paper around in your bag.
You can use your phone’s camera to take a photo or a scan, and then add that to the
reminder.
To do it, tap the ‘i’ button on the reminder, and right at the bottom you can see ‘Add
Image’.
You can choose from the photo library, snap a picture there and then or scan a document,
and doing that even lets you choose whether you’d like it to be in black and white or
colour.
If you’ve approached this the other way around, you’ve taken a photo of something
that you’d now like a reminder for, just share it from the photo, using the last tip
in our list.
Integrate with other apps using the Share function.
I’ve saved my favourite tip until the end, and this is it.
You can share into Reminders from other apps, which might not sound that useful or ground
breaking, until you start to really make the most of this, and realise just how powerful
it can be.
The process is the same all over, from any other app, you choose Share, and then you
select Reminders, and you create a reminder from that app.
But let me show you some of the ways that you can use this.
In Notes, you can’t share directly from the share menu, but what you can do is highlight
some text, then share to Reminders, and that will essentially create a Reminder that links
to the Note.
Thanks to the YouTube viewer on-screen now who made me aware of that little gem.
In Netflix, when you find a show you like, share it to Reminders, and it will create
a Reminder with a link to the exact show on Netflix, making it really easy to build out
your watch list.
The same in YouTube, the same in Disney Plus, the same in Music.
You can remind yourself about locations using Maps, emails using Mail, websites using Safari,
there’s loads of options on how you can use this, and whilst many of these apps do
of course have their own bookmarking system, the beauty of reminders is that you can store
everything in one place, and you can set actual reminders, reminding you to read something
at a certain time, or to visit a website when you get home from work.
Loads of possibilities for how you might use this.
So there you go, 10 tips to help you start using Reminders more effectively.
What about you, anything you’re doing that I haven’t mentioned?
Drop me a comment, and let’s talk about it.
And as ever, if you found this video useful, do please consider leaving me a like, and
subscribing to my channel for more content like this in the future.
See you on the next video.