Apple Reminders: Power User Tips & Hidden Features

[@PeterAkkies]

Grab your FREE Apple Reminders cheat sheet: peterakkies.ck.page/reminders-cheat-sheet

[@andricheli]

Apple reminders is the most underrated app. I used Things and Todoist but in recent years have switched to apple reminders and haven’t looked back. I sometimes use GoodTask in conjunction with Apple Reminders, but even on its own Reminders is incredibly powerful and flexible. Especially for people largely in the apple ecosystem.

[@jasona.2044]

Totally

[@maikaimakena9424]

I also think Google Tasks is not great because you can add a photo and Apple Reminders lets you add photos and makes it clearly better

[@movingkindaslow]

Good video Peter. I also share emails from the Mail app to Reminders. Just highlight part of the email, long press and select “Share”, and pick Reminders. Works great, and the reminder has a link back to the email message. One thing though: you can definitely share an entire note to Reminders. Just hit the Share button at the top of the note!

[@PeterAkkies]

Hmm. When I try that, I have to make the note shared first. Then I can share it to Reminders. So I suppose it is not convenient but you can, so you are right!

[@movingkindaslow]

@@PeterAkkies Well that is strange because I don’t have to make the note shareable first; sharing to Reminders works for all notes. Hmmmm…

[@PeterAkkies]

Strange!

[@IngoJTimm]

@Paul: I was looking for these tips for years! I tried many 3rd party apps for mail (spark, airmail, ...) but was never satisfied. The workflow of "marking one word, select all, share" is very intuitive and fast. Also the sharing of notes is great. Finally linking of notes with reminders *it's a dream*

[@IngoJTimm]

@@PeterAkkies when you hit the share button of the note, you can select "send copy" or "working together" ( I am not quite sure about the expressions as I am using a localised version of notes): if you hit share, select "working together" and then click on reminders as destination of this share, you get the sharing details request from notes (you have to enter, which email-adress you want to share your note with): I just entered my iCloud-email and linking worked perfectly. Following this procedure, you can also link a reminders list to notes. Thus, you can have project-tasks and project-notes bidirectionally linked together (this will be a game changer for my use of these apps). Currently, I have some problems, when trying to use the links on macOS or iPadOS: however, there is still a version heterogeneity (iOS 16, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey) - hopefully this will be fixed within the next days, when Apple provides the new versions of macOS and iPadOS.

[@utilitarian]

Reminders is such an underrated app - many people go for a third party app when this can do it all in-house. Thanks for the tips - I didn't know I could attach files to reminders - gonna save me so much time!!!!

[@skatechatham]

I used Todoist then Trello, now I've shifted everything to Reminders, saves me money and I can organize things much better! Thanks for the tips

[@realjay247]

Another great video Peter and has prompted me to make use of the reminders app on my phone. As a Brit, I loved your attempt at the English accent when you said “fortnightly” -very impressive.

[@Bp91-BP]

Great video! Having ADHD I struggle to be organised, this will really change things for me. Thank you!

[@esku75]

Very nice tips there 😊 I recently discovered, when planning a route on Apple Maps, that can send it to my reminders trip list and have it there

[@MichaelStacey0246]

Thank you Peter you have re-activated my interest in Reminders and have moved all my tasks from Evernote into Reminders. I didn't realise the options available before.

[@gregmgm06]

This is exactly what I've been looking for...after working with several other note apps, this one fits the bill perfectly!! Great tutorial.

[@guillemsz]

Most usefull Reminders tutorial I have seen. Thank you

[@jimgrant1776]

Peter, I have watched 6-8 videos on the Reminders app. This was the best! The only tip I would suggest to add in a future video is the "Column" view for a list. - - - It produces a Kan Ban layout.

[@Toska_]

i just got an iphone recently and your videos are helping so much! these videos are structured very clearly and are easy to follow :) thanks and keep up the good work!

[@eyesonmyrepost3560]

Excellent and very informative delivery Pete! Would love to see something this detailed about Mail. Thank You!

[@arrchix]

It works a little bit weird in iOS 16 in my opinion. The reminders app does recognize dates in task title, but when I tap on the suggested date, that word (e.g. Today, Tomorrow, etc.) is not removed automatically from task title. Why? Is there somewhere a setting for that?

[@KKLeung]

Hi I am using ISO 17.4 iPhone 13 mini however I cannot find the camera icon in reminder app. Please help. Thanks

[@BrianVallotton]

I just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why after I made subtasks under a main heading I could not see them. So I went to Google and found out that the subtasks only show under the main Reminders heading and NOT the Today and/or Scheduled tab. Why make it so clunky? Oh well. I still like Reminders and use it daily. Nice video.

[@bardak81]

Hi Peter! Nice video! For which activities would you recommend Reminders and for what other Things 3?

[@PeterAkkies]

Hey Alessandro. Reminders and Things are both to-do list apps, so I would recommend primarily using one or the other, not both. Or use a different to-do list app, of course. Now, there are some features that might be available in one app but not the other. For example, you could use Things primarily but use Reminders for location-based reminders, which Things doesn’t support.

[@OnlineTherapistGroup]

I have alot of shared reminders. I'd like to organize them into groups but it appears that I can't drag/drop anything the other person made...is there a workaround?

[@guymauve0]

As a user of Things and reminders, I think that Things is better designed but reminders better in the apple system. Especially for Siri with other languages than English

[@coryharrisonexecutivedirector]

@peterakkies, this was a great video. Thank you. One of the reasons I switched from Apple Mail to Spark was because of the search feature. I feel like every time I use Apple mail. I want to be able to search the entire history of every email I've ever gotten. And for some reason Apple Mail does not do that. Do I have a setting incorrect is there a video you have on this type of subject?

[@francescofornaro]

Hi, thank you for this video. May I ask you something? If I use natural language to set up date and / or time, when I tap on "monday 8:00" for instance (or click it if I am on Mac) this schedule is added to my task, but this text still stay after my task and this is very annoying. Basically I get a reminder like: "Pick up the milk monday 8:00", but in your video "monday 8:00" disappears... I can't find settings about this behaviour. Any idea? Thank you so much

[@jandone100]

Thanks for the video? Do you know if there is a way to configure swipe right when in a smart list? I am looking for a quicker way to set priority. Flag is super easy - swipe left, but setting priority - that requires 5 taps.

[@VincentForDesign]

WOW! That's some impactful intro you got there! Totally got hooked!

[@frozenlaab7471]

Hi Peter, I have a question, did some search here and there but to no avail I am not able to create a group, or drag lists under one another to create a group I already have 3 groups which I can click to drag down, which are the ‘iCloud’, ‘Yahoo’ and ‘Flagged’ group, which I cannot even change the name of or delete or move The 3 dots on the right on the main page of the app, only indicate ’Edit lists’ and ‘Template’ My phone is also up-to-date (IOS 17, iPhone 13) so not sure what’s going on. Can you help me figure this out, thanks, much appreciated

[@zapruder01963]

reminders and notes by Apple, save my life! Nice video Peter! love this serie!

[@jasona.2044]

So I thought I was a power user of reminders, I only have 12 different lists, ok so I am, how did I not know about these extra features? Thanks Peter, now I’m an expert power user, just in time for the new OS to come out next week. Subscribed to your channel, I can take that off my list.

[@plum_colored_dahlia]

Is there a mechanism to return within the primary reminders task? Right now I use spacing but it’s inefficient. When I hit return the reminder curser moves on to create a new reminder, new line. I’d like to return within the primary reminder. It helps me to stack three or so things (task steps) together and also to not have the reminders of Today run long. I can usually keep the all on one screen so I can see everything. I know how to create sub tasks but then it’s not a visual cue at one quick glance.

[@ScubaDiverMagazine]

Loving your travel list :)

[@PeterAkkies]

🤿🦈

[@travistravis7190]

Why does reminders app not have a calendar? Redulous.....how hard can it be to have things linked to a calendar.

[@MrQVeeBoo]

holy, i just knew that when expand during the print will be pdf. thx

[@Spp235.]

Wow. Am new to reminders. This is an awesome video to share capabilities with a lot of suggestions.

[@bkrchk9895]

Thanks. I learned a lot from your two videos. Cleared up a few things.

[@owen9899]

Thanks so much for this video, Peter. Super useful

[@GabriellaAcabella]

How cool! I’m switching from paper based planners to my notes and reminders app.

[@sararhoades1578]

So useful, easy to follow and efficient!

[@bradjanzen4973]

Always enjoy your video's and thank you for the great coarses on your website.

[@dawnkeckley7502]

Wow. I’ve learned so very much from just two of your videos. You make my love my iPhone more than I already do!

[@iankastelic881]

Hi! How can you bring back hidden lists (like "Assigned to"?)

[@PeterAkkies]

It’s in one of the app menus. Off the top of my head, under View

[@alex.velasco]

Perfectly scripted and paced video tutorial. Very useful too!

[@husamejle]

Woow the best tutorial i ever see for Reminder app

[@TheFernandomando]

You can actually share a note or another reminder within notes or reminders- you copy the link to the note or reminder onto the clipboard and then you get the iCloud address of the note. Can put it into Things as well

[@invidianer]

Would love to have the ability to „minimize“ a Todo to only the title. I use the „notes“-section very intensively and because ~9 lines of this section are shown the clarity suffers :(

[@Opine.Social]

THANKS for you great Reminders and Notes Tips

[@GabriellaAcabella]

You should do a new video after the most recent update for notes and reminders. iOS 17 looks bomb

[@PeterAkkies]

I will!

[@elhuntington]

Nobody seems to cover the following method of sharing a note to reminders. Use share and when the option comes up to collaborate or copy. Hit collaborate, the reminders icon will now show - invite yourself and the note the will be linked in reminders. This is post IOS 16.2.

[@iankastelic881]

Thank you! Very helpful!

[@hilalm.397]

Brilliant.. Now I wanna use Reminders more

[@groovysecondhalf]

Great Video!!

[@PeterAkkies]

What’s your favorite way to use Reminders?

[@lukefan2962]

Siri

[@LJ-jq8og]

I cannot believe just how much I am now using Apple Reminders for personal organization. I have arranged my lists in alphabetical order so I can segregate "mentally" all the different aspects of my life's goals and aspirations. WITHIN each list I then use the priority feature to prioritize the most time sensitive. ⚡THEN after I have done that Apple Reminders ALSO allows you to still manually further "move" or "rank order" those within each priority level. It is downright BRILLIANT (in the U.S. sense of the word). Dont know if Apple intended that feature or it just "happened." Finally, I have created my own version of "pinned lists," by having a separate section of lists above the alphabetized lists for hot items. Of course this also allows me to still use the traditional PINNED feature set but I just dont need that right now.

[@nicomertens]

Minute 13:54 doesn't work for me on neither iPhone or MacBook.

[@a.s.l711]

Having a real person to remind me hahahaha

[@techtipsuk]

I've moved recently to Things 3 largely because of this channel :-) happy with my decision just wish Things had location based tasks

[@kimbletaylor2984]

Hey Peter. I do like your informative style. However, my Reminders app on my recently purchased 14 Pro Max looks nothing like yours? The “Add List” option at the bottom right hand corner has a choice of 2 email accounts? And no option to create another. I can’t add hashtags and the contextual formatting at the top of the keyboard isn’t available either. Do I have a different version?

[@LJ-jq8og]

Sounds like you were NOT in the reminders App itself ?? IF you are I would call apple directly :)

[@kimbletaylor2984]

@@LJ-jq8og thanks for the reply. I was in the app but the issue was that I had iCloud turned OFF for the app and the extended functions wouldn’t work. I’m still pretty sceptical about cloud services. Regular hacks of different severs don’t help with confidence.

[@LJ-jq8og]

@@kimbletaylor2984 I cloud is fairly perfected these days. Take advantage of it. 😊

[@LJ-jq8og]

EXCELLENT 💪 and 🙏

[@tessloggins8485]

Nice video. Peter can you make a things 3 video for making shortcuts with Things 3?

[@brixtonbanner2899]

Excellent pronunciation of Fortnight Sir

[@richmanatheart1]

Really helpful and inspiring video, thank you!

[@maikaimakena9424]

This was very helpful thank you for your help understanding reminders.

[@Victoria-pf7hc]

Yes, best video on the topic!

[@TJ-22]

When I search for keywords in a subtask, I wish the search results, pulled up the entire reminder, rather than just the individual subtask. do you know if there’s a way to accomplish this?

[@PeterAkkies]

Unfortunately I don’t TJ

[@TJ-22]

@@PeterAkkies thanks Peter

[@chad4503]

Your knowledge is REAL! Thanks for sharing, honestly some of the stuff blew my mind and I conceder myself pretty knowledgable about Apple stock apps. Thank you!

[@Shanksnpaisley1]

Hi Peter. Thanks for sharing. Do you still use Omnifocus, or are you completely on Apple Reminders/ Notes/ Automation now?

[@PeterAkkies]

Hey Matt. OmniFocus is still one of the best tools for managing your to-dos. I prefer Things 3 these days, so that’s what I use. I use Notes for most of my notes, while I use Notion for planning my KZbin video projects. To-dos related to KZbin still all live in Things. I also use Notion for collaborative work. I almost only use Reminders for tracking groceries. I made videos about Reminders to show people what they can do with it for many reasons, one of them being if people don’t want to use (an app like) Things or can’t afford it.

[@Shanksnpaisley1]

@@PeterAkkies Thbaks so much for taking the time to respond. Happy New Year!

[@waltwinters9253]

Great video Peter! I just wish that smart lists were a bit more flexible. Right now, you can only include, or exclude 1 list. I wish I could exclude multiple lists and combine that with due dates and tag filters to really help narrow down the kind of reminder I am looking for. I am sure this feature will come soon though! Until then, I will use good task as it uses Apple Reminders for storage/database, but provides clever ways to filter them.

[@owen9899]

Hey Walt, I was considering GoodTask but don’t see a lot of people online talking about so unable to get a good idea if it’s worth purchasing since installing the app without paying doesn’t show me a huge difference between this and Reminders. Was wondering if you’re down to chat about your experience more.

[@brixtonbanner2899]

At the moment at least here in the UK the iPhone has a newer version of OS than the IPad so many of the features of reminders that work on my phone don’t work on my IPad. I’ve made a smart list on my phone for either of two tags but this doesn’t show on my IPad which is infuriating

[@PeterAkkies]

Yeah that should be resolved in a few weeks

[@brixtonbanner2899]

@@PeterAkkies brilliant

[@itsfelipesanches]

very great content and tips! appreciate it, Peter!

[@karla.with.a.k]

Great video. I use reminders a lot and thought I knew lots of things about it, BUT I learned quite a bit from this video! Thank you.

[@Limesh]

Your videos are very useful. Very, very useful.

[@YoRAHeem]

Great video! I’m trying to figure out a way to have reminders launch apps. Any ideas? I’ve setup my bills and most have the url but I’d rather use the app as everything is saved and secured. Just can’t seem to get to work. I tried sharing the app into reminders and that’s about as close as I got. Still takes 2 clicks as that links me to the App Store and then I hit open. Can’t seem to get shortcuts to work. Anyone else think this should be a working feature?

[@PeterAkkies]

Hey Raheem. Not sure what you mean by “having Reminders launch apps”, exactly

[@YoRAHeem]

@@PeterAkkies Currently the only option in Reminders is to add a URL and that opens the website. I’m looking for a way to have it open the application. Example - Reminder for B of A bill with URL would open my banking app on the iPhone vs taking me the website. The closest I’ve got is long pressing an app, then sharing it to Reminders. Once it’s there, I edit and reminder can open App Store and I click open app. I was looking for a smoother, one step.

[@holubus]

For me natural language for entering a date doesn‘t work properly. It assigns a date based on natural language e.g. „buy milk tomorrow morning = 9am tomorrow“ but Reminders keeps those keywords in the headline of the reminder

[@francescofornaro]

Same here with iOS 16.1.1 - Did you fixed this somehow?

[@Fanncy143]

Has anyone figured out a way to set different "do dates" vs. "due dates" for Apple Reminders like seen in Todoist?

[@maikaimakena9424]

Obsessed with Apple Reminders ❤️⚡️🤙@apple

[@GeniusUnleashed]

Great videos. Just a tip, dark backgrounds or dark things on the wall don't look good behind people with dark hair. That sound dampening board behind you was mad distracting, haha.

[@PeterAkkies]

Thanks for the tip! I am aware of it, but will be moving out of my apartment in a month and a half so it doesn’t seem worth fixing it now.

[@GeniusUnleashed]

@@PeterAkkies Good point, def not worth the effort at this stage :)

[@tinasimpson9839]

Do you use reminders instead of Things?

[@PeterAkkies]

No, I use Things, but here I’m showing how I would use Reminders if I wanted to use it

[@carot6751]

Your video always neat and easy to understand thank you ! Do you use apple calendar ? I want to hear your opinion about it 😊

[@PeterAkkies]

The Calendar app is not bad, but I prefer to use an app called Fantastical

[@rorilee9791]

🤯🤯 Um...WOW Thank you!

[@iMagdiAdam]

Great as always , i noted Dahab Diving trip , i think you mean dahab in #EGYPT , am i right ? so welcome to my country Egypt and i hope to see you soon here, don't forget to visit Cairo , thank you

[@PeterAkkies]

That’s right! I’ll be in Dahab soon. Thank you :)

[@TheLifeOfRatay]

Great video! ❤

[@techtipsuk]

How did you bring in those notes from the photo Peter?

[@PeterAkkies]

Which notes are you referring to, Richard?

[@josggar]

Which one do you recommend me to use, Things 3 or Reminders?

[@ppnovoir]

Why does it not work on my iPad 😭

[@greg_x]

You mentioned in your previous video that to learn how to use widgets you should watch this video - but there’s nothing about widgets here 😅

[@bidbudy6061]

I don’t have the same features on my ISO 16.1 I can’t share list!

[@PeterAkkies]

Are you trying to share a smart list, perhaps?

[@JonathanDanielBowen]

Bravo!

[@LJ-jq8og]

Peter: Interesting that Reminders in many ways is easier to use on the Iphone than in MAC OS.... Apple needs to clean that up 😊

[@DanBuell]

RE Templates @ 11:15 or so - you don’t need to save to both lists. In fact, once Template made, you can delete the list. If you add another reminder to the list, all you have to do is save it as a template again and delete the earlier template

[@scottlmclean]

I alternate between Things 3 and Reminders - Reminders has improved greatly over the last few years but the UI is still messy and cluttered - especially when you have notes added to a reminder. Apple needs to create an option to hide the notes section of a reminder.

[@chwhjjc8820]

Apple reminders can do nothing. I can’t sync it with calendar. And this is shame

[@meeluanistyn1644]

Really very interesting as I don’t use Reminders that much. I prefer to use Things 3 for the important stuff and use Alexa for memory joggers during the day. Having sad that, Reminders clearly has a lot going for it and I’m going to set time aside to try out all the features you’ve covered.

[@mikeward1701]

You can link a note and a reminder. With the note open, simply say “hey Siri remind me about this’.

[@thomaskingschillerlein7843]

3:46 due dates

[@vindeljay]

Too fast mate, I love learning how to use these things better, but its so fast for someone who knows nothing about it.

[@Ivan.Surgut]

👍

[@ap1845]

Didn't appreciate the casual racism in this video aimed at British people.