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Reminders App: Very Much Worth Using in iOS 6

posted on Sep 24th 2012 at 2:52pm by Thomas Wong

If Reminders wasn’t good enough for you in iOS 5, it’s probably worth another look in iOS 6. The native app maintains the advantage of automatically syncing tasks in the background and the ability to display current tasks right inside of Notification Center without having a push notification pop up first. Oh, but wait, there’s more.

The changes that iOS 6 brings to Reminders have everything to do with speed and convenience:

  • Apple has made it a couple of taps faster to set ringing reminders for tasks, and notes now show up right on the list view (you used to have to tap on a task to see its notes — very silly).
  • You can now sort Reminders manually within lists – this is great for long shopping lists!
  • The screens on the iPhone and iPad apps have also been compacted, so that you can sort Reminders by date or by list, all from the same screen. There’s a new date roller on the iPhone that makes it much easier to schedule tasks by simply writing them on a day (much like a calendar) instead of fiddling with dialogues.
  • Creating reminders based on (arriving at or leaving) a location is also a little easier now that you can specify addresses, intersections, or specific contacts (with addresses attached to their profiles, of course).

These changes are small, but taken together they make the whole Reminders experience much more pleasurable. I’m finding the app is lovely for managing work deadlines, shopping lists, recurring tasks, and all of the more heavy-duty task management I was used to doing in Things. The only thing I don’t quite like about Reminders is how it requires I set an alarm alongside a due date. Sometimes I just like to have a task show up on my Today list without beeping and buzzing, but there’s no such dialogue for that in iOS 6. Fortunately, I’ve found a workaround: I’ll set tasks to be immediately overdue by setting the alarm to a time of day that has already passed. Overdue tasks show up in Today without any sort of alarm, and it seems to be very little extra hassle.

I’m still looking forward to what third party developers will do with their newfound ability to hook into the Reminders database, but there’s something really satisfying about being able to make full use of default apps to get things done.

  • Erik Friis

    You still can’t pin the reminder to the lockscreen which is what I really wanted. Once you unlock once, it’s gone forever.

    I also want to stuff like “Go to post office sometime today”, and the little badge with a number on it isn’t enough to remind me.

  • Joie Shcmo

    Can somebody PLEEEEEASE help me and explain how to ADD a reminder with the reminders app? I used it all the time in iOS 5 and now iOS 6 seems a step behind. I do not see how to get out of the screen that has the date show “0 Completed” or the Lists screen which only shows a search bar.

    I am sooooooo frustrated!

    Thanks

    • http://isource.com/ Thomas

      If you’re viewing a single list you’ll see “reminders” across the top of the screen. From there you can head to a view of all of your lists by tapping the button in the top-left, or simply swipe between lists by swiping horizontally across the red text.

      To actually add a task, tap on the + button while viewing a list. If you don’t have *any* lists at all, just create one from the screen where you see the search bar.

  • Stan Manley

    I can’t get Reminders to access my Contacts List so I can set a location alert. Using iOS 6 on an iPhone 5. Worked fine on my iPhone 4S with iOS 5.1.1. I’ve been through the various Settings repeatedly. Only clue is that Reminders is not shown as requesting access to my Contacts.

    Is this a bug or have I overlooked something?

    Any suggestions?

    • http://isource.com/ Thomas

      @Stan

      Is Location Services activated on your iPhone 5? Is it active specifically for Reminders?
      FYI Reminders doesn’t seem to ask for access to Contacts on my iPhone 4S, and I’m able to access the contacts list from inside of Reminders.

      • Stan Manley

        @Thomas
        Yes, Location Services is activated. Also, it is specifically activated for Reminders. At a soccer field today Reminders offered my correct location as an alternative. It also offered my home location.

        The 4S, now with iOS 6, is being used by my wife and has the same symptoms. Reminders offered multiple locations for her which could only have come from her Contacts but it did not show the people in her Contact book. Most of them have addresses associated with them.

        Just FYI, I do get LTE here in Huntsville, AL.

  • Simon

    Useful review, thanks. But with iOS 5, I had a list on my iPhone only, so its alarms didn’t appear on all my other devices, and my wife’s iPhone (we share an iCloud account). Now in iOS 6, my “iPhone-only” list now appears in iCloud and I can’t find a way to move it — or even create a new list — locally.

    Any thoughts?
    Thanks.

  • Derekleez

    I really agree! I love adding items through Siri and adding items to other non-reminder lists. A combined example: “Add cheese doodles to my Grocery list” adds “cheese doodles” to my “Grocery List” list.

    Another useful function is “show me my ___ list” or just “show me my reminders”.

    By the way Thomas, I found this page after searching for your article on using Siri-raise-to-speak. That article had exactly what I wanted to know and a couple of the comments also added good info. Also, I appreciate your concise and informative writing style which is also easy to read. Thanks.

  • jq

    Does anyone know if it’s possible to set up push notifications for a shared Reminders list? My wife and I are sharing a list and I’d like to be notified when she adds something to this list. I had seen a review that showed an option to “Send an email when an item is added”, but that option doesn’t appear in my iCloud interface. Besides, email seems like overkill when a push notification system is available.

  • http://twitter.com/DocDHixon David Hixon

    I like having a grocery list that my wife and I both can add to from our own devices but when she adds items I receive an email notification for each item. Any idea how to turn this off??

  • Tbanger9

    although the theory behind this app is great…. in practise it’s rubbish…. it goes off 5 or 6 kilometres from the place it’s supposed to go off… so when I’m driving home, instead of it reminding me when I get home, it goes off early while I’m driving, then I have to dismiss the message and re-remind myself when I finally get home… kinda defeats the purpose….!!