Remind Me by Nick Leith is one of those apps borne out of frustration with a stock Apple app – in this case, Reminders. Reminders has some compelling features like iCloud syncing between iOS devices and with Macs, shared reminder lists, and the ability of some third-party apps like OmniFocus and 2Do to import reminders. Yet despite these benefits, Reminders can be tedious and frustrating when you want to enter a reminder with a due date. Remind Me is a handy lightweight iPhone utility dedicated to fast Reminders task entry.
To set up a task with a due date in Reminders, you have to pick a list by tapping on its card, tap the plus button to start a new reminder, type the task description, and then tap the little info button next to the reminder. The info button takes you to a details screen, from which you can switch on ‘Remind me on a day’, tap on the ‘Alarm’ field, and set the date and time for your task using the date and time tumblers. That’s a lot of tapping to schedule one task. If you want to create a second task, you have to start the process all over again.
Remind Me eliminates Reminders’ tedium in a few different ways. Switching between task lists is as simple and quick as swiping left and right. But the biggest time saver is that Remind Me includes the due date and time entry on the same screen you use to enter a reminder. Remind Me can do this because it doesn’t display your tasks – it’s strictly for task entry. To view the tasks you enter, you need to use the Reminders app. Remind Me also includes preset due dates: one, six, and twenty-four hours in the future. A fourth button lets you input a precise due date and time using the same date and time pickers that the Reminders app uses. Each of these differences between Reminders and Remind Me is small by itself, but if you need to enter multiple tasks those small differences add up to much faster task entry.
One thing I would like to see added to Remind Me is the ability to define the preset due dates for tasks myself. The existing presets are good ones, but depending on your personal schedule and habits, I expect being able to define custom task deadlines would be a welcome addition for many people. A Today widget dedicated to fast task entry from wherever you are on your iPhone would also be a welcome addition to Remind Me. That said, Remind Me is a great utility if you use Reminders and find yourself frustrated by the design of its task input system.
Remind Me is available for free on the App Store.
