iOS 26: Add New Reminders Faster Than Ever

[CapitalIdea]

Yes. the problem is with me. I have not get my head round how best to use all of the options. I find when I use Siri (talk to the phone), I will say 'set a reminder to....' but if I am tying and want to set some tasks or things to do, then I am typically opening Notes.

I might be in the minority, but I think it's something that Apple could help with (streamlining). I am not VERY clear on what app is designed to be the best for what, etc.

Oh I get it. In my use case it’s more like “hey siri, remind me to find a new vacuum cleaner” etc. that way it’s on the list but I’ll get around to it when I feel like it. I notice I use the function most when I’m driving 😂

 

[ignatius345]

Rest my case. Reminders are a calendar feature, not a separate app. Be it Apple's or another.

Eh. It depends entirely on your workflow. A lot of people (most?) track tasks separately from calendar events.

I prefer to keep my calendar for events that are hard scheduled to occur at a specific time. Like, I need to renew my passport later this year, it's going in Reminders so that I can do the task at some point in the window of time when it needs to get done. If I had to get a new passport photo taken at a place, or show up for an in-person appointment, that goes on the calendar because it occurs at a specific time and place that I have to be at.

On the other hand, I have people at my work who just put in big blocks on their calendar when they're doing a specific task. Not how I generally work, but I get it. (The side benefit there is that you're letting everyone know you're not available for meetings.)

 

[contraband]

I use Siri to do this.

 

[Macbookey]

One of the best features in iOS 26 IMO. I know this could be done with Shortcuts, but that app becomes unwieldy the more you use it. I have a ton of shortcuts created that eventually become cognitive dissonance. As far as Reminders in calendars, love that addition last year for timed reminders that aren’t events per se, but are date sensitive and give a broad overview of my schedule.

Unlike others, I find lists in a dedicated Reminders app are a lot easier to work with than in Notes which can be fiddly and clunky at times, especially the larger they grow. Dragging and dropping between lists are a lot easier in the dedicated app.

These constant improvements in native apps tend to be my favourite features in annual upgrades. At least when they can be seen as improvements.

 

[Neko1500]

This is great and all, but why on earth do we still not have an option to place a Settings shortcut in control center?

 

[iDento]

Yes. the problem is with me. I have not get my head round how best to use all of the options. I find when I use Siri (talk to the phone), I will say 'set a reminder to....' but if I am tying and want to set some tasks or things to do, then I am typically opening Notes.

I might be in the minority, but I think it's something that Apple could help with (streamlining). I am not VERY clear on what app is designed to be the best for what, etc.

If it a ‘due date’, it goes to calendar or a reminders in Today or Scheduled smart list. If not, I just assign a tag with the context where I want to be reminded. Like, #phone for people I want to call, but not necessarily in a specific time, just when I feel like it.

 

[318iphone]

You laugh but creating a reminder or action from arbitrary content or not so arbitary content like i dunno an email or a webpage is a HUGE gap missing from the reminders/calender app. It makes them useless for me since 99% of the time i want reminded aboit something i have just been sent or something i have just read.

You can do this in 26! Use the share arrow (action icon) in Safari - select Reminders. AI will even scan the page and offer to make other reminders from the content. You can also select ANY text in ANY app and use the share arrow to share it to Reminders. When doing this you can select which Reminder List to add it too. Set date/time/location etc. When you click on the new Reminder it will take you back to the content. In Mail it’s not as straight forward. To create a Reminder from Mail the easiest thing to do is select some text in the email (or subject) and “share” that to Reminders. Reminders in 26 are much more integrated.

 

[svish]

Looks good. Seems like it is much better. Will definitely use it once I update my phone.

 

[212rikanmofo]

Don't see this option available under Control Center > ADD CONTROL at all. Is it only limited to certain iPhones?

 

[Macbookey]

Don't see this option available under Control Center > ADD CONTROL at all. Is it only limited to certain iPhones?

No not limited by device, it will be under “Reminders” heading. Just scroll down and add “New Reminder”. If it’s not there, reboot your device and try again.

 

[macjaffa]

You can do this in 26! Use the share arrow (action icon) in Safari - select Reminders. AI will even scan the page and offer to make other reminders from the content. You can also select ANY text in ANY app and use the share arrow to share it to Reminders. When doing this you can select which Reminder List to add it too. Set date/time/location etc. When you click on the new Reminder it will take you back to the content. In Mail it’s not as straight forward. To create a Reminder from Mail the easiest thing to do is select some text in the email (or subject) and “share” that to Reminders. Reminders in 26 are much more integrated.

This is the first thing in iOS 26 that interests me. Seems maybe a little half baked (of course i’d like to be able to go back to the actual email chain from a reminder not just have an extract) but at least it seems possible now. Excellent. Thank you Tim Apple.

 

[318iphone]

This is the first thing in iOS 26 that interests me. Seems maybe a little half baked (of course i’d like to be able to go back to the actual email chain from a reminder not just have an extract) but at least it seems possible now. Excellent. Thank you Tim Apple.

It’s not “just an extract” there is a link back to what ever content you want reminded of… webpage or email etc.

 

[tonywalker23]

With the new betas I tried to go all first party apps as much as possible. spent a while importing various items to various apps (ia writer to notes, day one to journal, etc). I spent a huge amount of time trying to get Reminders to mimic Things 3 as much as possible. Tried to use Notes as a project ’home’ with links in the reminder back to the Note projects...

I lasted less than 24 hours and was back to Things. For the pure GTD nerds ruined by David Allen...

Reminders are not events. Reminders are tasks. If a task requires a certain place or time then it is no longer a next action but is now an appointment… Projects are more than one action, so how do you do that in Reminders? Well, you create a list for each project. And guess what that means when the project is done (because all projects have a definition for what done looks like)? That means when you delete the list all of the reminders that show up in Completed are gone forever.

I'm sure there's an overkill (for me) app in the Windows world from Microsoft, but I wish there was an Apple Projects app where I have, for example, "Church Camp 2026" that would have links to events in the calendar, tasks in reminders, notes in Notes, files in Finder, boards in Freefrom, a thread in Messages, a folder in Mail, and links in a certain bookmarks folder in Safari. That would be a dream come true.

 

[macjaffa]

With the new betas I tried to go all first party apps as much as possible. spent a while importing various items to various apps (ia writer to notes, day one to journal, etc). I spent a huge amount of time trying to get Reminders to mimic Things 3 as much as possible. Tried to use Notes as a project ’home’ with links in the reminder back to the Note projects...

I lasted less than 24 hours and was back to Things. For the pure GTD nerds ruined by David Allen...

Reminders are not events. Reminders are tasks. If a task requires a certain place or time then it is no longer a next action but is now an appointment… Projects are more than one action, so how do you do that in Reminders? Well, you create a list for each project. And guess what that means when the project is done (because all projects have a definition for what done looks like)? That means when you delete the list all of the reminders that show up in Completed are gone forever.

I'm sure there's an overkill (for me) app in the Windows world from Microsoft, but I wish there was an Apple Projects app where I have, for example, "Church Camp 2026" that would have links to events in the calendar, tasks in reminders, notes in Notes, files in Finder, boards in Freefrom, a thread in Messages, a folder in Mail, and links in a certain bookmarks folder in Safari. That would be a dream come true.

Yes. Reminders are very broken when you try to actually use them. Great examples

 

[frosty001]

I might re-look at Fantastical.
It was so far ahead when it launched. I presume it's added some new tricks in this 'events, reminders, calendar' space to say ahead.
Until Apple resolves this at an OS-level, anyway...

 

[fortfive]

I cam here to complain about how search is so broken in ios Reminders for me. A majority of the time search returns zero results when there are clearly matches. It really stinks. toggling icloud sync sometimes resolves the issue, but never for very long. Then, reading the comments, I remembered how much I wish there was a way to connect an email to reminders, or notes, or calendar from within the mail app. Or a calendar item to a note. Apple's QA/QC is really slipping and it's darn disappointing.