'Reminders' App location use

[Sir Ruben]

I loved the idea of the Reminders app but after using it Im not sure it works in the way I was hoping.

Basically I want it to remind me when I get to a location, however rather than allowing you to chose the location on a map it wants me to do it from an address in my contacts. This pretty much renders it useless for a lot of things.

Example: When I get to the shopping centre I want it to remind me to pick up milk for my partner. So ideally before i leave the house id set the reminder and then chose the shopping centre on a map to set its location.

Am I missing something?

 

[ajvizzgamer101]

That would be a useful feature but I am just glad there is a Reminders app. lol. Heres hope for iOS 6 location based todos!

 

[shandyman]

That would be a useful feature but I am just glad there is a Reminders app. lol. Heres hope for iOS 6 location based todos!

why don't you just use reminders app for the todos? i do that.

 

[Reach9]

I loved the idea of the Reminders app but after using it Im not sure it works in the way I was hoping.

Basically I want it to remind me when I get to a location, however rather than allowing you to chose the location on a map it wants me to do it from an address in my contacts. This pretty much renders it useless for a lot of things.

Example: When I get to the shopping centre I want it to remind me to pick up milk for my partner. So ideally before i leave the house id set the reminder and then chose the shopping centre on a map to set its location.

Am I missing something?

Send that in as a request to Apple support.

But the Reminders app is supposed to help you with the location you are currently at. Which means, you have to set it up like this, "when leaving *current location* remind me to pick up milk at the groceries". Or if you're at the groceries, "remind me to pick up milk".

I believe that's how it works.

 

[Small White Car]

Example: When I get to the shopping centre I want it to remind me to pick up milk for my partner. So ideally before i leave the house id set the reminder and then chose the shopping centre on a map to set its location.

Sounds like you need this app:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/place-clock/id420383660?mt=8

The reviews aren't stellar but it worked ok when I used it. I didn't use it more than a few times, though. But it may be worth trying out.

I'd assumed iOS 5 would make it useless. But it sounds like not?

 

[shandyman]

Send that in as a request to Apple support.

But the Reminders app is supposed to help you with the location you are currently at. Which means, you have to set it up like this, "when leaving *current location* remind me to pick up milk at the groceries". Or if you're at the groceries, "remind me to pick up milk".

I believe that's how it works.

But you also have the option of setting it to alert when arriving somewhere, not just leaving somewhere.

It's frustrating that it has to be a contact address. Hope this changes before release.

 

[Sir Ruben]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5302b Safari/7534.48.3)

Yea seeing as it uses location services I can't see any technical reason why the location can't be chosen via the map. It's very restrictive the way it is.

 

[shandyman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5302b Safari/7534.48.3)

Yea seeing as it uses location services I can't see any technical reason why the location can't be chosen via the map. It's very restrictive the way it is.

hopefully it's just limited in beta and will be expanded on release.

 

[IrishVixen]

A number of task management apps already have this kind of functionality; Toodledo and OmniFocus are two of the big one's (with widely differing price points, LOL). If Apple isn't going to fix the crippling limitation they've imposed, there appear to be alternatives out there already that do what you need.

 

[QuarterSwede]

hopefully it's just limited in beta and will be expanded on release.

Because there is usually only one Apple employee working on those apps I'd bet you won't see that functionality (no matter how trivial) added until a point update.

I totally agree with the OP though. The first time I tried it, that's exactly what I was trying to do with it (remind me to buy whatever when I get to wherever) ... and no, I don't need my grocery store in my contacts. I'd be surprised if somebody at Apple testing it didn't realize that limitation yet. Still, can't hurt to add feedback.

 

[jamesarm97]

Send that in as a request to Apple support.

But the Reminders app is supposed to help you with the location you are currently at. Which means, you have to set it up like this, "when leaving *current location* remind me to pick up milk at the groceries". Or if you're at the groceries, "remind me to pick up milk".

I believe that's how it works.

I sent that request when the beta first came out. Should work like maps, allowing you to choose from contact or search for an address. Also should only start the location services if a reminder has a date assigned (and there are no reminders with no date). That way the battery won't run down if you have a reminder set to remind you when you arrive at work on thursday but today is only monday.

 

[shandyman]

Because there is usually only one Apple employee working on those apps I'd bet you won't see that functionality (no matter how trivial) added until a point update.

I totally agree with the OP though. The first time I tried it, that's exactly what I was trying to do with it (remind me to buy whatever when I get to wherever) ... and no, I don't need my grocery store in my contacts. I'd be surprised if somebody at Apple testing it didn't realize that limitation yet. Still, can't hurt to add feedback.

very true. mind you, i'd rather it be limited and work good with functionality expanded when ready rather than wide spread functionality, but buggy as hell.