Reminders

TLDR: "Reminders Nano" is exactly what Apple should have included on the Watch.

If you are like me... you are really annoyed at the fact that the Watch doesn't have a 1st party Reminders app. Between my wife and I we have 9 Apple devices... and we love being able to use Shared Reminder lists across all of them to keep each other up to date on stuff that needs to be done. We use shared reminders for gifts, groceries, home goods (furniture, etc), movies we want to see, honey do lists (a list named with our name that is shared that either person can add to), bills and more.

With that in mind I set out to find a suitable replacement. Ideally, it would have these features:

1. Ability to sync with Apple Reminders (I don't want to have to retrain my wife to use a different App... but I will if there is a compelling reason)
2. Cross-platform (iOS and OSX)
3. Instantaneous update (ie, if a reminder is added on the phone it should be reflected instantly and visa-versa.)
4. Fast loading
5. Simple UI
6. Ability to add Reminders on watch
7. Handle multiple lists
8. Have shared lists

Note: My requirements are just about pure listing. I don't need any sort of project management stuff. I realize that others might need their reminders/todo apps to do more.

Apps I tried:

- Easily: Good. Full featured. No shared lists.

- Up to Date: The exact opposite of its name. Slow, buggy (iPhone app crashes constantly) and changes are not synced quickly at all.

- Wunderlist: Decent. Takes a while to load on the watch. I don't understand why the Watch UI has 4 big circles... and then you have to scroll down to get to your normal lists. I suppose those circles are useful if you need more than just lists. Also: it's tricky to hit the check box to check an item off. Is cross platform. Does have shared lists. Does NOT sync with Apple reminders.

- Tempo: Not really a reminders app... but kind of a cool app anyway.

- Reminders Nano: Perfect. Extremely fast to load. INSTANT SYNC WITH APPLE REMINDERS! I mean instant! Just leave Apple Reminders open on your phone and have Reminders Nano open on your watch. Try adding and checking items off of lists... the changes are reflected on either side within seconds. Also... things added with Siri on either the Watch or phone are instantly shown within the App. Finally: they made it super simple to check items as being done... just touch it.

Basically: If you use Apple's Reminders and you have an Apple Watch you should get Reminders Nano instantly!

 

One more trick for using Reminders Nano (or any other list App):

Before heading into the grocery store... on your watch go into Settings->General->Activate on Wrist Raise. And set "Resume to" to "Last Used App"

This will mean that once you launch an App your Watch will continue to run that App until you close it. That will allow you to always be able to just raise your wrist to look at the next thing on your list.

When you're done shopping you can go turn it back.