So I'm at work. I set up reminders to tell me something when I leave. This thing has gone off like 4 times already this morning reminding me. So I opened up google maps and it is saying that I am on the freeway right now, but then it refreshed and now I am back at work.... I live in Orange County California, no place with better reception. No hills...full service...WTF!?
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Ya this geo locations reminders sucks!
- Thread starter icrude
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I set one up to let me know when I left my apt. I was a good 6 miles away and it was about 20 minutes later when it let me know I left.
Seeing as I had my maps app open to see my projectory - I would say that isn't always the case. The maps app indicated exactly where I was (correctly) at all times.
I'm wondering (to save on some battery) if the reminders app "pings" the gps on a certain interval. It's possible that you got luck - where others haven't.
I'm confused.. How do I select a location to remind me at? It sends me to contacts. Do I have to make a contact for the location I want to be reminded at?
yes, which is possibly the worst way I can think of to have this feature work. Why not link to maps and allow for pin dropping?
You HAVE to use a Contacts entry for geofencing.
From Apple's official iOS 5 guide:
About location reminders
Location reminders are available only on iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and may not be available in all areas. Also, you cannot set locations for reminders in Microsoft Exchange accounts.
You can set a location reminder to have Reminders alert you when you approach the location, and again when youre no longer near the area. For best results, specify a location thats well definedsuch as an address instead of cityand remember that the accuracy can vary. iPhone checks its location less frequently depending on your model of iPhone and whether its locked, so there may be a delay before the reminder is triggered.
When you create a reminder, you can use your current location or a location from your contacts list. Add locations that youll use with Reminders, such as the grocery store or school, to Contacts. You should also add personal locations, such as your home and work addresses, to your contact card in Contacts. Reminders shows the locations from your contact card. For information about setting your contact card in Contacts, see Contacts accounts and settings on page 109.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf
From Apple's official iOS 5 guide:
About location reminders
Location reminders are available only on iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and may not be available in all areas. Also, you cannot set locations for reminders in Microsoft Exchange accounts.
You can set a location reminder to have Reminders alert you when you approach the location, and again when youre no longer near the area. For best results, specify a location thats well definedsuch as an address instead of cityand remember that the accuracy can vary. iPhone checks its location less frequently depending on your model of iPhone and whether its locked, so there may be a delay before the reminder is triggered.
When you create a reminder, you can use your current location or a location from your contacts list. Add locations that youll use with Reminders, such as the grocery store or school, to Contacts. You should also add personal locations, such as your home and work addresses, to your contact card in Contacts. Reminders shows the locations from your contact card. For information about setting your contact card in Contacts, see Contacts accounts and settings on page 109.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf
Yeah, this was a huge disappointment to me about location based reminders.
I mean sure you can add the address into your contacts, but that is a lot of hassle for a reminder you may only want once at that location. Plus then your contacts start getting really big (I suppose you could create a group for random reminder locations that you could only use for that purpose).
That's stupid.
Why the heck would I want to clutter my contacts with a grocery store? What if I'm going somewhere one time only. I have to create a contact before I can set a reminder? Stupid, stupid, stupid..
Think it has to do with your data. Sometimes when i used to use the Maps it would put me feet or miles away from where I actually was. I don't think it's the reminders app that is faulty.
I'm trying to imagine a common scenario that involves preferring geofencing over time/calendar-based alerts for leaving or arriving at different one-time-visit locations on a regular basis. Help me out here?
How would siri know which grocery store you're referring to? If you're at the grocery store you can use your current location. But if you want it to set a reminder when you get to the grocery store it has no idea what you're talking about...hence the necessity for contact info.
No, it could be so that you could just enter the address you want it to make a geofence without having to create a permenant contact around that address.
If I'm at the grocery store, chances are I want that geo fence to remind me when I get there that I also need eggs (or that I should check out the price of something) so it's useless to have it make me a reminder while I'm there... if I remember to make that reminder, well I don't need it, do I?