Reminders! iPhone App Review

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RipeApps Reminders 01

Hello, my name is Andy, and I’m a to-do appoholic.

Hello, Andy.

It’s a problem.  I have purchased at least eight to-do apps from the App Store, and I own licenses for three more on my Mac.  Sometimes I think I spend more time trying out new to-do apps than I spend actually doing the things on my to-do lists.  The worst part is that often all I want to do is make a quick reminder for myself to do something, and suddenly I find myself sucked into a task management quagmire, creating projects and assigning due dates, when all I really wanted was to remind myself to call my mom tomorrow.

But I think I might have found the solution to my woes in a little app called REMINDERS!

REMINDERS! is built on a simple premise:  tell it what you need to do and when you need to be reminded to do it, and it will remind you.  That’s it.  You might be thinking that this sounds like something that should be hard to get wrong, and you’re right about that.  But it’s also something that’s hard to get really right.

RipeApps Reminders 1When you first start REMINDERS!, you are given a single instruction for creating your first reminder.  Each reminder consists of a small set of attributes:

  • Action – what you need to do
  • One or more contextually appropriate details for this action (who, where, URL, etc)
  • Time – when you need to be reminded to perform the action
  • Notes – any additional info you want to associate with this action

RipeApps Reminders 2The app provides a pretty sizable list of actions, which should be enough to accommodate most tasks appropriate for the app: Call, Meet, Email, Todo, Check, Buy, Pick Up, Delivery, Workout, and SMS.  Each of these has one or more detail fields that make sense for that action.  For example, select “Call”, and you’ll be given fields for who to call and the number at which to call the person.  Email replaces the phone number with a field for an email address, Pick Up, Buy, and Delivery each provide fields for what and where you are picking up/buying/delivering, etc.  When selecting a person to call or email, you may enter the name and number/email info manually, or you may select it from your iPhone’s contacts.

RipeApps Reminders 4Each reminder you create is displayed as sort of a progress meter, showing you how close you are to the reminder date that you have specified for that task.  The more full of red the bar is, the closer it is to being due, giving you a nice view into what is due soon, even when you have your tasks sorted by something other than reminder date.  Tapping on a task displays the same notification pop-up that would be displayed at the time that the reminder is due, allowing you to perform the task now, mark it as done, or do nothing.  Tasks that are beyond the reminder date are flagged with a “late” ribbon across them.

RipeApps Reminders 8The app provides the normal notification badge on the app icon for due reminders, but the reminder pop-ups are where the app shines.  The popups are quite intelligent and clearly designed to expedite the completion of the task.  For example, if you have a reminder to call or email someone, the reminder popup includes a button to take you straight to dialing their number or writing the email.  If your task involves a URL target, a button is provided to open the URL in Safari, and the app is even smart enough to identify URLs in “Where” targets that are not exclusively designed for URLs.  For example, if I want to be reminded to buy socks from a local store, I would enter the name of that store into the “Where” field of the reminder.  But if I put “amazon.com” into that field instead, REMINDERS! realizes that this location is a URL, and provides a button in the reminder pop-up that will take me straight to Amazon.com in Safari.  Pretty brilliant stuff.

RipeApps Reminders 6If you’re the type to procrastinate, REMINDERS! has you covered there, as well.  The app features an iOS-standard “edit” button that lets you perform actions in bulk  on selected tasks, but it isn’t limited to just deleting.  You can move the reminder date of all selected tasks out by a full day, by a full week, or to the next Monday.  If you need more specific control over existing tasks, each line has an arrow icon that will take you back to edit any aspect of the task.

I actually have one other app that is very similar to REMINDERS! in its scope and purpose, but it relies on push notifications to send reminders.  This is problematic because, as you can imagine, if you are in an area where you have no signal, you won’t get your reminder.  REMINDERS! appears to work with the iOS local notification framework, so you should be able to get your reminders anywhere as long as your iOS device is on.  The app provides 20 different alert sounds, and also supports using the system default sound or silent alerts.

I don’t often get the chance to say this, but there isn’t much that I don’t like about this app.  I do have one gripe, albeit a small one: when you receive a reminder that requires you to send an email, and you use the button on the reminder to begin composing that email, REMINDERS! does you the favor of filling out the To: address (presuming you have provided one in the reminder), but it also takes the opportunity to grab a little free advertising.  That’s right, it throws a little “Get Reminders! for iPhone” link at the end of your email, just before your signature.  While this is a relatively minor issue — you can quite easily delete the link before you send the email — it’s still rather annoying, especially in a paid app.

All told, REMINDERS! for iOS is exactly what I’ve been looking for in a lightweight to-do reminder app.  I can definitely see it being a useful additional tool for GTD junkies and low-maintenance to-doers alike, and for only three dollars, it’s a steal.

 

RipeApps Reminders 9Update – 3/20/2011: In the time since this review was completed, Ripe Apps has made some major improvements to their Reminders! app.  The UI has been refined;  the layout of the data for each task has been rearranged, the wide progress meter has been reduced to a thin line at the bottom of each task, and a field has been added to indicate whether a given task is a one-time or repeating task.  Task types are also now configurable; you may select the color of the progress bar for each task type, as well as assign a different notification sound for each type.  You may also remove task types from the selection wheel, which is nice if, for example, you don’t ever need to be reminded to take your prescription medications or workout.

A few shorter alert sounds have been added, which is nice in case the entire room doesn’t need to be reminded that you need to order flowers for your significant other’s birthday, and a few new options have been added for deferring tasks to a later date — you can now defer to the following Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (for one or multiple tasks) with just a couple of taps.

Ripe Apps openly solicits suggestions for improvements and new features in their support forum, and with the way the app is evolving, it’s clear that they’re taking that feedback to heart — and that’s the best feature that any app can offer.

 

Product Information

Price:$2.99
Manufacturer:Ripe Apps
Pros:
  • Uses local notifications, easy to use, handles data intelligently, a great deal at this price
Cons:
  • Advertisement links in emails

17 thoughts on “Reminders! iPhone App Review”




  1. Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
  2. @andix No, it doesn’t sync with anything, but it doesn’t really need to. As I tried to make clear in the review, it’s for quickly adding a simple reminder, it’s not a full-blown task manager or calendar application.

    For example, I use OmniFocus for GTD-style task management, but occasionally there are things that I need to remind myself to do that don’t really need a place in my GTD workflow (e.g., take something out of the freezer to thaw for tonight’s dinner, or send my brother a copy of the photos I took at my nephew’s birthday party). That’s where Reminders! comes in.

    I pretty much use it strictly for short-term, minor tasks, and things that I know I’m likely to have to procrastinate on. It’s nice to be able to easily say, “I don’t have time to do this now, remind me to do it tomorrow.”

  3. Norberto Maldonado

    Do I have to open the app to see the reminders?
    What was the app you mentioned that provided push notifications?

    I also am looking for an app that provided an easy way to mark down simple everyday stuff that either reminds me with a push notification or something on the lock screen of my iPhone or both.
    I end up using the built-in calendar but if i miss the reminders i miss the task. It’s also tedious to set these up for so many things.

    Thanks

  4. @PadsterBags It doesn’t support repeating notifications as such, but since it’s a simple matter to add a week or a day to the due date of a task, it would be pretty easy to bump the due date out every time the task comes due.

  5. @Norberto You don’t have to open the app to see the reminders, they pop up like push notifications do, but with the addition of the action buttons (if appropriate).

    The app that I had been using previously that uses push notifications is iRemind. It’s a fine app, but my preference definitely leans toward Reminders! after having time to compare the two.

  6. Norberto Maldonado

    Update:

    I have been using the app since reading your review and while I do like it, it does have it’s drawbacks.
    It’s pretty relevant to be able to push back to-do’s and such to a later time e.g. and hour or two or even till the next day, when the notification comes up. I find myself having to many things to do and not enough time so I have to constantly go back into the app to change the dates and times.
    It’s also pretty buggy. i can’t change the default time for the tasks. Sometimes I can change the hour but the minutes have been stuck on “22.”

  7. Hi,

    I agree this Reminders app is very complete and quite powerful. For those who are looking for something easier, may I introduce my Free app “Easy Reminders – Local Notifications with Snooze”. I have a lot of very happy users (4.5 stars average rating with 70+ reviews). To download: http://bit.ly/EZreminders

  8. Thank you so much for you post, I have been searching or so long for an app that does what I want it to do, which is mainly remind me of calls and to have a button in the reminder notification that calls right away, and this does that perfectly. I have downloaded it already and it was no more than 10 seconds into using it and I already love it. I have been using “call meet” but it is a struggle to use, so this app is such a relief. Wow what a change this will be for me. Once again- thank you so much!

  9. Have downloaded the reminders! app it it looks great except that i cannot get the alert sounds to work other that the system default sound. I would like to use a more pronounced and noticeable sound by customizing the sound for different tasks but cannot get it to work, The reminder appears visually, but no sound.

  10. I am also having a problem with the sound. I can sellect loads of them BUT there is no sound when the reminder pops up…. That is anoying, i hope they can solve that quickly…

    Price in app store Spain is only 0,79 euro, so that is a good deal.
    DUE sells for 3,99 euro….

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