Nov 24
Here's our list of the eight best reminder apps for daily reminders, calendar reminders, desktop reminders and much more. Reminder apps helps you stay on top of tasks and to never forget a thing again.
The Bento Methodology
The Bento Methodology is a framework to help you better focus on priorities, not tasks. Used by over 500+ students, the system and method has been featured in Ness Labs, Fast Company & TechRadar.
Do you need a better way to remember things?
Do you find yourself forgetting friend's birthdays or even recycling days?
You might need a reminder application to help you manage everyday reminders.
There are dozens of to-do list applications out there, but some specialize in collecting and managing reminders to help you organize what you need a light nudge on. Amazingly, the human brain can only remember 50% of the information you receive, which is forgotten within an hour.
So, capturing a fast and easy reminder is critical for remembering things.
Reminder apps are simple task management apps that send notifications to go off at a set time and date.
They sync with mobile devices and desktops to help you remember things more easily.
Here are our top picks for what a reminder app needs & how we picked these tools:
What's important? | Why? |
---|---|
Quick capture | This is great for quickly capturing new reminders very fast and easy |
Good notification & nudges | Light but important reminders aren't missed via the notifications |
Works on mobile & syncs devices | Reminder apps need to be mobile-friendly and accessible across devices |
The best iOS reminders app has to be Apple Reminders. This comes free for all iOS users and allows you to set easy reminders that alert you when they are ready.
Let's unpack the best and brightest reminder apps:
Tool | Platform | Pricing |
---|---|---|
iOS | $3.99 one-off | |
iOS, macOS, Windows & Android, Web | Free, $2.99 per month | |
iOS, macOS | $49.99 on macOS, $9.99 on iPhone, $19.99 on iPad | |
iOS, macOS, Windows & Android, Web | Free | |
iOS, macOS, Windows & Android, Web | Free, $5 per month | |
iOS, macOS, Windows & Android, Web | Free, $4 per month | |
Web, iOS, and Android | Free | |
Web, iOS, and Android | Free | |
iOS and Android | Free, $3.99 per month |
Due app is a reminder and task management app. It is used by individuals looking to better organize their reminders and tasks on iOS and macOS.
Due is a great reminder app for both mobile and desktop, as well as for syncing with Apple Watch. You can also use Due if you have a SetApp subscription.
The thing about Due is its ease of use and persistent reminders. You can quickly add tasks and time frames to Due, then set reminders to keep coming until you have done the task.
This also allows you to run multiple timers simultaneously for your daily routine. For example, you could create an entire morning routine with exact timers to go through, both optimizing your time and getting everything done.
Another great feature of the Due Reminder app is the ability to sync between your Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch to stay on top of tasks all day. You can use iCloud or Dropbox to sync to different devices.
Overall, Due presents a nice, minimal, and intuitive interface that helps you manage all your daily tasks in one place. The use of continuous reminders means you are less likely to forget and more likely to complete the task, even if it's just to stop the reminders from coming in.
Here's how Due app works and how to use it for reminders:
Due app is a one-off cost of $2.99 for iOS devices.
The Bento Methodology
The Bento Methodology is a framework to help you better focus on priorities, not tasks. Used by over 500+ students, the system and method has been featured in Ness Labs, Fast Company & TechRadar.
Any.do is a simple yet powerful task management app individuals and teams use to organize tasks better and plan their week. It has a popular mobile app for Android and iOS.
Any.DO isn't just a reminders app, it spans into project management for teams, planning your family, and a calendar and tasks app for just yourself.
At its heart, Any.DO offers reminders, location-based reminders, and recurring items to get into a health routine, whether that be your reminders, the whole family's focus for the week, or even small team project management.
For reminders, Any.DO is one of the best out there. Despite the features being locked under the premium for reminders, the abilities are very good for managing your day ahead, using calendar and tasks.
It has a good series of reminder features, like on mobile the ability to add location-based ones and even use WhatsApp to capture tasks, which makes the experience even closer when you haven't opened Any.DO in a long time.
Here's how Any.Do works and a bit more about it:
Any.DO is priced at $7.99 per month.
Any.do has a range of pricing for individuals and teams:
Plans | Pricing |
---|---|
Personal | Free |
Premium (Annual) | $4.99 per month |
Family (Annual) | $8.33 per month |
Teams (Annual) | $4.99 per user, per month |
Things 3 is an iOS, macOS, and iPad task management app famous for its speed and functionality. Many people use it to manage their tasks on Apple devices. It allows you to manage tasks, calendars (via Apple Calendar), and personal projects.
Cultured Code, a German-based development company, developed it. Things 3 has a one-off pricing and no subscription.
Things 3 is a very well-loved productivity app for following the GTD method, remembering tasks and organising time efficiently. With Things 3 you can plan your entire day and set helpful reminders to push you along your tasks, you can also manage larger projects.
Create separate places for types of tasks, such as work, family and personal. Inside here you can have notes and a list of tasks. You can add things such as location, priorities and dates to further organize. Set reminders to pop up when you need to complete a task or to remind you of anything coming up.
You can also add tasks that pop into your head straight into the inbox space to sort out later, making Things 3 a rapid way to jot down information and not forget a thing. Just drag and drop tasks around to rearrange and craft your daily plan.
Overall, Things 3 is a very popular GTD app for those who need a streamlined place to organize all their tasks.
Things 3 charges $9.99 for iPhone, $19.99 for iPad and $49.99 for macOS.
Things 3 is a one-off cost for download and unlimited use:
Plans | Pricing |
---|---|
macOS | $49.99 one-off |
iPadOS | $19.99 one-off |
iPhone | $9.99 |
There is no free plan on Things 3 but a 14-day free trial.
Microsoft builds Microsoft To-Do as a task management app for Microsoft 365. It is a free to-do list app that many people use to manage tasks and share with others; notable features include "My Day" and project lists.
Microsoft To-Do used to be Wunderlist. Wunderlist was acquired and turned into Microsoft To-Do in 2017. Microsoft To-Do offers this as a free app.
Microsoft To-Do is one the best reminder apps because it is just so simple and easy to use. If you are looking for a reminder app for desktop or mobile to get through daily tasks, Microsoft To-Do is a great option. It's also a no-brainer if you're already within the Microsoft Ecosystem.
Use the My Day feature to have personalized and intelligent tasks come up for you. You can then choose which tasks you want to include in your daily plan and set reminders to alert you to complete certain tasks.
Microsoft To-Do is perfect for someone who wants a simple list of to-dos, organized well into separate folders and spaces, with added reminders to get things done.
The Microsoft To-Do app can be accessed online to see your list anywhere, on desktop and mobile. Share lists with family and friends to organize events or even send lists to team members to remind them of daily tasks. Here's a beginner's guide for managing your Microsoft To-Do.
Microsoft To-Do is a free application if you have a personal Microsoft account.
Microsoft To-Do is free - all you need is an active Microsoft account.
Todoist is a task management app for iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows. Millions use it to manage tasks and reminders, add calendar events, and organize daily schedules.
Todoist allows you to organize tasks in Kanban boards and calendar view and includes quick capture abilities for on-the-go capture of tasks, links, and ideas. Teams use it with a dedicated team workspace experience for small-to-medium-sized teams.
Todoist offers a free reminder experience.
Every time you add a task, you can use natural language to add a reminder to it. This is perfect for setting a time-intensive task with a reminder to your task list. However, there are limits to using Todoist reminders.
For example, the more advanced features, like location and editing how the reminders operate, are locked under the Todoist Premium model.
Todoist is probably a more advanced to-do list app that is great for using with teams. If you have multiple projects on the go, you will have to upgrade to unlock the ability to set reminders and notifications for tasks.
You probably will find value in Todoist more than just for reminders, but if you're hunting for a whole task management system, TOodist is one of the better tools.
Todoist has a few pricing options for individuals and teams:
Plans | Pricing |
---|---|
Beginner | Free |
Pro (Annual) | $4 per month |
Business (Annual) | $6 per month |
Todoist offers a free plan with five personal projects & unlimited tasks.
TickTick is a task management app designed for individuals. It also has boards, a calendar, timers, an Eisenhower matrix, and a habit-tracking system.
It uses iOS, Android, macOS, web, and Windows for task management.
TickTick is another great app for following the GTD method, it has many features and abilities to help organise your life and your time through task management. You can integrate your calendar with TickTick to combine tasks and events already existing elsewhere.
You can even receive location-based reminders when using TickTick on iOS or Android. These pop up once you arrive or leave specific destinations linked to your tasks. This further reminds you of what needs to be done and where you need to go.
Overall, TickTick is a more in-depth app with added reminders for getting things done and organizing your life. Recently, they changed their pricing to slightly more expensive.
TickTick also has a feature for habit tracking, a Pomodoro timer, and priority lists. This is all great as part of the app, but what about being a daily task reminder app? With TickTick, you can quickly add tasks with natural language to automatically add dates and times. This then prompts reminders on your device to alert you of upcoming events or something you need to do.
The Bento Methodology
The Bento Methodology is a framework to help you better focus on priorities, not tasks. Used by over 500+ students, the system and method has been featured in Ness Labs, Fast Company & TechRadar.
Google Keep is a note-taking app built by Google that allows you to organize notes, tasks, checklists, images, and more in one place. It reminds us of Post-it notes, but for your mobile, it has a range of color options and a powerful search for notes. You can also set reminders, location reminders & more.
Google Keep is a good option for managing tasks and to-dos in a simple setting. The app is fun and quirky, with sticky notes for tasks, audio notes, images, and more. You can see all your notes in one place and set reminders for each.
With Google Keep your reminders can be time-based to help you complete a task within a certain period, and location-based to alert you of things you need to get done when in a certain location. This isn't a full to-do list application, but works well as light notes & tasks.
Users enjoy Google Keep because it still feels like writing notes on sticky notes, but with Google Keep, notes are digitized, and you won't lose them or forget what you need to do.
Overall, Google Keep is a handy little tool for setting reminders and remembering the tasks that pop into your mind throughout the day. You can then organize your tasks to complete each day.
Google Tasks is an ideal task reminder app because it's so simple and easy to use. Also great for anyone already within the Google Workspace as you can link with emails, tasks, and calendars and utilize Google AI assistance.
Organise tasks with priorities and due dates and set reminders to pop up when you need to complete a task, or you have an upcoming event. Create tasks directly from emails to speed up time and immediately set due dates.
With Google Tasks, you can also break down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks, a great GTD method for working towards achieving goals and making sure things get done properly within a certain time frame. Set due dates and reminders for each of these tasks too.
Overall, Google Tasks is great if you are already within the Google Workspace, it's also a nice and easy app to set reminders and get things done.
Here are the recommendations we'd go for to save you time:
The one that does a solid job at reminders.
Let's explore even more tools that you could use that have reminder features within:
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