It is no secret that Apple have been pushing to blur the lines between using your iPhone and your Mac. Flagship products like Pages, Numbers and Safari have all been designed to look and feel the same no matter which Apple product you might be using.
One such example is the Reminders app and if used correctly, and in conjunction with iCloud, can save your bacon when it comes to paying bills or remembering your anniversary. It is also a gem if all you have is a desktop computer.
And even if you’ve already starting using this app I am willing to bet you’ve never used it like this. Try the following and I bet you’ll agree.
First the basics. Open your Reminders application on your Mac. (By default it is in the dock but if you have moved it, you’ll find it in the Applications folder.
Once opened it should look something like this.
As you can see I have a few different reminders and I created these with the Add List button. But for the purposes of this exercise lets pretend I only have one; Things to do this weekend.
Now its time to create your first reminder and you have two ways this can be done but only one of them is awesome!
The first way is to click on the + button and type the reminder.
From there it’s another click on the mouse in the info field to set when you want to be reminded.
And once all of that has been done, click Done and well, you’re done.
But there is another way and it uses plain english to get the job done with a fraction of the effort.
As before, launch the Reminders application and click on the + button (or click on the File menu and choose New Reminder or Command+N but the important thing is getting a fresh reminder)
Now, type at 9.00am tomorrow build a space station
Instantly the correct day and time or embedded into the reminder and the job is done.
Similarly you could type: 4pm on Wednesday write the great Australian novel and you’d get this:
But it gets better if you decide to delve into the Get Info button.
Here you can set a reminder that activates when you arrive or depart a certain place. This is especially useful if you are syncing your reminders with your iPhone or iPad via iCloud.
For example let’s suppose you want to be reminded to buy flowers for your wife when you leave work.
Lets further pretend you work for Universal Exports. (James Bond fans will know what I am getting at there)
In the reminders application create your reminder:
Buy the Minister for war and finance flowers.
Now click on the info icon and change it to a location based reminder, type in your work address (or just type work if it’s already in your address book) and change it to Departing.
Click Done.
So now, when you walk away from the office your iPhone will remind you to buy flowers- no doubt saving your life and the fate of the civilised world taboot.
One final trick for reminders when using it on your iPhone is to use Siri.
Simply say to Siri “When I leave here remind me to buy flowers” or “When I get home remind me to feed the cat”
So when to pull up in the drive way your phone will ping and remind you in the nick of time.
