Best Reminder Apps in 2025

Forgetful, or people think you are.

It might be time to invest into a reminders app that uses your phone to nudge you.

A quick ping on the iPhone, or nudge from your Android, might mean the difference in whether your partner is mad at you for forgetting to pick up the laundry, or the work email you should have replied to. All of these moments add up and can be worth a lot of time, effort & money, if you forget them regularly. That's where reminder apps can help you to take control of those important life moments.

Do I need a reminder app?

If these sound familiar you might need a reminders app:

• Do you struggle with remembering time sensitive things?

• Do you find yourself forgetting friend's birthdays or even recycling days for your bins?

You might need a reminder application to help you manage everyday reminders. There are dozens of to-do list applications, but some specialize in collecting and managing 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.

What can reminder apps do?

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.

• They can help you set alarms and date/time based reminders

• They can allow you to add pre-reminders and notifications on your phone

Let's explore all of these recommendations:

1. Due

Best for iPhone

Due is a simple, yet great reminder app for both iOS and Mac.

Due is designed to keep you reminded with notifications to your phone. It works with Apple Watch too and can be downloaded with SetApp, as part of the subscription. You can quickly add tasks and time frames - there's a feature that allows you to add custom times and hit quick commands like +12 hours which makes it faster to submit times and reminders into the system. There is a feature called Auto-Snooze, which is perfect if you are someone who doesn't want to forget and is clumsy, it constantly reappears with the reminder as default to make sure you have acknowledged it. Ideal if you want something that you never ever forget, or just make sure you have confirmed.

The iOS app is very well built and within the notification lock screen you can actually add more time to the timer without the need to go into the app and change as part of the reminder settings, a nice to have as you access on the go.

Pros

• Good for iOS and Mac.

• Quick access to custom reminders and controls in the lock screen.

• Great for countdown timers with a mode for tracking recurring timers.

• Auto-snooze feature will never ever let you forget until you acknowledge.

• Syncs with Dropbox or iCloud for easy between device.

Cons

• Does look very tired in design.

• Only a few upgrades to using the basic Apple Reminders app, or Clock.

2. Any DO

Best for Cross Platform

Any DO is attractive, easy to use and will extend to helping you manage your tasks too.

It is primarily a to-do list application and is popular and already used by millions of people, but it does have a good simple reminders system within it as well as reminder checklists too for making sure you never forget things like packing lists or grocery lists. The benefit to AnyDO is that you can share it with others making it a good couples or family to-do list app for you to set reminders for each other. AnyDO can do one-time reminders, recurring reminders for the regular items on your list and even location-based reminders too, perfect for making sure you don't leave anywhere or arrive somewhere without something, whether that be the grocery list or the ring for your wedding (best man)

The benefit to using AnyDO is that the checklists are so good, and it serves a more powerful to-do app too, we'd recommend this more for cross-platform users and those who want more than just a reminder app. Of course, there are plenty of to-do list apps like Todoist, or Akiflow, that can help you do the same, AnyDO feels and acts very simply which many people like if the goal is just reminders.

Pros

• Great simple, list based to-do app with reminders.

• Good for location-based reminders to you never forget IRL.

• Sharing abilities with family, or couples that need something.

• Works across all devices (including Web, Windows & Mac)

• All part of the free subscription and syncing is free.

Cons

• Limited to task based reminders.

• You might not need the might of a full to-do list app.

• No persistent reminders like Due.

3. Things 3

Best for Mac Users

Things 3 is one of the best looking reminder & to-do list apps ever.

Adored by millions, Things 3 is a minimal and beautiful to-do list app with the reminder features for making sure you never forget anything. A lot of people love Things for the simple nature and the same applies to the reminders too. You can set a reminder on every single to-do that you create within Things, you just hit "When" and then you hit reminder. Each reminder notifies you once, and a little bell notification comes next to the tasks indicating that you have a set reminder. This is super basic, but does the job. A lot of people like how it connects with recurring tasks too, and a reminder can be added separately to recurring to-dos - making it slightly more customizable.

If you're looking for beauty over powerful reminders, this is your go-to reminders app.

Pros

• The best looking reminders app.

• Works great to help you set reminder times outside of the recurring time.

• Set reminders as part of your areas/projects too.

• You can snooze a reminder for 10, 30 or 60 minutes.

Cons

• Doesn't stay persistent as a reminder pop-up.

4. Microsoft To-Do

Best for Microsoft Users

Microsoft To-Do, formerly Wunderlist, is a to-do app with reminder abilities.

It is basic, easy to use and good for those already baked into apps like Microsoft Outlook that can flag emails already as tasks in Microsoft To-Do. You can add reminders to each task in To-Do and it allows you to add a recurring reminder, or adjust it one time too. This is perfect if you want something that is easy to use and just gets the job done. Many people might like to use reminders in a safe, reliable app like this as it is owned and managed by Microsoft.

Pros

• Free to use and good for Microsoft users already.

• Flag emails and add a reminder to check-in on those emails all within Microsoft To-Do.

• Good for sharing the list with family & friends.

Cons

• Not one of the best looking apps.

5. Todoist

Best for Cross Platform

Todoist is one of the most used to-do list apps in the world, and it has reminders.

You can add reminders really easily, you go into a task and you can either add a recurring reminder, or a reminder before the task happens - allowing you to get the task ready in time. A lot of people like that you can do this with the level of customization. Todoist reminders used to be a paid subscription part of the app but many people complained about this a lot and it is now for all free users, with no limits. As a cross-platform app, Todoist is free allowing you to use it anywhere and reminders too. A lot of people really like to use the "!" feature inside of the quick capture in Todoist, it allows you to quickly, using natural language, to tag a task with a reminder and using a phrase like "!30m" get notified in 30 minutes. It is one of the reasons why people have moved to Todoist for quick task capture.

You can set reminders like "!every sat at 9am" for routine reminders on the same task. For business and pro customers, they can set a location based reminders, perfect for out and about.

Pros

• You can use it for free.

• Quick capture as part of natural language in Todoist.

• Everything works fast and easy.

• You can use custom recurring ones too.

Cons

• Location based reminders are limited to Pro & Business plans.

6. TickTick

Best for Reminders & Habits

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 at or leave specific destinations linked to your tasks, further reminding 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 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.

7. Google Keep

Best for Notes & Reminders

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 or 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 it works well as light notes and 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.

Notable Reminder Apps

Here's the best reminder apps: