Which yearly dates are worth a reminder
Birthdays are easy to collect because everyone has one. Anniversaries are scattered and personal, so it helps to think through them once:
- Your own wedding or partnership anniversary. The obvious one, and the one most people want an early heads-up for.
- Your parents' or grandparents' anniversary. A call or a card on the day means a lot, and it's easy to lose track of when you don't live together.
- Friends' and siblings' wedding anniversaries. Not every one needs a present — a message on the day is often enough.
- The day you moved into your home. Some households celebrate it with a takeaway on the floor, the way it was on the first night.
- Memorial dates. The day someone close died is often a hard day for the family. A gentle reminder lets you call the people who feel it most, or simply make room for it in your day.
You don't need all of them at once. Start with the dates that matter most to your household and add the rest when they come to mind.
How early to be reminded
A reminder on the morning of the date is fine for a message. Anything that needs planning — a dinner booking, a trip, a present that has to be ordered — needs more time. A simple pattern:
- Two or three weeks before for your own anniversary, if you like to plan something.
- A week before for family anniversaries where you'd post a card or arrange a visit.
- On the day for a call or a message.
Choose a time of day when you actually look at your phone. For memorial dates, some people prefer only a reminder on the day, or one the evening before.
Set up anniversary reminders in Family Errands
In Family Errands, anniversaries live in the Birthdays section: a birthday record works for wedding anniversaries and any yearly date, because the name field is free text. Every record repeats each year. The full birthday setup is in our guide to the birthday reminder app; here is how it applies to anniversaries.
Add a record with a free-text name
Open the Birthdays section and add a new record. In the name, write what the date is in your own words, so you recognise it in the list.
Set the date
Save it with the year if you know it, or without one if you don't.
Pick a picture and colour
A photo or an icon and a colour help anniversaries stand out from birthdays in the same list.
Add reminders
Add one or several reminders a number of days before the date (or after it), each with its own time — for example two weeks before to plan and one on the day.
Share it with the family
Tap a family member's avatar to share the record, so they see the same date too.
The list shows a countdown with how many days are left, and upcoming dates are grouped under Today, Next 7 days and then by month, so the next anniversary is easy to spot.
Share the dates the whole family marks
Some dates belong to more than one person. Your parents' anniversary matters to you and your siblings; a grandparent's memorial date matters to the whole family. When you share a record, everyone you share it with sees the same date and can edit it, and each of you can plan your own call, card or visit. If a sibling would rather look after a date from now on, you can hand the record over to them and it becomes theirs.
Remember how you marked it last year
Each record has a celebration block: the date, a place on the map, the gift, a note and photos. Add a few words after the day — where you went, what you gave — then move it to the record's celebration history. Next year, before you plan, you can look back at what you did last time. For a memorial date, the note can simply hold what the family did together.
For the dates you want in view all the time, the Birthdays widget shows the nearest ones on your home screen. If you mostly want a routine for birthdays themselves, see how to remember birthdays.
Questions
How do I set a reminder for my anniversary?
Write the date down once in a list that repeats every year, and add a reminder early enough to plan — a week or two before — plus one on the day. In Family Errands, an anniversary is a record in the Birthdays section with a free-text name.
How far in advance should an anniversary reminder be?
If you want to book a table or order a present, two or three weeks before. For a card or a visit, about a week. For a call, the day itself. You can add several reminders to the same date.
Can I add my parents' anniversary and share it with my siblings?
Yes. Add it as a record, share it with the family members in your Family Errands family, and everyone sees the same date and sets up their own way of marking it.
