A Reminder That Repeats Until You Do It

Why a single reminder gets swiped away

A normal reminder fires once. If it arrives while you're carrying shopping bags, cooking or in the middle of a conversation, you glance at it, swipe it away and mean to come back to it. Then the moment passes, and the task sits there until someone asks about it.

A repeating reminder works differently: swiping it away doesn't end it. It comes back a little later, and again after that, until the task is actually done. You stay in charge of the pace — you choose how often it comes back — but you no longer have to remember to remember.

When a repeating reminder is worth it

Not every errand needs one. A reminder that keeps coming back is useful when:

• The job is short but easy to postpone. Sending a meter reading, booking the car in for its service, replying to a form from school.
• It has to happen today. Dropping off a parcel before the collection point closes, or putting the washing in the dryer before you go out.
• You'll be busy when the first reminder arrives. The second or third one often lands at a better moment.

For jobs without any date, a reminder isn't always the right tool: an errand with no date at all is simply shown every day until it's completed (more on that in our family to-do list guide).

How to set a reminder that repeats until done in Family Errands

In Family Errands, you turn this on in the reminder itself, in its Repeat column. The reminder repeats every 5, 10, 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, or at a custom step, until the errand is marked done.

1. Create the errand

   Give it a short title, such as “Book the car service”, and set the date and time when you want to start being reminded.

2. Add a reminder

   Choose when the first one should come: at the time, or a set number of minutes or hours before.

3. Make it repeat until done

   In the reminder's Repeat column, pick how often it comes back: every 5, 10, 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, or a custom time.

4. Do the job, then complete the errand

   You can mark it complete from its card, from the errand screen, from the widget or straight from the notification. Once the errand is done, the reminder stops.

An errand can have several reminders, so you can also keep an earlier heads-up and let the repeating one start at the time itself.

What you can do when it rings

When the reminder arrives, the notification itself gives you a few options:

• Complete — done already? Mark it complete right there, and the reminder stops.
• In 30 min — not now, but soon.
• Other time — pick a delay from 5 minutes up to 4 hours, or stop reminders for today if plans have changed.

Choosing the interval

There's no right interval for everyone; it depends on the job and on your day.

• 5 or 10 minutes for something that has to happen within the next hour.
• 15 or 30 minutes for a job that should be done today but can wait for a natural break.
• 45 or 60 minutes for a gentle prompt that comes back now and then without interrupting you too often.

If none of these fits, set your own step.

Shared errands: everyone picks their own reminder

If an errand is shared with your partner or someone else in your family, its time is the same for everyone, but reminders are personal: each participant can set their own, and it applies only to them; until they do, they get the reminders of whoever created the errand. One of you can have a reminder that repeats until done, the other a single reminder an hour before. Whoever does the job first completes the errand, and everyone sees that it's done.

You'll find this used in practice in our home maintenance schedule and changing address checklist.

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