We forget about a lot of stuff, whether it’s urgent assignments or just household chores. Alas, there’s a handy dandy device in your pocket capable of providing a valuable way to never forget these important things again. But on Android, these reminders can be a bit limited out of the box, which is why many app developers have taken it upon themselves to give people who rely on reminders the features and options they require.
What to Look for in a Reminder App
There are plenty of reminder apps available today, so finding one that matches your needs isn’t that difficult. Here are some criteria you can go through when evaluating apps.
- Reminder Management: One of the most useful features a dedicated reminder app can give you is simply a better solution to managing reminders. That’s why a large focus of reminder apps is to make it easy to sort, edit, and cancel reminders as you see fit.
- In-Depth Options: While you’ll likely only need to set a time and date for most reminders, sometimes having more options is helpful. Options like floating reminders (a reminder that sticks around for a period of time), setting reminders as alarms instead of notifications, and advanced warnings about urgent reminders can be useful.
- Additional Features: Stuff like calendar view, widgets, to-do lists, or even simple task management can really expand what reminders can be used for. That’s doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to find an app with all of those features though—that can make using the app pretty cumbersome.
With all that covered, let’s get into the apps.
Best for Most People: Reminder with Alarm
If you just want a simple reminder hub that gives you a few additional features, Reminder with Alarm is the best for you. The design of the app is simple and easy to navigate, and even has multiple themes available for you to choose from.
You can, of course, set reminders at pretty much any time interval. But you also have the option to view all your reminders in a calendar view, organize and categorize your reminders, and manage everything from the included set of widgets. You can also prioritize reminders by switching them between notifications and alarms. Unfortunately, this app does not have cloud syncing, so if you want to switch devices you’ll need to use some form of external storage.
Reminder with Alarm costs $1.99 but there is also a free version available that has ads.
Best for Groups: Galarm
Planning activities with a lot of people is complicated enough on its own. That’s where Galarm comes in—the ultimate solution to making sure everyone is on the same track.
These reminders have all the basic features, such as time intervals and choosing between notifications and alarms, but they have the added bonus of being easy to share with other users. Simply tap on “Create a Reminder for Group” and you’re good to go. There’s even a text chat in case anyone needs to adjust the schedule. Galarm also comes with unlimited cloud storage, so there’s no need to worry when switching devices.
Galarm can even be used in professional settings if you’re just looking a for simple way to make your team more aware of their deadlines.
Galarm is free to download, but there’s a limit to the number of reminders you can create (which unfortunately isn’t listed anywhere), so if you want to get rid of that limit it’ll cost you $0.99 a month or $3.99 a year. It’s also available on iOS.
Task Management Plus Reminders: Ike
Many people use task management apps to keep track of their goals and objectives for any given day, week, or month. These apps help give you a good idea of what’s going on in your life without stressing you out. Ike is another one of these apps, and it has some great reminder support.
Ike uses simple time-based reminders, but they are enhanced by the task-management features—it’s easy to organize tasks and reminders based on their importance and urgency. The app even has charts to show you how many tasks of each importance level you completed. You can also organize your tasks into multiple “inboxes” to keep your work and personal reminders separated.
Ike is free to download, but you can upgrade to the pro version for $1.99 and gain access to widgets, 10 different visual themes, and location-based reminders.
To-Do List Plus Reminders: TickTick
To-do lists are a great way to plan out your day. And, with TickTick, you get comprehensive to-do options along with some solid reminder support.
TickTick is focused on helping you focus, with extremely in-depth statistics regarding how many items you complete on your lists and the rate at which you do so (it even gives tips on how to avoid certain bad habits). Every item can have a date and time attached to it and you can choose to set a reminder for it as well. The app can even scan through your description of each task for a date and time to set it automatically.
TickTick is free to download, but you’ll be missing out on some features such as calendar-view widgets and some additional visual themes. To get everything TickTick has to offer, you’ll want the premium plan which costs $27.99 a year.
Fully Integrated: The G Suite (Google Keep, Google Tasks, and Google Calendar)
While the default Android reminders may be limited, some of Google’s apps can help with that. Namely, Google Tasks, Google Keep, and Google Calendar.
Tasks is Google’s answer to apps like Ike—it’s a task manager, simple as that. The app’s design (like most of Google’s apps) is focused on being straightforward and simple to understand. You can attach reminders to each task to keep track of deadlines and due dates.
There’s also an iOS version if you need it.
Keep is Google’s note-taking and list-making app. Each note and list can have a reminder attached to it, so, for example, if you write down some information you need to have at 6 PM the next day, you can use Keep to remind you of it. Keep is a great app to make sure you have the information you need when you need it.
Finally, Google Calendar is the default calendar app on most Android devices. Because of this, you’ve probably already used it. Any default Android reminders you create (including ones from Tasks and Keep) will appear on your calendar, and you can create reminders directly from the calendar app as well. Calendar is the closest you’ll get to a “reminder hub” with the default reminders, so it’s pretty useful if you’re gonna use them extensively.
If you want to remain in Google’s ecosystem these three apps are definitely your best bet for having better reminders. Even if it’s not a perfect solution, they can help remove at least some of the problems default Android reminders have.
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