You can organize your list as a Kanban board, set blaring alarms for important reminders, manage tasks from the Calendar app, and generate your own smart lists. Here are 10 ways to make the most of your Reminders app:Use "When Messaging" to get a reminder when texting a specific contact Credit: Khamosh Pathak If you have something to ask your friend or colleague, but you keep forgetting, Reminders has a feature that can help. "When Messaging" links a task to a contact, so the next time you text them, Messages reminds you about it.

The feature is a bit hidden, though: When you create a new task, tap the “i” icon to go into the detailed view. Scroll to the bottom and enable the "When Messaging" toggle. Next, select the contact from your contact book.

The next time you're talking to them on iMessage, you'll get a notification from the Reminders app.Use Kanban view for complex lists Credit: Khamosh Pathak Kanban view converts your list into a column-based interface. Any section that you create becomes a column of its own. This works best on the Mac, but you can scroll through columns easily on the iPhone, as well.

I find this view ideal for anyone who uses an assembly-based task management workflow, where you need to track a task between multiple steps. For example, my article management list can have multiple sections: "Pitches," "Approved," "Writing," "Editing," "Published," and so on. This way, I can track the progress of each of my articles with ease.

You should experiment with how a column-based interface can help you. Start by creating sections. Tap the Menu button, choose Add Section, and give it a title.

Then, tap the View as Columns button from the Menu to switch to the Kanban view. For more information, see my detailed guide on using the Kanban view in Reminders.Use Calendar's built-in Reminders feature to sync tasks across both apps Credit: Khamosh Pathak If you're a visual planner, you might want to see your tasks along with your events as you plan your day. But not all calendar events can be tasks.

You can solve this issue by turning your reminders into calendar events. The feature is enabled by default: All you have to do is set up the Calendar app. All your reminders with a due date and due time will automatically show up in the Calendar app, complete with a checkbox.

You can also drag and move a task around in the Calendar, and there's an option to add a task from the Calendar app to Reminders. Just hit the Plus button and then switch to the Reminder tab.Use an auto-organizing grocery list for your shopping Credit: Apple Organizing a shopping list can be a challenge. You have a long list of things to pick up, and you end up running around from one aisle to another.

Instead of using a specialized grocery shopping list, use the built-in auto-organizing "Groceries" list in Reminders. If you're using iOS 17 or higher, you'll likely see a suggestion to create a new Groceries list once you start entering items. If not, you can tap the Plus button to create a new list, and choose Groceries in the "List Type."

Now, when you enter a new item on the list, it will be categorized automatically. Sourdough will go to the breads section, tomatoes to the produce section, chicken thighs to the meat section, and so on.Set alarms so you never miss important reminders Credit: Khamosh Pathak It's easy to miss reminders if your iPhone is away from you, or if you have Do Not Disturb enabled. That can spell disaster for especially important alerts.

Instead of setting a separate alarm from the Clock app, you can now add an alarm to any reminder using the new Urgent setting on iPhones running iOS 26.2 and higher. Go to a task's detailed view, assign a due date and time, and then enable "Urgent." (The first time you do this, you'll get a request to integrate with iOS' Alarms.) Now, when the reminder is due, you'll see a full-screen interface with the reminder up top. Like a traditional alarm, there will be an option to slide to stop, and you'll also see a big blue "Snooze" button.Create shared lists to assign tasks to family members or teammates Credit: Apple Reminders has a built-in collaboration feature that you can use to create shared lists with your family members and your coworkers.

It's not as feature-rich as a dedicated tool like Todoist, but for day-to-day task sharing, it's more than enough. Go to a list, tap the Share button, and choose how to share the invitation—either using Messages or Mail. Once they join the list, you can assign a task by simply typing "@ their name" in the task itself. Use templates to quickly reuse existing lists Credit: Khamosh Pathak If y