Recurring reminder app recommendations?

So as part of my Month of Structuring, I'm trying to establish some routines. To that end, I'm looking for an app with recurring reminders. Example: I want it to remind me to study at x time on weekdays, or exercise at y time every day.

The problem I'm running into is that due to my work, my schedule varies in a predictable way. Every third week I work different days/hours from my regular schedule, so I'd need a different set of reminders for that week. I'm trying to find an app that I can set up to do this automatically, or at least one that will let me group reminders and toggle a bunch on or off at the same time.

The closest thing I've found so far is Any.do, which does let me toggle reminders on and off. But as far as I can tell, there's no way to toggle multiple at once. I should also note that I'm on Android.

If anyone has any recommendations, or even some convoluted solution, I'm open to it.

Edit: solution found! Google keep's recurring reminders are customizable enough to work. Thanks to all who made suggestions, I really appreciated the input!

Posted Feb 11, 2022, 7:17 AM UTC · edited

813
aestheticpodcasts•

When I was on android I found the easiest way to do this was Google Keep with the reminders on instead of an actual "reminders" app. With Google Keep you can check and uncheck all the boxes on a "Note", and set a recurring reminder for that note depending on day of the week/time/location/etc.

Example: I would have a note called "Go to Gym", and the reminder would kick off automatically at 8:00 AM. The contents of the note would have a list with checkboxes of "Grab gym shoes, grab hair tie, grab headphones" that I would check while getting ready for the gym.

It also works for location based reminders - so you could theoretically have a reminder that goes off every time you walk by the school library that says "Go study Math" or whatever, if there's a location that triggers what you want to remember at that time.

The only thing that sucks about it is the recurring tasks clutter up your google calendar if you sync google tasks with reminders. So I never used Google Tasks (which I think is useless anyway, Team TickTick or Todoist) or showed tasks in my calendar.

4
clockworkbirdOP•

My Google Keep is currently full of random stuff that I've been meaning to move to Notion, but I might finally get them moved over so I can try this out.

Edit: Google keep is perfect! I can have it repeat every 3 weeks and pick the days of the week! Can't believe I didn't think to check it sooner, thanks so much for the suggestion!

3
webtv64•

Todoist. Compatible with my brain.

3
clockworkbirdOP•

I tried out Todoist, but I couldn't find a good way to make it work with my weird schedule. Thanks for the suggestion though!

3
pantulis•

Easiest thing: use the calendar app of choice and copy the events during your weekly planning session. Takes about 1 minute (on desktop, mobile is trickier) and also forces you to get into the habit of weekly planning/review.

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clockworkbirdOP•

I like the concept, but I prefer to keep my calendar for more big picture things. I might give it a try though

1
HearMeRoar231•

Don't know about toggling a group, but I enjoy Alarmed for nagging alarms.

2
clockworkbirdOP•

Looks like that's only on iOS, but thanks for the suggestion!

1
bravo_char•

Due on iOS let’s you configure multi-week repetitions of events (every 1, 2, 3, etc. weeks). I use it for an every 2 week variance in my work schedule. You’ll have to make multiple events for it, but they’ll repeat as prescribed.

2
clockworkbirdOP•

I'm on Android, but that's not a bad idea in general

1
absorbingsoup•

I've found that the calendar for time blocking like this helps me schedule my days. Once I book up all the hours in a day, i'm done. Ideally, I sit down in the morning and create the the schedule then use it as a rough map for the day. I make sure to schedule time for being offline and outdoors, as well as chores, todos, and larger workblocks for projects. hope this helps

2
clockworkbirdOP•

I appreciate the input, and I can definitely see the benefits to that kind of a system, but my brain tends to rebel against such thorough scheduling. Even with scheduling breaks and such, my brain just doesn't like it, so I'm trying to go for a more minimal approach.

1
absorbingsoup•

That makes sense. The schedule is sometimes hard to follow but it’s helpful to set my intentions every day/week ahead as I tend to ignore automated reminders. Hope google keeps works well for ya

2