Cross platform task list with escalating reminders

[apastuszak]

I'm looking a Todo List/Remiders app that has some kind of escalating reminders. What I mean by this is, if I have a task I want to do at 8:00 PM, such as "Take Out The Trash," I want it to popup a reminder at 8:00 PM. If I don't mark the task as complete by say 8:30 PM, it will popup another reminder at 8:30 PM. Then another at 8:45 PM. Then another at 9:00 PM and so on.

I was using an app called TickTick. But it had a notification system similar to how an alarm clock works. It goes off until you go into the notification and click on snooze, which makes it go off in 15 minutes again. This isn't ideal for the way I work. And when I snooze my alarm for 15 minutes, that doesn't follow all my devices. So, even though I snoozed the notification on my iPhone while I am at Home Depot, the iPad is sitting home screaming and pissing my wife off.

Ideally I'd like that app to work on iPhone/iPad/MacOS and Linux.

Also, I am willing to PAY FOR something. I DO NOT want to subscribe to something unless it's $20 or less per year. I know that TickTick is more than $20/year. It was an experiment.

 

[mcogilvie]

I strongly suspect you are looking for something that does not exist. I wish you good luck with your search.

 

[bcmyers2112]

I'm looking a Todo List/Remiders app that has some kind of escalating reminders.

I use an app called "Due" that is available on iOS. It has reminders that you can snooze. I think it fits the bill. By default, it chimes every 5 minutes until you check off the reminder as "done." I think you can adjust the interval for all reminders, though.

The great thing about it is that you can snooze individual reminders without affecting the rest. You can even set up recurring reminders for every day, or every Monday, for example. And you can snooze one reminder in the series without affecting the rest.

I use it to ping me about things I don't want to forget but for which the timing might be a moving target. I've found it very useful.

Oh, and you can also set it up to sync so that a reminder you set on your iPhone is also set on your iPad and vice versa.

 

[bcmyers2112]

Oh, I forgot to mention, with Due you can manually snooze reminders for any interval you choose. For example, if you set a reminder to chime at 10 am, you could easily silence it until, say, 11:30 am if you so desire.

 

[apastuszak]

Due looks interesting. But I don't see why I have to buy the app for $7.99 and then subscribe to it for $4.99 a year.

I emailed the developer to ask them how this works. Would be nice to have a demo version, but I don't see that.

@bcmyers2112 Do you use Due for everything, or just for things you need reminders for?

 

[bcmyers2112]

@bcmyers2112 Do you use Due for everything, or just for things you need reminders for?

Just reminders. I use Nirvana as my list manager. Due is good for alarms and timers, and nothing else.

I only use Due for "outliers". For instance, I have some medications where timing is important. I have other similar things I need to remember where it's best to be reminded via an alarm that doesn't shut up unless I tell it to.

I will sometimes also use Due to ping me about something that's also in my GTD lists. For example, years ago I used to work for someone who would often tell me to catch up with him "later" in the day to talk about such-and-such. He wouldn't commit to a firm time in his calendar, he wouldn't be proactive about coming to me and he was terrible about responding to emails. So I would have stuff in my Agendas list for him, but the only way to catch him would be to get up, walk by his office to see if he was meeting with someone else or was on his phone (which was frequently the case), and if he was otherwise engaged reminding myself to come back a little later.

(If it sounds to you like this person was completely deficient as a leader, you're not wrong. His inability to commit to things that weren't hard to commit to was only the tip of the iceberg. I managed to survive two years of working for him before deciding I'd had enough and moving on. But while I was working for him I had to play the hand I was dealt. I'm a big fan of a concept called "radical acceptance," which simply means you accept reality as it is and not how you wish it to be. I could have stewed in resentment about his shortcomings, or I could have found ways to overcome the obstacles he presented. I chose the latter. Using an app like Due was part of my arsenal of coping strategies.)

Anyway, I wasn't aware Due was on a subscription model. Maybe I've been paying for it as a subscription but forgot because it only comes around once a year. But a $7.99 upfront investment and a $4.99 annual charge doesn't seem like much to me compared with how much I use the app. But you know what they say: your mileage may vary. I just thought I'd suggest it because it seemed like it checked off all the right boxes based on what you're looking for. If not, I wish you luck in finding something that better suits you. Like @mcogilvie, however, I'm unaware of another product that does what you say you want. I'm not saying such a thing doesn't exist. But if it does I know nothing about it.

Anyway, whatever you choose, good luck.

 

[René Lie]

What is it that you are REALLY after?
The reason I ask, is that I try to have as few notifications as possible in my life...
Instead, I try to build habits around using my trusted system.
The way I see it, if you see the need to have a lot of notifications, it's either because you don't trust your system or you don't trust your habits.

"take out the trash", which is actually a task for me today, sits as an all day event in my calendar. It HAS to happen today. I don't set any alarms, but I have the habit of checking my calendar enough to make sure nothing slips.

In the rare event that I have the slightest feeling that something may slip - mostly because I may lose the track of time - I use the alarm clock feature on my phone. But this is more to reminds me of what time it is, not to reminds me of a specific task to get done...

Another perspective: If you feel the need to snooze a notification a number of times, why not set it to a later time?
This is a common discussion my wife and I have. I only ever set ONE alarm in the morning, and never snooze it. Being aware of this, I can sleep as long as possible without interruption, but when the alarm goes off, I KNOW that I have to get up...

 

[bcmyers2112]

Another perspective: If you feel the need to snooze a notification a number of times, why not set it to a later time?

A totally fair question. In my case, my primary use for Due is to remind me to take certain medication. Again, timing with this is important but not make-or-break. It's best to take the first dose by 7:30 pm but if I don't I won't suffer dramatic ill effects. Sometimes I'm doing something at the moment (washing dishes, whatever) and can't take the medicine at 7:30 sharp. It's nice to know the reminder won't shut up, though, so I don't wait until an entire hour later to take it, or forget to take it altogether.

 

[René Lie]

A totally fair question. In my case, my primary use for Due is to remind me to take certain medication. Again, timing with this is important but not make-or-break. It's best to take the first dose by 7:30 pm but if I don't I won't suffer dramatic ill effects. Sometimes I'm doing something at the moment (washing dishes, whatever) and can't take the medicine at 7:30 sharp. It's nice to know the reminder won't shut up, though, so I don't wait until an entire hour later to take it, or forget to take it altogether.

I see - that's a probably use case, but I'd still use an alarm clock for that, which also has a snooze function.

My post was aimed at the OP, though (it seems you posted your answer while I was writing on mine), and the functionality in question was multiple snoozes with shorter and shorter intervals. My attitude is "rule your system or it will rule you", the latter not being GTD best practice in my world...

 

[apastuszak]

What is it that you are REALLY after?
The reason I ask, is that I try to have as few notifications as possible in my life...
Instead, I try to build habits around using my trusted system.
The way I see it, if you see the need to have a lot of notifications, it's either because you don't trust your system or you don't trust your habits.

"take out the trash", which is actually a task for me today, sits as an all day event in my calendar. It HAS to happen today. I don't set any alarms, but I have the habit of checking my calendar enough to make sure nothing slips.

In the rare event that I have the slightest feeling that something may slip - mostly because I may lose the track of time - I use the alarm clock feature on my phone. But this is more to reminds me of what time it is, not to reminds me of a specific task to get done...

Another perspective: If you feel the need to snooze a notification a number of times, why not set it to a later time?
This is a common discussion my wife and I have. I only ever set ONE alarm in the morning, and never snooze it. Being aware of this, I can sleep as long as possible without interruption, but when the alarm goes off, I KNOW that I have to get up...

I have been trying for YEARS to build a trusted system and check it on a regular basis. After well over a decade of doing that, I still keep missing stuff that has to be done on a certain day or at a certain time.

It works well for tasks that are not timed. If I have an hour free, then I will check my trusted system and get stuff done off my todo list.

But for things that have to get done TODAY, or around a specific time today, I need a reminder and I need it to nag me a bit. So, I can't just have an all-day event on my calendar to tell me to take out the trash. Because I will not take out the trash. I need something to pop up and make a noise. If I clear that notification and don't action it IMMEDIATELY, then I will forget and it will not get done. Plenty of times I get a calendar popup to take out the trash and put it on the curb at 8:00 PM. I'm in the middle of something else at 8:00 PM, so I just put my phone back in my pocket and say I will get to it later, and I don't. I finish my task, go clean up my kitchen, and go to bed without even looking at my trusted system.

Right now I am using the Apple Reminders app, and I have a reminder for today to take out the trash at 8:00 PM. And I have another one for 8:30 PM, and another at 9:00 PM, then 9:30 PM, because I need that gentle nudge to tell me I haven't done this yet.

I don't want a blaring alarm. I just want a gentle reminder. Having the 4 tasks each with their own reminder has worked very well for me. But it makes my Todo manager a cluttered mess.

So, I want an app that can have ONE task, but with multiple reminders.

 

[mcogilvie]

Well, I can certainly testify that Due will hound you to the end of time across the known universe. I stopped using it after a while, because alarms went off and kept going off: phone, computer, tablet, maybe the toaster oven. If you want special nagging on some items, it’s a good choice.

 

[ivanjay205]

What is it that you are REALLY after?
The reason I ask, is that I try to have as few notifications as possible in my life...
Instead, I try to build habits around using my trusted system.
The way I see it, if you see the need to have a lot of notifications, it's either because you don't trust your system or you don't trust your habits.

"take out the trash", which is actually a task for me today, sits as an all day event in my calendar. It HAS to happen today. I don't set any alarms, but I have the habit of checking my calendar enough to make sure nothing slips.

In the rare event that I have the slightest feeling that something may slip - mostly because I may lose the track of time - I use the alarm clock feature on my phone. But this is more to reminds me of what time it is, not to reminds me of a specific task to get done...

Another perspective: If you feel the need to snooze a notification a number of times, why not set it to a later time?
This is a common discussion my wife and I have. I only ever set ONE alarm in the morning, and never snooze it. Being aware of this, I can sleep as long as possible without interruption, but when the alarm goes off, I KNOW that I have to get up...

I personally find that I WANT to use my calendar more but things can slip on there. I really enjoy using a due date instead in Omnifocus and having a checkbox to mark it done. I know that is not proper from a GTD perspective but that checkbox is oh so satisfying lol

 

[cfoley]

When choosing or designing a digital system, I like to think how the task could be accomplished without a computer. The thought process often suggests something quite simple that would get the job done without fuss.

One idea. A handwritten schedule kept beside an alarm clock. If you can't do the thing when the alarm goes off, set the alarm to go off again soon. The small amount of manual work might just be enough to galvanise you into action instead. The digital, cross platform equivalent would be a calendar app that sends event notifications.

Another idea. A divers' watch with an alarm. Set the zero of the twisty bit to the same as the minutes hand of the alarm. You can then tell at a glance how many minutes since the alarm went off. On my phone, I could use the timer app. It counts down negative after the alarm goes off and I can set multiple timers up too.

 

[bcmyers2112]

My post was aimed at the OP, though (it seems you posted your answer while I was writing on mine), and the functionality in question was multiple snoozes with shorter and shorter intervals. My attitude is "rule your system or it will rule you", the latter not being GTD best practice in my world...

Oh, I know you were addressing the OP. Nevertheless I was just trying to illustrate that at least for me there are edge cases where something like Due seems to make sense.

But overall I agree that it's better to build a system and behaviors you can trust than to find a band-aid because you don't have those things.

 

[bcmyers2112]

Well, I can certainly testify that Due will hound you to the end of time across the known universe.

I've used Due but I've never traveled that far in time and/or space. I've been to Canada. Like, in the 80s. I don't think that's as impressive, though.

 

[bcmyers2112]

So, I want an app that can have ONE task, but with multiple reminders.

I can tell you Due can do exactly that. It's absolutely not a solution for everything in all your lists. It's just a fancy alarm app. But it sounds like that may be all you need.

 

[Sarahsuccess]

I'm looking a Todo List/Remiders app that has some kind of escalating reminders. What I mean by this is, if I have a task I want to do at 8:00 PM, such as "Take Out The Trash," I want it to popup a reminder at 8:00 PM. If I don't mark the task as complete by say 8:30 PM, it will popup another reminder at 8:30 PM. Then another at 8:45 PM. Then another at 9:00 PM and so on.

I was using an app called TickTick. But it had a notification system similar to how an alarm clock works. It goes off until you go into the notification and click on snooze, which makes it go off in 15 minutes again. This isn't ideal for the way I work. And when I snooze my alarm for 15 minutes, that doesn't follow all my devices. So, even though I snoozed the notification on my iPhone while I am at Home Depot, the iPad is sitting home screaming and pissing my wife off.

Ideally I'd like that app to work on iPhone/iPad/MacOS and Linux.

Also, I am willing to PAY FOR something. I DO NOT want to subscribe to something unless it's $20 or less per year. I know that TickTick is more than $20/year. It was an experiment.

What about using alarms in the Clock app on the iphone? I use that when I need reminders for scheduled tasks. It has a 9 minute snooze interval. Sometimes that seems too short, but it can be snoozed multiple times and it works for me. Tasks can be recurring by the day of the week. At first I thought this suggestion is too simplistic, but then I thought sometimes the simpler the better. What do you think?

 

[TesTeq]

my primary use for Due is to remind me to take certain medication.

@bcmyers2112 I use iOS Health app on my iPhone and Apple Watch for this purpose. It has a dedicated medication tracking function with its own reminders. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213351

 

[Murray]

I would say two things in response to the OP @apastuszak, and also to the reply from @René Lie :

1. By all means use whatever reminders or apps you need to get stuff off your mind. In my case I will sometimes use a calendar notification or a reminder in MS Todo. Both of these will sit as a notification on my phone until I feel ready to swipe it away. I like using these types of reminders because in addition to reminding me of the particular event or action that needs my attention, they also remind me to consider checking my calendar or action lists. Whatever tool will do the job best for you will have great value I'm sure.
2. I know from my own experience that when I finally established a reliable habit of checking my calendar at a minimum at the start of every day, this one achievement ushered in a new level of trusting my system and a new era of possibilities.

Good luck!

 

[René Lie]

I know from my own experience that when I finally established a reliable habit of checking my calendar at a minimum at the start of every day, this one achievement ushered in a new level of trusting my system and a new era of possibilities.

I have the exact same experience! For me, this has ended up being a habit so strong that I actually feel like checking my calendar several times during the day.

In my daily checklist I have a reminder of checking the mobile, physical inbox in my backpack which I don't use that often. But just by seeing the reminder on my checklist, I instantly know whether or not the inbox contains anything - I don't even need to look into it to make sure.

Having a trusted system - and a strong trust in it - really is key for me!