Plan and focus

Recurring Tasks, Date Alerts and Location Reminders

Repeat a task on a schedule or after you finish it, get an alert at the right time, or be reminded when you arrive somewhere.

By Mustafa Yusuf4 min read
On this page
  1. Choose how it repeats
  2. Set a date and repeat
  3. Remind me at a place
  4. Act on the alert
  5. Every related feature

Set a reminder once and let Tasks bring the work back at the right moment: every Monday, three days after you last did it, or when you walk into the office.

Choose how it repeats

A repeat can count from the calendar or from when you actually finished.

  1. Scheduled date: every MondayTake out the recycling. Finish it on Tuesday and the next one is still due Monday.
  2. Completion date: every 3 daysWater the plants. Finish on Tuesday and the next one is due Friday.
Pick the scheduled date for a fixed routine, or the completion date when you need a gap between one time and the next.

Set a date and repeat

  1. Open the task and tap its Date. Pick the day, and set a Time if you want the alert at a set hour. Without a time, the alert comes at noon.
  2. Next to Alert, choose None, Notification or Alarm.
  3. Next to Repeat, tap Select and choose Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly, or Custom for more control.
  4. In Custom, set Based on to Scheduled date or Completion date. Pick the Frequency and Interval, then the days: weekdays for Weekly, dates for Monthly, months for Yearly. Tap Save.
  5. Tap Done. When you complete the task, it moves on to its next date.

An alarm rings like a clock alarm, which helps for things you really cannot miss.

Quicker still, type it into the title: Take out the recycling every Monday at 7pm or Water the plants every 3 days. See Type or say a task for more phrases.

Three iPhone screens: the date picker over the Work board with September 27 selected, Time at 12:00, Alert set to Notification and a Select button next to Repeat; the Alert menu open with None, Notification (checked) and Alarm; and the Repeat menu open with Custom, Yearly, Monthly, Weekly and Daily.Open full size in a new tab
Date, time, alert and repeat all live on one sheet. Pick a preset repeat, or Custom for more choices.
Four iPhone screens of Repeat task: Weekly with Based on set to Scheduled date, Interval 1, Sunday selected and the note Event will occur every week on Sunday; the Based on menu offering Scheduled date and Completion date; Monthly with the 27th selected in a grid of dates; and Yearly with a list of months starting at January.Open full size in a new tab
Based on sets where the next date counts from. The line under Interval spells out the repeat in words.

Select the task and press ⌘S to open its date, or click the date in the task panel. Select next to Repeat opens a menu: Repeat holds Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly, and Custom sits below it. Custom repeats use pop-up menus instead of scroll wheels.

The Mac date panel over the Work board with September 27 selected, Time at 16:00 and Alert set to Notification, and the Repeat menu open with a Repeat submenu listing Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly, and Custom below.Open full size in a new tab
The presets sit in the Repeat submenu. Choose Custom to pick the days yourself.
The Mac Repeat task panel with Based on set to Scheduled date, Frequency Weekly, Interval 1, the note Event will occur every week on Sunday and Sunday selected in the weekday row.Open full size in a new tab
Based on, Frequency and Interval are pop-up menus on Mac. Click the days you want, then Save.

Remind me at a place

Some tasks are about where you are, not when. Renew the lease is best remembered when you get to the office.

  1. Open the task’s Location and use Search for a place.
  2. Next to Trigger, choose When I Arrive or When I Leave.
  3. Drag the Radius slider to set how close counts, then tap the checkmark. The task card now shows the place, such as Arrive: Office.

You can also type it: Renew the lease when I arrive at the office.

Three iPhone screens: the Location editor with Name Apple Park, Trigger set to When I Arrive and Radius at 650 feet above a map of Apple Park; the Trigger menu offering When I Arrive and When I Leave; and the Work board's Planned column with Renew the lease showing Arrive: Office and the finance tag.Open full size in a new tab
Choose the place, the trigger and the radius. The task card then shows where Tasks will remind you.

Act on the alert

Tasks alerts arrive as Time Sensitive notifications. Press and hold one to move the task to another status, such as Move to Doing or Move to Done, or choose Remind me later and pick 1 hour, 4 hours or Tomorrow. If alerts do not arrive, allow notifications for Tasks in Settings. Place reminders also need location access.

Three iPhone screens: a Time Sensitive Tasks notification on the Lock Screen for Renew car insurance, Today, 12:00; the notification held open with the task card and the actions Move to Doing, Move to Done and Remind me later; and the Remind me later options 1 hour, 4 hours, Tomorrow and Back.Open full size in a new tab
The actions list the project's other statuses, so you can move the task on without opening the app.

Click a notification to open the task. A few things work differently on Mac:

  • Alarm arrives as a normal notification.
  • Place reminders can be set on your Mac, but they fire on your iPhone, which is the device that knows where you are.
  • Status and Remind me later actions in the notification are on iPhone.

Just need a one-off reminder? Leave Repeat off. A date or a place is useful on its own.

Explore all 15 related features

Browse the related features below for more detail, or search every feature.

Fixed recurrence

Repeat on a calendar schedule such as every Monday.

Completion-based recurrence

Repeat a set time after the task is actually completed.

Daily rules

Repeat tasks on daily schedules.

Weekly rules

Repeat tasks on chosen weeks or weekdays.

Monthly rules

Repeat tasks on a monthly pattern.

Advanced calendar rules

Use more specific recurrence selectors when a simple interval is not enough.

Date and time notifications

Receive a reminder when a task date arrives.

Alarm reminders

Use an alarm for a timed task on supported systems.

Arrival reminders

Receive a task alert when arriving at a saved place.

Departure reminders

Receive a task alert when leaving a saved place.

Location radius

Control the useful area around a saved task location.

Rich notifications

Act on useful task information from a notification.

Time Sensitive alerts

Use Apple's Time Sensitive notification level where appropriate.

Upcoming repeat alerts

Schedules upcoming reminders for recurring work instead of waiting on one completion.

Notification settings

Control how Tasks alerts appear.