Best Free Reminder App

Framing the Problem:

Some of you will find this useful and others will most likely laugh at how easy it is to forget things, but I have mastered a tech remedy. I am in my mid fifties now and think back about how sharp my mind was back in my prime.

I have to admit that I have struggled at times to remember simple things in the last few years. I am not talking about forgetting my wife’s birthday or anniversary. I am talking about small things that can drive you crazy or worse cause you frustration at work and even drive inefficiency in your job.

Three years ago I was setting at my desk at work and remembered an important task I needed to complete. The phone rang while I was trying to find my pen to write down a reminder. I picked up the phone and began talking while I was looking, by the time I found a writing utensil the thought was gone. I spent the rest of the morning racking my brain trying to remember, it was getting to the point of driving me crazy.

Walking down the hallway it finally came to me and I was heading back to my office to write it down when a coworker stopped to ask me a question. After about 10 minutes of talking, I went back to my office sat down at my desk and seen that paper with a big question mark wrote down, crap the thought was gone again.

To clear the air and I know what you might be thinking this is the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and I was worried about that as well. I did seek medical assistance to determine if any underlying health issues needed addressing. It’s been over three years now with just normal signs of aging and moments of forgetfulness that could drive a person crazy but no serious medical conditions. This is where I tell you how tech helped with middle-aged memory issues using the best free reminder app.

The Solution: The Best Free Reminder App

I have had smart phones for years and have not been a heavy app user other than GPS to help me navigate and of course online shopping or checking my bank account. I did realize that I was carrying my phone with me everywhere I go and why not just set a reminder on my phone after all, I used Outlook for work and it keeps me on schedule with meetings. I tried for a couple of months and it did help some but was cumbersome to enter thoughts or tasks.

I did turn do the app store one day and did a search for something that would remind me of tasks. I am here to pitch my favorite app and to enlighten you on not only the benefits of using a reminder app, but also the tips and tricks of a middle-aged person who heavily leverages this kind of tech.

Four Must Have Features of the best Free reminder App

I will cover what I consider the must have features when you are looking for a reminder app. I went through more than a few apps and had to learn the hard way. The app must allow you to set a reoccurring event for daily, weekly, monthly and even customize.

I thought at first daily, weekly and monthly would cover everything I needed, but then kept coming up with needs to set up something like the first Monday of month or every third Thursday. The more you use the reminder the more important some of these features become.

Second Must Have Feature:

This second feature you can’t live without is a customizable alarm that goes off when the event is due. At first, something simple seemed fine. Here again the more I used and relied on it the more flexibility I needed. I want to select the type of alarm being silent or sound, and even pick the sound to certain events. This requires a little thought when setting up but you will get the hang of it quickly, it’s like having a custom ring tone for a friend or family member.

Okay some you could stop here and download the best free reminder app and start using it as your read this article. See the big green link below. If you still need more information keep reading.

Third Must Have Feature:

Third must have feature is a “nag me” feature which when the event is due will keep nagging you at intervals you set until you complete the task. I almost want to put this one at the top of the list as it is my favorite. The app I have been using for the last two years features an adjustable nag frequencies starting with every minute (relentless), 5, 15 and 30 minutes, every hour and every day.

You do have the option to snooze a reminder in increments of hour(s) or day(s), which, I find myself doing a lot if I am busy. Here is the beauty of these reminder apps if my alarm goes off and I am not ready to complete the task then I just tap the snooze button for how many hours or days I want. Then it is set and will wait to go off again when the time comes nothing for me to remember to write down.

Here is an important tip don’t check the task as done until it is already complete. If you start a task and the reminder goes off just snooze it until it’s complete. I learned that lesson the hard when I started a task the reminder went off and I checked it complete in the app only to get interrupted during the task which didn’t get finished.

Fourth Must Have Features:

Fourth must have is the ability to recycle an event or task. This comes into play in the beginning when I would fat finger the device and accidently check a task done before it was complete. This issue went away after a couple of weeks of getting to know the app. This was cool moving forward when I could recycle an event or task and quickly edit for next time if it’s not on a reoccurring frequency.

You you have made it to this point in the article and haven't jumped over the the app store and downloaded the best free reminder app what are you waiting for, please get it and give it a try. Come back to this article again to see practical uses below.

Location Reminder:

The above four items I feel are necessity features for any reminder app that you are looking at to download. There is one handy feature that I didn’t put on the must have list but just started using lately. The location reminder uses GPS to remind you of a task when you arrive at the set location.

For instance, I set one last week to remind me next time I was at the store to pickup salt for the water softener. When I arrived at the store for regular shopping, it reminded me to pick up the salt. I use this for infrequent things now that pop into my head when I am not near our shopping list on refrigerator.

Practical Uses:

I use my reminder app frequently throughout every day at my job and recently I have started a website and have been blogging. I am amazed at all the tasks it takes to keep up with managing a website. I am learning new things everyday and use my reminder app frequently to aid me with keeping up with these new duties.

Around the home, I have daily reminders for taking my pills twice a day, paying bills, birthday reminders set a couple of weeks early to ensure cards get there on time. I set up monthly, quarterly, and annual preventive maintenance items for my house and cars.

For example, change the oil, replace the furnace filters, checking salt level in the water softener, check batteries in the smoke detectors and the list goes on. It just takes me a couple of seconds to pull my phone out and add an event or task.

This is an excellent tool for aiding in reaching goals. I break down my larger goals into small ones. Then I assign task to each small goal and use this reminder app to keep me on track. I have been excelling at my job by knocking out my goals I set.

Summary of Must Have Features:

Creating reoccurring events – with customizable frequency
Customizable Alarms (silent, different tones)
Customizable Nag Me feature (with snooze)
Recycle of events/tasks

Nice to have features:

Location Reminder
Timers
Check lists
Sharing
Search

Conclusion:

There are a ton of reminder apps out there and like I stated earlier I am here to pitch my favorite best reminder free app. As I mentioned please don’t pay for an app you have nothing to lose by downloading this app. It will not disappoint.

I let the Alarmed App send notifications to my Fitbit Smart Watch so I don't even have to pull my phone out to look at the reminder.

I recommend downloading a few to try them out to see which one best fits your needs. I reduced my stress level using the reminder app, which improved my overall health. You can teach old dogs new tricks with the proper technology. Leave me a comment

I would love to hear how some of you are using a reminder app to improve your lives. Sorry, I have to run my reminder app is telling me it’s time to take out the trash.