The Reminders app on the iPhone has been overhauled multiple times since its introduction in 2011. However, there’s one specific feature that I’ve wanted since I first started using the app, and it was finally added. Now, I no longer ignore my reminders—maybe you won’t either.
The best new feature in Reminders
For a while, you could only indicate a reminder’s priority by categorizing it as low, medium, or high. After selecting an option, one to three exclamation marks are added next to the reminder, depending on the level chosen.
The problem with this feature is that it only visually shows the reminder’s importance. It doesn’t provide anything extra, like a specific chime when a notification for the particular reminder appears.
Now, in the latest update, you can enable urgency options for your most important reminders to receive more prominent alerts. When an alarm goes off, the notification reminder will take over the whole screen and play a ringtone while your phone is locked.
To set this up, create a new reminder, then open its settings or details. Under the date and time section, you’ll find a new option labeled “Urgent,” which also enables the date and time toggles.
You must set a date and time for the reminder to use the new feature. Toggling either one off will disable the urgent feature altogether.
Like other reminders, you can edit it however you want, including adding it to a list or section and assigning tags or priority levels. You can also set it to repeat, which works well for tasks that need daily reminders.
However, while you can set a location-based trigger, such as being reminded when you arrive at or leave a place, adding a date and time defeats the purpose of that option. As previously mentioned, turning off the date and time also disables the urgency feature.
What happens when the alarm goes off
When the date and time for the reminder you toggled as urgent arrives, two options will appear: snooze the reminder or slide to stop it. These are the same options and gestures shown when an alarm goes off.
However, those options appear only when your iPhone is locked. When the device is unlocked, the alert behaves like an alarm notification, appearing as a banner at the top of the screen.
The alarm will still trigger even if a Focus mode is enabled or your device is muted. I noticed this while working out: I normally don’t receive notifications when the Fitness Focus mode is on, but because the reminder was marked as urgent, it still went off.
For now, the alarm-style alert only goes off on the iPhone and Apple Watch, showing the same two options on both devices. On a Mac or iPad, it appears as a standard Reminders notification.
On iPads and Macs that support Apple Intelligence and have it enabled, these Reminder notifications will appear as Priority Notifications. Additionally, the alert appears as a time-sensitive notification, which is the only label shown on devices that aren’t compatible with Apple Intelligence.
If you slide to stop the alarm, then the reminder will turn into a Live Activity on your lock screen and in the Dynamic Island. Within it will be the reminder and a stopwatch showing how long it’s been since the alarm went off.
You can complete the task from the Live Activity on the lock screen, but you cannot do the same from the Dynamic Island. Additionally, you cannot swipe away the Live Activity on the lock screen.
The Live Activity disappears only when you complete the task or ignore it. I’ve noticed that if you don’t interact with it for a while, it will eventually fade from the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island.
On the other hand, if you choose to snooze the alert, it starts a timer for when it will notify you again, just like snoozing a regular alarm in the Clock app. The timer can be viewed from the Live Activity and in Dynamic Island.
In iOS 26, Live Activities made their way to CarPlay. This means that if you have a Live Activity for an urgent reminder and connect your iPhone to your car, it will appear in the dashboard section.
Best use cases for urgent reminders
The new urgent reminder feature won’t apply to every task you add to the Reminders app, but there are specific ones that do make sense for it.
Personally, I use it to remind me to give my cat her medication, since I don’t add it to the Health app to create a schedule. I did set reminders for this task before this feature was available, but now I won’t miss them, because it grabs my attention more effectively when it’s time.
However, this isn’t just useful for giving your pets medication; it’s also helpful for caring for other people. If you’re responsible for giving someone else medicine at a specific time, these urgent reminders ensure you won’t miss it.
Another way I use this feature is to remind me to submit an important form weekly on a set day and time. With life being busy, I sometimes forget, so marking it as urgent pushes me to complete it right then.
This is also great for reminding you to pay bills so you can avoid late fees or interest. I mainly use it for online bill payments, which, nowadays, almost every service or company accepts.
But urgent reminders aren’t just useful for bills or medication, they’re also great for students managing assignments or for important tasks at work. If a specific task or assignment needs to be completed, setting an urgent reminder alerts you in time to get it done, ideally before the deadline.
The Reminders app has always been reliable at alerting me about specific tasks when needed. I’ve been using it since it first launched, and it rarely lets me down.
With the addition of urgent reminders, it goes a step further by providing a more forceful alert that pushes me to act immediately rather than putting tasks off. It nags me into completing them, which is sometimes exactly what I need, so I don’t just keep hitting snooze.
