Reminders in plain words: once, daily, weekly, every few hours

The worst thing a reminder app can do is go off at the wrong time, or not at all, without you noticing. Most of the time that’s not a bug: the schedule was set slightly wrong, and nothing showed it.

Shadowkit’s Notify skill is built around one idea: you should be able to read a reminder’s schedule and know exactly when it will fire.

Four kinds of schedule

• Once. A date and a time, like “Once · Fri 2 Oct at 18:00”. Good for appointments and one-off tasks.
• Daily. One or more times every day, up to 12. “Every day at 10:00 and 14:00” for medication, or a single evening check-in.
• Weekly. Chosen weekdays at chosen times. “Weekdays at 11:00” for a stand-up, or Saturday mornings for watering the plants.
• Every few hours. Every 30 minutes, every hour, or every 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or 12 hours, between a start and an end time, on the days you choose. “Every 2 hours, 09:00–21:00” is the classic drink-water reminder, and it stays quiet overnight.

The schedule reads like a sentence

Whatever you pick, Shadowkit writes it back to you in plain words, as in the examples above. If you meant weekdays and it says “Every day”, you’ll see that before you save.

See the next times before you save

The editor shows the next three times the reminder will go off, for example “Next: Today 14:00 · Tomorrow 10:00 · Tomorrow 14:00”. Notify’s page on Home has an Up next list with the next five reminders across all of them. If something looks off, you’ll catch it now instead of next Tuesday.

You can also tap Send a test now to see and hear exactly what the notification will look like.

Why Android reminders sometimes arrive late

Android saves battery by grouping background work together. For most apps that’s fine, but for a reminder at 14:00 it can mean the notification arrives at 14:09.

Apps can ask for permission to schedule exact alarms. Android calls it Alarms & reminders. With it, a reminder fires on the minute. Without it, it may be up to about 15 minutes late. Shadowkit works either way, and if exact timing is off it shows a notice with an Allow exact timing button that takes you to the right setting.

Shadowkit also asks for permission to show notifications the first time you save or test a reminder, after explaining why. If you say “Not now”, your reminder is still saved, and a notice reminds you that notifications are blocked.

They keep working when you’re not looking

Reminders fire with the app closed. They’re rescheduled after your phone restarts, after an app update, when you change the clock, and when you cross time zones, so a daily 08:00 reminder stays at 08:00 local time when you travel.

They work offline too. Nothing is sent to a server. Your phone schedules the notification itself.

Reminders for every profile

If you use profiles, reminders from all of them fire, not just the one you have open. The notification shows which profile it’s from, like “Work · Stretch”, and tapping it switches to that profile.

A few that people like

• Drink water: every 2 hours, 09:00–21:00.
• Stretch: weekdays at 11:00 and 15:00.
• Say a good thing: every day at 14:00.
• Take out the bins: weekly on the evening before collection.

The free version holds 3 reminders in a profile, and Shadowkit Pro raises that. For habits you want to track rather than be reminded about, see habit streaks that don’t punish a day off. For something to keep in view all day, with no time at all, you can pin a note to your notifications.