How To Create Recurring Reminders on iPhone

If you find yourself doing the same tasks every day—like reminding yourself to take out the trash or double-check that you’ve packed your gym bag—setting up recurring reminders on your iPhone can seriously save some mental energy. The cool thing is, you don’t need a third-party app for this; Apple’s native Reminder app actually does the job pretty well. But hey, sometimes it’s a little tricky to figure out how to set it up just right, especially if you’re new to it. So, let’s walk through how to get those recurring alerts going, quickly and without fuss.

How to Set Up Recurring Reminders on iPhone?

Here’s the thing: the Reminder app on iPhone is surprisingly capable for simple recurring alerts. You just have to dive into the right options. It works if you want to keep a task on repeat every day, weekly, monthly, or custom intervals. Just know that sometimes, the options aren’t super obvious, and a little tap here and there is needed. Expect the reminder to show up with a little repeat icon so it’s clear you set it to recur. And yes, it’s straightforward once you get the hang of it, though on some setups it might take a couple of tries for everything to behave perfectly.

Launch the Reminder app

Find and open the Reminders app on your iPhone. You probably already know where it is, but it’s in your home screen or the App Library, of course.

Create a new reminder

Once inside, tap the New Reminder button, usually at the bottom or the corner.
Type out what you need to be reminded about—like “Water the plants” or “Pick up dry cleaning”.

Set the details and enable repeat

Tap the (i) icon next to your reminder to open more options. This part is key, since this is where you set the repeat stuff.
Scroll down or find the Repeat option. Tap on it.
The list pops up with frequency options—daily, weekly, monthly, or custom. Choose the one that fits your needs.
While you’re here, toggle on the Time switch if you want the reminder at a specific time (like 8 AM).
Set your preferred alert time. On some iPhones, this can be a little finicky, but usually, it works if you’re quick enough.

Quick note—on one setup it worked fine, on another, I had to toggle the repeat switch on and off a couple of times before it stuck.iOS can be weird sometimes!

Finish up and confirm

Tap Done in the top right corner once you’re happy with the schedule.
Back on the main reminder screen, you should see your new reminder with a little repeat icon indicating it’s recurring.

And that’s literally it. You can repeat the process to make more reminders, and each one will follow its set schedule.

Other Ways to Create Recurring Reminders on iPhone?

Not feeling the native Reminder app? Yeah, fair enough. There are plenty of third-party reminder apps out there—like Todoist, Things, or Any.do—that offer more flexible recurrence options, sometimes even with voice commands or smarter triggers. Those can be useful if you’re trying to handle more complex scheduling or just want a more sleek interface. Just be sure to pick apps with good reviews and from trusted developers, because nobody wants their reminders to get lost in some shady corner of the App Store.

Also, some of these apps can hook into Siri, so you can just say things like “Hey Siri, remind me every Monday at 3 PM to call Mom, ” and boom—done. Not sure why, but sometimes, setting recurring reminders through Siri feels more reliable or faster than fiddling with the in-built app.

Either way, setting up recurring alerts isn’t exactly rocket science, but it does take a little patience to nail the settings. Once you’ve got it, it’s honestly a game-changer for cluttering your brain less.