# Apple Reminders

15 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Reminders and 16 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free built-in to-do app that syncs reliably across Apple devices and captures quick tasks well. Common caveat: the Mac version feels like an iOS port with weak keyboard support.

## Why people recommend it

- Syncs reliably across Apple devices (3 comments): "Reminders in iOS syncs in the background, and is up to date on my phone and my wife’s phone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536208)) "the synchronization with their iOS equivalents is flawless from what I can tell" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45999308)) "The built in UIs, syncing, and integrations are really good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47090751))
- Simple, clean and does what's needed (2 comments): "Reminders are clean and simple to use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49153266)) "Reminders does everything I need" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48650469))
- Scriptable and works with Siri (2 comments): "Both Notes and Reminders have a full AppleScript / JXA interface that Apple has maintained for years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154142)) "use Siri to add items to an iOS Reminders list as the week goes on" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606836))

## What people warn about

- Hard to navigate with a keyboard (3 comments): "These apps ported from iOS do not understand keyboard navigation and rely heavily on the trackpad or mouse." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50284280)) "none of those work well and cannot be navigated properly using the keyboard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46115809)) "downright unnavigable and unusable with a keyboard" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46030339))
- Lag and bugs when typing tasks (3 comments): "has a horrible bug in it since Tahoe where you are entering several tasks in the scheduled view" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47225068)) "it doesn't register the enter until several keypresses later" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47225205)) "delayed or reshuffling items while I'm typing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48458722))
- Mac app feels like an iOS port (2 comments): "These apps ported from iOS do not understand keyboard navigation and rely heavily on the trackpad or mouse." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50284280)) "Make Reminders a Real Desktop App vs. a horrible iOS. port." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48414521))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Paca](https://hackerapproved.com/p/paca.md): 14 recommend
- [Todoist](https://hackerapproved.com/p/todoist.md): 13 recommend
- [Minimal Monthly Task Planner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/minimal-monthly-task-planner.md): 11 recommend
- [Taskwarrior](https://hackerapproved.com/p/taskwarrior.md): 9 recommend
- [Things 3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/things.md): 9 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Apple Reminders", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-reminders/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).