Perhaps the most exciting update in iPadOS 15 for Apple Reminders is that we can now tag our to-dos. Tags offer us another level of organisation for our tasks. The app then creates a section for them on the sidebar, where you can pick combinations or single tags. This is a convenient way to organise tasks in the app.
Custom smart lists
We can now create custom smart lists using filters to define their characteristics. When creating a new list, you can Make into Smart List to pick the filters for Tags, Date, Time, Location, Flag and Priority.
Your date filters can be a Specified Range (to select from specific dates) or Relative Range (to select future or past periods/seasons). Your time periods can be Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years in the future (In the Next) or past (In the Past). Any is not specific, obviously.
Your Time filters are different times of the day: Any, Morning, Afternoon, Evening or Night. Location filters work as they do for your tasks. You can pick Specific locations or when you’re getting in or out of the car. Flag turns on flagged tasks and Priority lets you pick the priority levels for your custom smart list.
Smart lists are added to your normal lists on the sidebar. The only way to tell them apart from other lists is that they have a settings icon on their thumbnails. Other than that, they are organised pretty much like any other list; you can add them to groups. That doesn’t make for a functional smart list. Let’s hope Apple can either create a new section for our custom smart lists or allow us to add them to the smart list section at the top of the sidebar. Smart lists must be easily accessible.
Any new reminder you add to a smart list will have the filters/settings set for you. This can be a smart way to work if you create many tasks with similar characteristics. Every task you create will have the tags, date, time, location, etc. set for you. That automation will save you a lot of time.
More printing options
We do not encourage printing out anything, unless absolutely necessary. However, the printing option is a smart way to export out of apps that don’t have the export option. That is why we love exploring its features. In iPadOS 15, we can now choose the paper size for our ‘printouts’ and their orientation. To export a PDF, zoom in on the preview, then export.
More collaboration control
We now have Share Options to decide who can add people to our shared lists. You can choose Anyone can add people or Only you can add people. You can also let some people Allow inviting other people while preventing others from doing so. We love these additions and we look forward to having more features for our collaboration.
Deleting completed tasks
We can now Clear completed tasks to permanently delete them from the app. This can delete tags as well (if all the tasks for that particular tag have been completed). Let’s hope Apple can add a recycle bin for us to recover our deleted items in case we change our minds about them.Â
Apple Reminders is becoming a more functional and competitive GTD app. The more updates we get for the app, the more convinced we are that, for the iPad, you probably don’t need to purchase a GTD app.Â
What’s still missing?
There are some features we’d love to see in Apple Reminders before we can crown it ‘the best GTD for the iPad’. We would love the ability to:Â
- Attach many different types of files, not just photos
- Add more URLs per task
- Add start dates
- Integrate with Apple Calendar (so we can see our calendar events without leaving the app).
- Repeat to-dos after completion
