Staying organized and on top of tasks as a student can be challenging. With classes, studying, assignments, and life in general, things are bound to slip through the cracks. Thankfully, there are some great reminder apps that can help students stay focused and productive. These apps make it easy to create to-do lists, set due date alerts, manage schedules, and more.

What Are Reminder Apps?

Before jumping into the top 10 reminder apps, let’s briefly go over what exactly reminder apps are. Reminder apps, as the name suggests, are apps that help remind users about tasks and events. You can set reminders for one off tasks like “pick up groceries” or recurring reminders like “take medication at 8am daily”. The best reminder apps allow users to fully customize reminders with titles, descriptions, dates/times, locations, repeat settings, and more. Alerts and notifications can then be set to remind you about the task via your smartphone. This helps keep you organized and makes sure important tasks do not slip your mind.

Benefits of Using a Reminder App as a Student

There are lots of advantages to using a reminder app as a student. Here are some of the top benefits:

Never Forget Assignments or Tests Again

Easily set one-time or recurring reminders for homework, assignments, quizzes, midterms, final exams, and any other important academic tasks so you never miss a due date again.

Stay on Top of Your Schedule

Most reminder apps sync with your calendar and allow you to manage all your events, classes, appointments, meetings, and more in one place.

Prioritize Tasks

Reminder apps make it easy to flag important tasks, sort to-dos by due date, set priority levels, and filter tasks to keep you focused.

Sync Across Devices

The best reminder apps sync across all your devices like iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and the web so your reminder data is always up-to-date everywhere.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Reminder App

With so many reminder apps to choose from, it can be tough deciding which one is best for your needs as a student. Here are some key factors to keep in mind while evaluating reminder app options:

Platform Support

Consider what devices you use like an iPhone, Android phone, Macbook, Windows laptop, etc. and make sure the app fully supports those platforms.

Flexibility

Look for customizable reminder options and settings like repeating reminders, priority levels, categories/lists, locations, images, notes and more.

Design

Pick an app with an intuitive and easy to use interface. As a student, you don’t want to waste time struggling with your productivity app.

Data Syncing

The ability to seamlessly sync your reminders and calendar across mobile and desktop is essential. This allows access to your important tasks at all times.

Price

Some powerful reminder apps charge a monthly fee while other great options are completely free. Figure out your budget but don’t sacrifice important features to save a few bucks.

The Top 10 Best Reminder Apps

And now, without further ado, here are the top 10 best reminder apps recommended.

1. Todoist

Coming it at #1 is Todoist, one of the most fully featured and customizable productivity apps available. Todoist stands out with its excellent platform support across mobile, Mac, Windows, extensions/plugins, and the web.

Key Features

• Available on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Chrome, Firefox, Outlook, Gmail and more
• Send tasks directly to Todoist inbox via email
• Set recurrence for repeating tasks daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.
• Due dates, notes, reminders, labels, filters, and priority levels
• Productivity trends and stats keep you motivated
• Collaborate on shared projects and to-do’s
• Hundreds of templates for school, fitness, meal plans, routines and more

With amazing flexibility to tailor Todoist to your personal workflow, this is a great pick for students who want a lot of customization options for tackling schoolwork. And it won’t break the bank as Todoist offers free and premium paid plans.

2. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a no brainer option for students invested into the Android/Google ecosystem. Deep integration with Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc makes information easy to organize in Calendar.

Key Features

• Set one time or repeating reminders with notifications
• Events, appointments, classes, assignments, tasks, goals and more
• View multiple calendars together
• Share and collaborate calendars with groups
• Works across Android, iOS (with Google Calendar app), Mac, Windows and web
• Tight integration with Gmail and Google Drive
• Free to use with paid upgrades available

Since most students already heavily use Google services, adding Google Calendar into the mix is an easy way to centralize school schedules, productivity, and responsibilities into one smooth system.

3. Microsoft Outlook

For students immersed in Windows, Microsoft Outlook brings excellent functionality to manage communication, calendars, reminders, and tasks in one place.

Key Features

• Runs on Windows PC and intertwines with Microsoft 365 ecosystem
• Built-in email, calendar, people/contacts, task manager, and notes
• Set location based reminders with alerts where notification pops up when you arrive at a destination
• View schedule side by side with to-do’s
• Share calendars and assign tasks with classmates and study groups
• Sync reminders and events across iOS and Android mobile
• Monthly or yearly paid subscription options

Outlook really shines when combined with other Microsoft products. So students already utilizing services like Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Word, Excel, etc. will get great value from the deep integration Outlook provides across the Microsoft ecosystem.

4. Apple Reminders

Apple offers its own proprietary solution simply called Reminders. Designed specifically for Apple products, it provides natural organization of to-do lists, scheduled reminders, flagged tasks and more.

Key Features

• Create separate reminder lists like “School”, “Personal”, “Groceries” etc.
• Set time or location based reminder alerts
• Organize reminders into groups using hashtags like #essay, #assignment, etc.
• Mark tasks as priority or hide completed items from view
• Syncs automatically across iPhone, iPad, Mac, iCloud & the web
• Completely free to use with Apple devices

Reminders seamlessly ties into iOS and Mac exactly how you’d expect from Apple. For hardcore Apple users, keeping everything within the Apple ecosystem is advantageous. Reminders is reliable option that gets the basic task management job done.

5. Any.do

Any.do markets itself as more than just a simple to-do list manager. It aims to be a full solution for organizing your life whether related to university, family, relationships, health, or hobby goals.

Key Features

• Available as mobile app on iOS and Android plus Chrome browser extension
• Simple, clean, intuitive interface
• Location based reminders with useful auto suggestions like “Buy textbook when arriving to campus bookstore”
• Flexible repeating options – choose specific dates or say every day, week, month, year
• Share to-do lists and assign tasks to study groups
• Offline access across mobile
• Freemium model with free and paid premium plans

For students seeking inspiration alongside organization, Any.do could be the right fit. The app encourages you along the way with motivational messages and quotes. This extra shot of positivity may provide the spark needed to stay on track with schoolwork.

6. Sorted3

Sorted3 brands itself as the “to-do list and task manager for people with stuff to do”. It aims for simplicity by limiting scope specifically to just your tasks and reminders without the overhead of bulky calendar views.

Key Features

• Available on iOS and Mac only
• Simple, clean, focused specifically on personal task manager
• Set reoccurring tasks by day, week or other intervals
• Location based reminders (Available on iOS version only)
• Organize tasks using manual or automatic smart lists and priorities
• Syncs between iPhone, iPad and Mac using iCloud
• 14 day free trial, otherwise $5.99 cost

For no frills, barebones task management, Sorted3 is a decent pick for Apple users. Though feature limited compared to other options listed, the focus directly on task and reminders could appeal to some students. And the one time fee unlocking all features forever makes it an affordable option compared to ongoing subscription based competitors.

7. Things 3

Originally launched in 2007, Things has been around much longer than most apps on this list. But the developers have continued evolving Things over the years with new features while keeping the app fast and responsive.

Key Features

• Available on iOS and Mac only
• Very clean, intuitive interface providing a great user experience
• Utilizes tags, headings and to-dos to organize tasks
• Structure tasks in checklists with status indicators
• See tasks on a map view based on location
• Break larger projects down into specific actionable steps
• Seamless iCloud sync between devices
• Free trial available otherwise $9.99 one time cost

As a pioneer in the productivity space, Things offers a uniquely refined experience using simple tools like tags, headings and checklists. For students wanting a streamlined project planning approach, Things warrants a close look.

8. Microsoft To Do

Previously called Microsoft Wunderlist before a rebrand in 2020, Microsoft To Do provides a handy toolset for free without requiring a Microsoft 365 subscription. Tight integration with other Microsoft products makes this a natural choice for OneNote users, for example.

Key Features

• Cross platform support across iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and web
• Share lists to collaborate with study groups
• Offline access when internet connectivity is spotty
• Schedule recurring reminders from within the app
• Attach files from cloud storage providers
• Utilize tags for quick filtering of tasks
• Free to use with option to upgrade to premium
• Ties into other Microsoft offerings including Outlook, OneNote, and Calendar

To Do presents a simple layout resembling sticky notes on a dashboard. For students already comfortable with Microsoft’s design language, To Do integrates nicely as a supplemental tool within the broader Microsoft ecosystem.

9. TickTick

With 25 million users worldwide, TickTick brings a lot to like with a spectrum of basic to advanced features wrapped in a polished interface. It aims to serve not only as a task manager but also habit tracker for building better learning and lifestyle routines.

Key Features

• Cross platform on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, web, extensions & more
• Option for dark mode and 20 colorful themes
• Location based alerts and weather integration
• Schedule recurring tasks by day, week, month, or custom interval
• Set task priorities, reminders, sub tasks, notes and tags
• Charts and statistics give insights into productivity
• Powerful sorting, filtering and search capabilities
• Free version with paid premium upgrade available

TickTick tries to cater to both simple and advanced productivity needs alike. Students may appreciate options to visualize productivity analytics while building good study habits. And the free version still packs a capable punch.

10. Memo (Siri Recommendation)

For iPhone users, Siri now provides native functionality to add reminders with natural language voice commands. And the underlying database app where these requests get stored is Memo.

Key Features

• Create reminders via Siri voice commands like “Remind me to print essay at 5pm”
• Sync reminders across iOS and Mac with iCloud
• View reminders organized by time or location
• Set notifications to go off when arriving or leaving destinations
• Check off completed reminders or delete tasks entirely
• No sign-up required and completely free to use

Powered by Siri intelligence, Memo makes quick voice based reminders a cinch. Students constantly on the go may find value in a straight forward app tightly integrated with Siri and iCloud. And the price is certainly right being free.

Conclusion

Juggling the demands of higher education necessitates staying focused and productive. The right set of tools goes a long way in helping students reach their academic goals. The reminder apps listed above aim to keep you on track by preventing important tasks and deadlines from slipping through the gaps. Finding the ideal app comes down to individual study habits, platform ecosystem, price sensitivity and desired features. With so many great options now available, students can zero in on a task management system tailored specifically to their needs and preferences. Employing the help of a dedicated reminder app will set you up for success this semester and beyond.

FAQs

What is the best free reminder app?

Google Calendar and Apple Reminders are both excellent and completely free reminder apps, albeit more limited in scope compared to paid options. TickTick also offers a surprisingly fully featured free version.

What app does everyone use for reminders?

Todoist generally tops lists as the most well rounded cross platform reminder app, albeit at a paid subscription cost after an initial free trial. Alternatively, free built-in reminders from Google Calendar or Apple are widely used.

Can Siri remind me everyday?

Yes! Simply say “Hey Siri, remind me to take out the trash every day at 7am”. Siri will create a daily recurring reminder which can be managed in the Memo reminder app synced via iCloud.

Is Todoist better than Trello?

Todoist focuses solely on tasks and reminders while Trello relies on Kanban boards for project visualization. Todoist has more fully developed reminder functionality making tasks easier to organize and monitor. But Trello lets you visually map out projects which some may prefer.

What app lets you share reminders?

The best reminder apps for collaboration and sharing tasks/lists include Todoist, Any.do, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook/To-Do, and TickTick. Each option allows inviting contacts to shared calendars and to-do lists with various permission controls available.