On top of its reliability and ease of use is a pixel-perfect design. But I have no qualms letting Checkmark run in the background. Nearly all location-based apps that I try seem to drain my battery like its their job. I only wish I could set a repeating location-based reminder (such as one that reminded me every time I went to the bank to log the miles in Trip Cubby).Īlso notable is Checkmark’s conservative battery usage. I use it for all my location-based reminders. It takes a whopping three taps (one of which is launching the app) to get to the screen for adding a new location-based reminder. Checkmark gives you options to trigger the reminder or arrival or departure and even to time-delay it. From there you can tap to add a reminder. Tapping on a pre-saved location takes you to the list of reminders which are set to trigger around that place. I have 7 commonly-visited places set up in Checkmark. When you launch the app there is a “home screen” with icons for each of your saved locations. Which is one reason I’ve found Checkmark to be far superior to the built-in Reminders app for these types of reminders. This is something that Siri should be able to do, but in practice I’ve found her to be unreliable at reminding me to get AAA batteries next time I’m at Walmart. Where Checkmark truly shines is with location-based reminders that trigger on arrival. Trivial, time-based reminders (“remind me to check the brisket in 45 minutes”). It’s easiest to let the iPhone set a quick geofence around wherever I am and then remind me of something when I leave that fence (“remind me to swing by the grocery store and pick up a gallon of milk when I leave here”). And so I find myself using a combination of both apps. 2 Of course Siri and the Reminders app have a few downsides of their own. With Checkmark, not a single one of my reminders have failed to trigger.Ĭheckmark’s biggest downside is its current inability to work with Siri. And, as mentioned above, on more than one occasion the built-in Reminders app has failed to trigger a location-based reminder. In terms of reliability and ease of use, Checkmark beats the built-in Reminders app in several areas (especially if you are manually tapping in a time or location-based reminder - Checkmark is leaps and bounds faster at this). The next time I go to Walmart it’s hit or miss that the reminder will actually trigger (why this is, I do not know).Ĭheckmark solves the aforementioned Siri and Reminder shortcomings and then some. For example, in my contacts I have cards for my local Walmart and Lowe’s, but asking Siri to remind me to buy batteries when I get to Walmart does not always work. Once a reminder for another location is set, Siri often proves to be unreliable at reminding me.Not to mention, if the location is not already in my list of contacts then I cannot add a reminder to trigger based on that place. And if it’s for a location other than my current one, then there is much scrolling to find the entry in my contacts list. But setting a location-based reminder manually is a surprisingly arduous task. Oftentimes I am in a situation where I can’t or don’t want to use Siri.There are, however, two quibbles I have with Siri and Reminders: 1 Especially when those reminders are location based, such as: “Remind me to swing by the post office and buy stamps when I leave here.” Or: “Remind me to take out the trash when I get home.” Though my go-to to-do app is OmniFocus there are often times when setting a quick and simple reminder via Siri is easier. Or they can have no trigger and simply be an item which needs to be done.įor me, the Reminders app on my iPhone has but one interface: Siri. These to-dos can be triggered to go off at a particular time or when leaving or arriving at a particular location. reminders) can be viewed based on the list they are in or the date they are due. A few examples:Īpple’s Reminders app is relatively simple. As such, many 3rd-party devs have made a name and a living for themselves by building “pro” versions of the apps that already ship on the iPhone. And it is awesome.įor some folks, Apple’s default apps are not powerful enough or feel absent of features. Checkmark is an upcoming reminders app for the iPhone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |