Learn how to use the Apple Reminders app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to get reminded about a task when you are messaging a particular person.
Imagine you loaned your book to a friend and want to ask them to return it when you contact them the next time.
In this situation, you can add a to-do about it in the Reminders app, and then the next time you message this person, you will be reminded to message them for your book.
This handy feature ensures you don’t forget about an important reminder involving that person.
How to get a reminder when you message a particular person
1) Open the Reminders app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac and hit New Reminder. We are using an iPhone for these steps.
2) Fill in the reminder title and other details. Now, tap the info button ⓘ next to the task or tap Details.
3) Turn on the When Messaging switch and tap Choose Person on iOS or Add Contact on macOS.
4) Select the person from your saved contacts. Note that you cannot select more than one.
5) Hit Done to save the reminder. On Mac, you can just click outside the popup area.
6) The next time you chat with this selected contact in the Apple Messages app, the Reminders app will show you a notification reminding you about that task.
You can touch and hold the reminder alert to take relevant action, such as marking it as completed or choosing to be reminded about it later.
Unfortunately, this helpful feature only works in the Messages app. Third-party messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp cannot be selected.
Alternatively, you can use Siri to set this kind of reminder. But Siri may not always figure this out and thus fail to set a reminder without the When Messaging option. Still, you can try it out by saying something along the lines of “Hey Siri, remind me when I’m messaging Tim Cook to ask him about future products,” and Reminders will automatically do the right thing. Keep the format of your query as close to “Remind me X when I am messaging with Y” as possible, and don’t use substitutes for the term “messaging,” or Siri may not get what you meant.
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