Never Miss an Appointment

The 60-Second Version

If you only remember five things from this guide, make it these.

• Calendar is for events at a set time. Reminders is for to-dos and medicine.
• To add an event, open Calendar, tap the plus (+), type what and when, tap Add.
• An alert is your nudge before an event. Set one — a day before, an hour before, or both.
• For anything you do over and over, turn on Repeat so you only set it once.
• You can just ask Siri: "Remind me to take my pills at 8." It does the rest.

Meet the Calendar App

Let's start with the lay of the land. The Calendar app looks like a paper calendar, and it works a lot like one — only it never forgets.

Tap the Calendar icon on your Home Screen. It shows the day of the week and today's date, like a little page torn from a wall calendar. If you cannot spot it, swipe down the middle of the Home Screen, type Calendar, and tap it.

• Day — one day at a time, hour by hour, good for seeing your plans.
• Month — the familiar grid, with dots on days that have something on them.
• Year — the whole year at a glance; tap any month to open it.

Adding Your First Event

This is the heart of it. An event is anything that happens at a set day and time — a doctor visit, lunch with a friend, a hair appointment.

Go to Day or Month view and there it is, sitting on the right date. Tap it anytime to see the details, and you will find an Edit button in the corner if you need to change anything.

• Open Calendar and tap the plus (+) button, usually in the top corner.
• In the top line, type what it is — for example, Dr. Smith checkup.
• Tap the Starts line and set the date and time by spinning the wheels or tapping the numbers.
• Set the Ends time if you like, or leave it — a rough finish is fine.
• Tap Add (top right) to save it. Done.

Doctor Visits and Birthdays

Two kinds of events come up again and again. Here is the easy way to handle each.

Add the person's name, set the date, and turn on Repeat so it comes back every year (page 9). Set the alert for a few days ahead — that gives you time to send a card or make a call. Your phone will never let a birthday slip by again.

• Add the event with the office name, like Dr. Patel — cardiology.
• Put the full address in the Location line so directions are one tap away.
• In the Notes line at the bottom, jot the reason, the phone number, or what to bring.
• Set an alert for the day before and another an hour before (page 7).

Changing or Deleting an Event

Plans change, and that is no trouble at all. Every event can be edited or removed in a few taps.

Open the event, tap Edit, then scroll all the way to the bottom and tap Delete Event. It will ask you to confirm. If the event repeats, it will kindly ask whether you mean just this one or all of them — pick whichever you need.

• Tap the event to open it.
• Tap Edit in the top corner.
• Change the time, date, location, or anything else.
• Tap Done to save the change.

Alerts: Your Nudge Before an Event

An event on the calendar only helps if the phone reminds you it is coming. That nudge is called an alert, and it is the most useful setting of all.

For anything important, set two. After you pick the first alert, a Second Alert line appears — use it. A common pairing is one alert the day before, so you can prepare, and one an hour before, so you can head out the door in time.

• While adding or editing an event, tap the Alert line.
• Choose when you want the nudge — 1 hour before, 1 day before, and more.
• The phone will buzz or chime and show a message at that time.
• Tap Done or Add to save it.

When an Alert Appears

So an alert pops up on your screen — what now? Here is what those little messages mean and what to do with them.

A banner slides in at the top of the screen, or a message appears on your locked screen, showing the event name and time. Your phone may also chime or buzz. It is simply saying, "This is coming up."

• Read it — that may be all you need.
• Tap it to open the event and see the full details or the address.
• Swipe it away to dismiss it once you have taken it in.
• If you missed it, find it later by swiping down from the top for your notifications.

Repeating Events: Set It Once

Some things happen on a schedule — a weekly card game, a monthly hair appointment, a yearly birthday. Set them up once, and your phone puts them on every future date for you.

After choosing how often, you can tap End Repeat to set a date for it to stop — handy for a course of treatment that runs a few weeks. Leave it on Never for things like birthdays that should go on and on.

• While adding or editing an event, tap the Repeat line.
• Choose how often — Every Day, Every Week, Every Month, or Every Year.
• For something like a birthday, Every Year is the one you want.
• Tap Add or Done to save it.

Colors and Multiple Calendars

You can keep separate calendars for different parts of life — one for medical, one for family, one for social — each in its own color. It sounds fancy, but it just means your week is easier to read at a glance.

Tap Calendars at the bottom, then Add Calendar, give it a name like Medical, and pick a color. From then on, when you add an event you can choose which calendar it belongs to by tapping the Calendar line.

• Each calendar has a color, so events show up in that color.
• Medical in red, family in blue, for instance — you decide.
• Tap Calendars at the bottom to see your list and turn any on or off.
• Turning one off just hides it for now; it does not delete anything.

Choosing Which Calendar an Event Goes On

If you keep more than one calendar, each new event can be filed onto the right one. It takes one extra tap and keeps everything tidy.

Filed something on the wrong calendar? Open the event, tap Edit, tap the Calendar line, and choose a different one. The color updates to match. Nothing is lost in the move.

• While adding an event, look for the Calendar line (near Alert and Repeat).
• Tap it to see your list of calendars.
• Tap the one you want — say, Medical for a doctor visit.
• The event takes on that calendar's color.

Shared Family Calendars

A shared calendar lets family members see the same events and add to them — wonderful for keeping a spouse, or a helpful son or daughter, in the loop on appointments.

When your daughter adds your specialist appointment, it appears on your phone automatically — no phone call needed. And when you add the church potluck, she sees it too. It keeps everyone gently on the same page.

• You create a calendar and invite family by their Apple account (their email).
• They accept, and from then on you all see the same events.
• Anyone invited can add or change events, and everyone sees the update.
• Each person can turn the shared calendar on or off on their own phone.

A Word on Privacy and Sharing

Sharing a calendar is a real convenience, and it is worth a moment's thought about what you are sharing before you turn it on.

Many folks keep a shared Family calendar for the things everyone should know, and a private one for anything personal. That way you get the help of sharing without giving up your privacy.

• Whoever you share with can see every event on that shared calendar.
• They cannot see your other, private calendars — only the one you shared.
• You can keep sensitive appointments on a separate, private calendar.
• You can stop sharing at any time in the calendar's settings.

Meet the Reminders App

The Calendar handles things at a set time. The Reminders app handles your to-dos — the little jobs and errands, and the medicines you take. Think of it as a smart, gentle checklist.

Tap the Reminders icon on your Home Screen — it looks like a checklist with colored dots. If you cannot find it, swipe down the middle of the Home Screen, type Reminders, and tap it.

• Tap New Reminder, or the plus (+) button.
• Type what you need to do — Call the pharmacy, Water the plants.
• Tap Done, or add a time (next page) before you finish.
• It appears in your list with a little empty circle beside it.

Time-Based Reminders

A to-do is far more useful when your phone nudges you at the right moment. Add a time, and Reminders will speak up so you do not have to keep it in your head.

For something you do regularly, tap Repeat and choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. A daily 9:00 AM reminder to check your blood pressure, for instance, only needs to be set once and then it shows up every morning.

• Tap a reminder to open its details, or tap the little (i) or info button beside it.
• Turn on Date, then set the day.
• Turn on Time, then set the hour — say, 9:00 AM.
• Tap Done. Your phone will nudge you then.

Medication Reminders

Reminders is a fine helper for staying on top of your medicines — a steady nudge at pill time, every day, without fail. Set it up carefully and it becomes a quiet part of your routine.

If you take pills morning and night, make two separate reminders — one for each time — rather than trying to remember two doses from a single nudge. Clear and separate is safer than clever and combined.

• Add a reminder named clearly, like Take morning blood pressure pill.
• Turn on Date and Time, and set your usual pill time.
• Turn on Repeat and choose Daily.
• Tick it off each day once you have taken it, so you can see you have.

Location-Based Reminders

Here is a clever one. Your phone can remind you of something not at a certain time, but at a certain place — like nudging you to buy stamps the moment you arrive at the store.

"Remind me to grab my prescription when I arrive at the pharmacy." "Remind me to bring in the mail when I get home." The reminder appears at exactly the useful moment, so you never have to hold it in your head all day.

• Open a reminder's details and turn on Location.
• Choose Arriving or Leaving, then pick a place — Home, or a business you type in.
• For example: remind me to take out the recycling when Leaving Home.
• Tap Done. The nudge waits until you reach or leave that spot.

Keeping Reminders Tidy

A little organizing keeps your reminders useful instead of overwhelming. It takes only a moment and makes the whole thing pleasant to use.

Completed reminders tuck themselves away, but you can review them by tapping the three-dots menu and choosing Show Completed. Seeing what you have finished is reassuring, and you can clear the old ones out whenever you like.

• Reminders can be sorted into lists — Groceries, Medicine, To-Do.
• Tap Add List to make one, give it a name and a color.
• When adding a reminder, choose which list it belongs to.
• It is like having a few different notepads instead of one long scribble.

Just Ask Siri

The very easiest way to add an event or reminder is to say it out loud. Siri, the helper built into your iPhone, listens and does the typing for you.

You do not need special words. Talk the way you would to a person. If Siri gets a detail wrong, you can say "Change it to 11," or just tap the event it made and edit it by hand. It is a friendly helper, not a fussy one.

• Say "Siri" out loud, or press and hold the side button, then speak.
• "Add a dentist appointment for Tuesday at 10." — Siri puts it on your calendar.
• "Remind me to take my pills at 8 tonight." — Siri makes the reminder.
• "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" — Siri reads your day back to you.

Seeing It All on Your iPad, Too

If you also have an iPad, your calendar and reminders can appear there automatically — the same events and to-dos, kept perfectly in step on both.

On each device, open Settings, tap your name at the top, tap iCloud, and make sure Calendars and Reminders are switched on. Once they are, you never have to think about it again — it simply keeps everything together.

• Both devices sign in to the same Apple account (your Apple ID).
• iCloud keeps Calendar and Reminders matched across them.
• Add an event on the phone, and it shows on the iPad within moments.
• Tick off a reminder on the iPad, and the phone shows it done, too.

What's in the 27-page PDF

• Meet the Calendar and add your first event (pages 3-6)
• Alerts, repeating events, and colored calendars (pages 7-11)
• Sharing a calendar with family (pages 12-13)
• The Reminders app for to-dos and medicine (pages 14-18)
• Asking Siri, and syncing to your iPad (pages 19-20)
• A cheat sheet and plain-English word list (pages 21-22)

Why I wrote this

I write these as printable handouts because a guide you can keep in a drawer beats a web page you have to find again. No jargon, no judgment, no rushing. If you'd rather have someone sit beside you and go through it together, that's a flat $99 first visit with the 30-day follow-up included — serving Portage County from Atwater, Ohio. — Bill