Simple Reminders stores everything on your device. There's no account, no sync, no cloud. Your data stays on your phone unless you export it.

Navigation runs along the bottom of the screen: Home, Categories, the green + button to add a reminder, Calendar, and Settings.

Adding a reminder

Tap the green + button. Fill in the task name, pick a category, set the recurrence type and time, and tap Add Reminder. That's it.

To edit a reminder, tap the pencil icon on its card. To delete one, tap the trash icon — you'll get a confirmation before anything's gone.

Recurrence types

Type	How it works	Good for
Daily	Every day, no exceptions.	Medications, morning routines, water intake.
Weekly	Pick which days of the week. You can select more than one.	Gym days, weekly calls, trash day.
Monthly	Pick specific dates of the month — the 1st, 15th, whatever. Multiple dates allowed.	Bills, rent, recurring appointments.
Every X Days	Set an interval and a start date. The app counts forward from there regardless of the calendar.	Oil changes, filter replacements, anything on a cycle rather than a date.
One Time	Shows on a single date you pick, then never again.	One-off appointments, deadlines, a specific errand.

If a task is tied to the calendar (bills, rent), use Monthly. If it's tied to elapsed time (car maintenance, refills), use Every X Days.

Categories

The app ships with nine default categories. You can add your own, delete the ones you don't use, and reorder them however you want.

Adding a category

Go to the Categories tab or Settings → Manage Categories, tap + Add Category, type a name, and tap Add.

Reordering

On the Categories tab, tap Edit Order and drag things around. The order saves automatically.

Deleting a category

Tap the trash icon next to it. Reminders that used that category don't get deleted — they just show an unassigned label until you edit them.

The Home tab

Shows today's reminders sorted by time. Tap View All in the top right to see everything across all days.

The green checkmark marks a reminder done for today. The skip button (circular arrow) skips it for today without marking it complete. Both reset at midnight.

Reminders whose time has already passed today are dimmed and marked Past. They're still there so you can act on them.

The Calendar tab

Shows the current month. Dates with reminders scheduled have a small dot under the number. Tap any date to see what's on it. You can add a reminder directly from there — it'll pre-fill the date for you.

Note: Every X Days reminders don't appear on the calendar because their future dates depend on when they were last triggered.

Backup and restore

This is the most important thing to understand about Simple Reminders: there is no automatic backup. If you uninstall the app, get a new phone, or clear your app data, your reminders are gone unless you exported them first.

Before switching phones or reinstalling the app, export your data first. There is no way to recover reminders that weren't backed up.

Exporting

Go to Settings → Backup & Restore → Export All Data. A .json file downloads to your device. Save it somewhere you'll find it — your Downloads folder, Google Drive, email it to yourself.

The export includes all your reminders and any custom categories. It doesn't include statistics.

Importing

Go to Settings → Backup & Restore → Import Data and select your .json file. You'll be asked how to handle it:

• Add to Existing — merges the imported reminders with what's already in the app. Duplicates are skipped.
• Replace All Existing — deletes everything currently in the app and replaces it with the imported data. You'll confirm before anything's deleted.

Moving to a new phone: export on the old device, transfer the file (email, Drive, whatever's easy), install Simple Reminders on the new device, import using Replace All Existing.

The export file is plain JSON — you can open it in any text editor. Don't edit it manually unless you're sure what you're doing. A malformed file won't import.

Settings reference

Dark Mode

Switches between dark (default) and light themes. Saved across sessions.

One-Time Reminders

Controls how long past one-time reminders are kept before automatic deletion. Default is 30 days. If changing this would delete existing reminders, you'll see a count of how many before anything happens.

Manage Categories

Add, reorder, or delete categories.

Reset App to Default

Deletes everything — all reminders, custom categories, and statistics — and resets the app to its original state. This cannot be undone. There's a confirmation prompt before it runs.

Statistics

Running count of reminders delivered and skipped. Tap Edit to choose which stats show and in what order.

Common questions

Why didn't my notification fire?

Check that the app has notification permissions in your device settings. On some Android devices, battery optimization or Doze mode can delay or block background notifications — you may need to exempt Simple Reminders from battery optimization in your phone's settings.

Do reminders survive a phone restart?

Yes. The app reschedules notifications automatically after the device boots.

Can I remind myself about the same thing at different times?

Yes — just create two separate reminders with the same task name and different times or recurrence settings.

I deleted a category and some reminders lost their label. How do I fix it?

Edit each affected reminder (tap the pencil icon) and pick a new category.

Does it sync across devices?

Not currently. Use export and import to move data between devices manually.

I lost my reminders after reinstalling. Can I get them back?

Only if you have a saved export file. There's no way to recover reminders that weren't backed up before uninstalling.

Something else isn't working

Use our bug report form to tell us what's happening. The more detail the better.