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Turn Reminders Into Alarms on Your iPhone

BySpencer

How I Manage Adult ADHD by Automatically Turning Reminders Into Alarms Using My iPhone

If you’ve ever created a reminder that felt important — but still managed to miss it — you’re not alone. For ADHD brains, notifications can easily get drowned out in the noise, dismissed, or ignored entirely.

That’s why I created a simple automation that turns Apple Reminders into iPhone alarms — automatically. Get the shortcut here, then follow the setup below.

Why This Helps ADHD Brains

People with ADHD often struggle with follow-through, working memory, and time awareness. A notification is easy to miss. An alarm, on the other hand, is harder to ignore.

By tagging reminders with the word alarm, I’ve set up my iPhone to automatically create a matching alarm in the Clock app — helping me catch time-sensitive tasks that absolutely can’t fall through the cracks.

How the Shortcut Works

  1. When I create a reminder with a date and time, I just add the tag alarm.
  2. Behind the scenes, a Shortcut scans my Reminders app.
  3. If it finds a reminder with that tag, it automatically creates a matching alarm — using the title of the reminder as the alarm label.

No extra steps. No alarm setup. It just works.

Setting It Up (Step-by-Step)

  1. Download the Shortcut: Get the “Reminders to Alarms” Shortcut from the link.
  2. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone.
  3. Tap the Automation tab and tap + to create a new one.
  4. Choose App as the trigger, then select Reminders and set it to run when the app is closed.
  5. Set it to run immediately, then select the shortcut from Step 1 as the action.

Optional: If you’re already using my Calendar to Alarms v2 shortcut, you can run both shortcuts in the same automation so that closing either app (Calendar or Reminders) will trigger the alarm sync.

Tagging Tips for ADHDers

The first time you use the alarm tag in Reminders, you may have to type it manually. After that, it’ll show up as a suggestion, so tagging becomes automatic — one less thing to remember.

I also recommend using this only for tasks that you truly can’t afford to miss, like:

  • Medication reminders
  • Time-sensitive calls or errands
  • Important check-ins or appointments

In other words: your phone should normally be able to get your attention. If it can’t then it may be time to take your phone off mute, turn off unnecessary notifications, or change your notification sound.

What to Know Before You Start

This shortcut:

  • Only works for reminders with specific dates and times.
  • Does not support offset alarms (e.g. 10 minutes early).
  • Only runs when you close the Reminders app, so it won’t fire instantly — but it will catch anything you added during that session.

ADHD-Friendly Systems That Work for You (Not Against You)

This is one of many iPhone automations we teach in our ADHD coaching programs at ADHD Canada. It’s all about building systems that reduce friction, improve follow-through, and make optimal feel easy.

Want to take it a step further? Book a Free Consult to get a sense of what coaching is all about.