Google Calendar reminders: how to set them now

First: Google reminders became Google Tasks

If you remember the old blue "Reminders" in Google Calendar and cannot find them, you are not doing anything wrong. Google moved Google Assistant and Calendar reminders into Google Tasks. Google's help page on the switch says the move is permanent and cannot be undone, and that your old reminders show as tasks you can view in Assistant, Calendar or Tasks. Google Keep reminders are moving to Tasks as well.

So when people search "reminder on Google", the answer today is: a task with a date and a time. The good news is that it is one list now, visible from Calendar, Gmail and the Tasks app.

From Google's Calendar and Tasks help pages, checked September 2026. Some people in Google's own help community report reminders that went missing during the switch, so check your Tasks list if something seems gone.

How to set a reminder in Google Calendar (computer)

1. Open Google Calendar at calendar.google.com.
2. Click an empty time slot, or click Create at the top left.
3. Choose Task instead of Event.
4. Type a title that starts with a verb: "Pay the Northwind invoice", not "invoice".
5. Set the date and time. Google says you get a notification at that time. Leave the time empty and it notifies at 9 AM.
6. Pick a repeat if needed. Google notes tasks with subtasks cannot repeat.
7. Click Save. The task shows on the calendar and in the Tasks panel.

Event notifications: reminders for meetings

Tasks are for things you do. Events are for things that happen at a time, like a call. Events have their own notifications.

Change the default for all events

1. On a computer, open Google Calendar and click the gear, then Settings.
2. On the left, under Settings for my calendars, click your calendar.
3. Find Event notifications and add or change the default, for example 10 minutes before as a notification and 1 day before as an email.
4. Do the same for All-day event notifications if you use all-day events.

Choose how notifications arrive

Under Settings, General, Notification settings, Google lets you choose desktop notifications (pop-ups outside the browser while Calendar is open), alerts inside the browser, or off. Email notifications are set per event or per calendar. Google also has an option to notify you only if you have replied Yes or Maybe to an invite, which cuts noise from events you declined.

One event only

Open the event, click edit, and under the notification line add another one, like 1 hour before. This is handy for a client call you must prep for.

From Google Calendar Help, checked September 2026.

Google Tasks on your phone and in Gmail

Tasks app

On iPhone and Android. Add a task, tap the date to add a time, and it notifies you.

In Gmail

Open the Tasks panel on the right side of Gmail to see and add the same tasks.

In Calendar

Tasks with a date show on the calendar grid next to events.

It is the same list everywhere, so a task set by voice on your phone shows on your calendar on the computer.

Google Assistant reminders

Google Assistant still sets reminders by voice. Say "Hey Google, remind me to call Mum at noon tomorrow" and it saves the reminder as a task in Google Tasks. Google's Assistant help page says you can review, edit, complete or delete them by voice or in the app. It also says the option to set tasks for a location is no longer available.

Hey Google, remind me to pay rent on the 1st at 9am
Hey Google, remind me to call the dentist tomorrow at 10
Hey Google, what are my reminders for today?
Hey Google, remind me every Sunday at 7pm to plan the week

Task, event or all-day event: which one to use

Google gives you three ways to be reminded, and picking the wrong one is why many reminders feel noisy or get lost.

A simple rule: if you can finish it and tick it, make it a task. If it happens whether you act or not, make it an event. If it is just a date to be aware of, make it all-day. Most "my calendar is a mess" problems come from turning tasks into events, which then sit on the calendar long after they were done.

Setting a Google reminder on iPhone and Android

1. Open the Google Calendar app and tap the plus button, then Task. Or open the Google Tasks app and tap the plus.
2. Type the title, then tap the date to add a day and a time.
3. Allow notifications for the app the first time it asks. Without that, the reminder saves but never shows.
4. Or say it: "Hey Google, remind me to..." on Android, or in the Google app on iPhone.

On iPhone, many people end up with two reminder apps: Apple Reminders from Siri and Google Tasks from Calendar. Pick one for life and stick to it, or you will check two places every morning. If you are weighing the Apple side, see Apple Reminders alternatives.

Birthday reminders in Google Calendar

1. Turn on the Birthdays calendar. In Google Calendar, under My calendars on the left, tick Birthdays.
2. Add birthdays to contacts. Google says birthdays sync to Calendar when a person in Google Contacts has their birthday saved. You can also create birthdays in Calendar itself.
3. Set how you are reminded. In Settings, click the Birthdays calendar and add notifications, for example 1 week before to buy a card and on the day to send a message.
4. Or make your own. Create an all-day event, set it to repeat every year, and add a notification 3 days before.

Deleting a birthday from Calendar does not remove it from Google Contacts, per Google's help page.

Google reminders not working? Common fixes

• No time on the task. It notifies at 9 AM, not when you expected. Add a time.
• Browser notifications blocked. Desktop alerts need Calendar open and your browser allowed to notify. Check the site permission.
• Phone app notifications off. Check your phone's settings for Google Calendar and Google Tasks.
• Do Not Disturb or Focus. The alert fired, you just did not see it.
• Old reminders missing. Look in Google Tasks, under the list they were moved to.
• Too many alerts. Turn on "notify me only if I have responded Yes or Maybe" and remove extra default notifications.
• Repeat not offered. The task has subtasks. Remove them or keep the repeat on a parent task.

A worked example: a consultant's week in Google Calendar

Leo is an independent product consultant with three clients, all on Google Calendar.

1. Monday. He sets default event notifications to 10 minutes before, plus 1 day before by email for his client calendar only. Prep stops being a surprise.
2. Monday, 11:00 call with Harbor. He promises a revised roadmap by Wednesday. He has to remember to add it. He creates a Google Task: "Send Harbor revised roadmap", Wed 9:00.
3. Tuesday. Northwind emails: "Can you confirm the workshop date by Thursday?" He opens the Tasks panel in Gmail and adds a task, Thu 10:00.
4. Wednesday 9:00. The notification arrives on his laptop. He sends the roadmap.
5. Thursday. A second Harbor call adds three more follow-ups. He is busy and only writes down two. The third, "share the analytics login", slips until Harbor asks about it the next week.

Google did its job perfectly. Every reminder he set fired on time. The one that failed was the one he never set, because it was born on a call and never made it into Tasks. That gap is what the next section is about.

Reminder setups you can copy

Client calendar events:   10 min before (notification)
                          1 day before (email)
All-day events:           9:00 on the day
Personal calendar:        30 min before
Birthdays:                1 week before + on the day
Tasks with a deadline:    set the time the day BEFORE the deadline

Why one notification before an event is not enough for deadlines

Google Calendar notifications were designed for events: a call at 14:00, a nudge 10 minutes before. That works, because a meeting needs no preparation window beyond a few minutes. Deadlines are different. If a payment is due on the 30th, a notification on the 30th tells you that you are about to be late, not that you have time to act.

You can add several notifications to one event or task by hand, and set defaults for a whole calendar. But you choose them, and a default treats every event the same. The dentist, the penalty payment and the folder tidy-up all get the same "10 minutes before, 1 day before". Nothing in Google looks at what is at stake.

How SayBriefly sizes the run-up

SayBriefly's agent decides how many reminders a task needs, and when, by how serious it is. When it creates a task from chat or from an email, it judges the stakes itself. Serious work (money owed, an invoice or penalty, legal or contract, a client deadline, a renewal that expires) gets a real run-up: a week before, 3 days before, the day before and the morning it is due. Normal work (a reply, a review, a follow-up) gets one early nudge plus the due morning. Light tasks get one or none. No due date, no reminders.

Reminders land at 9:00 in your own timezone unless the email or you named a time, and they follow daylight saving. Tasks from meeting action items with a due date also get reminders automatically, on a set schedule by how far the deadline is. Manual always wins: set your own with Remind me or ask the agent "remind me Friday at 3pm", and that replaces the automatic ones for that task. More on this on the reminder app page.

Meetings need a ping. Deadlines need a run-up.

Where Google Calendar reminders stop for client work

• Every deadline gets the same notifications. Google cannot tell a penalty from a tidy-up.
• You still have to type every reminder. Promises on calls and deadlines in emails do not become tasks on their own.
• No link back to the call. A task says what, not why. The call note is somewhere else.
• No client view. Lists per client are possible, but they do not know about that client's email or calls.
• Tasks and projects live apart. A reminder cannot sit on a project card, because Google Tasks has no projects.

For personal reminders none of this matters. For a freelancer or studio juggling clients, it is where things slip.

SayBriefly with Google Calendar

SayBriefly is a Mac, Windows and web app where calls, email, to-do list, calendar and client projects share one memory. It syncs with Google Calendar, so your events are there. On top, it adds the part Google leaves to you:

Tasks from calls

Action items from your calls land on the list, linked to the note.

Reminders by stakes

Tasks the agent makes from chat or email get as many reminders as their seriousness calls for.

Reminders on anything

On a to-do, a calendar event or a project card.

• Set it with Remind me on a task (in 30 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, tomorrow, or a date and time), or ask the agent Scribbble in chat: remind me Friday at 10 about the Harbor invoice.
• An in-app notification plus an email when it is time, and a native alert from the desktop app when it is open. Reminders are checked every 5 minutes, so one can arrive a few minutes late. A reminder on a task you already finished never fires.
• A Reminders tab on the to-do list: Overdue, Today, Later, Sent earlier, Completed.

Plainly, what it does not do: no phone app, no phone push, no location reminders, no repeating reminders. Keep Google Tasks on your phone for those. In Leo's week above, the "share the analytics login" promise would have landed on his list from the call, with a link to the note.

Related: the calendar to-do list guide, Google Calendar appointment scheduling, the wider reminder apps roundup, Apple Reminders alternatives, the to-do list app, and the SayBriefly calendar app.

Google Tasks for life and phone alerts. SayBriefly on top of Google Calendar for deadlines that deserve a run-up, sized to how serious they are.

Questions people ask about Google reminders