ADHD reminder app for when you dismiss reminders and forget
Updated
If you set reminders but dismiss them and forget, RemindLock is an iPhone reminder app built for people with ADHD: when a reminder is due, the apps you pick stay locked until you deal with it, so it can't be swiped away and lost.
Set it up in RemindLock
- Grant Screen Time permission. It's the individual kind, for your own iPhone.
- Pick the apps you reach for instead, like Instagram, TikTok or games.
- Allow notifications.
- Create a reminder with a title, e.g. "Post the birthday card", and a due time.
- Optional: fill in "What's the first tiny step?", e.g. "Find the envelope".
- Optional: fill in "Why does it matter?", e.g. "so it arrives in time".
- When it's due, opening a locked app shows the block screen with your tiny step, "Find the envelope", instead of the whole task.
- Unlock by typing "I did post the birthday card"; case is ignored and up to 2 typos are forgiven.
Why a lock works when a notification doesn't
A notification can be swiped away in a second without it registering, and then the thing never happens.
RemindLock still sends a normal notification at the due time, but the lock is what stays. It appears exactly when you reach for a distraction, and it lasts until you deal with the reminder (done, a deliberate reschedule, or drop), not until a timer runs out.
Start with a tiny step
The block screen shows the first tiny step if you set one, so the thing in front of you is where to start, not the whole task.
If you added a why, the block screen sometimes shows it, e.g. "Why: so it arrives in time." After you type "I did", a short confirmation repeats the why before the apps unlock.
Both fields are optional; a reminder needs only a title and a time.
Missing a reminder isn't failure
There are no streaks, no red skip counters and no guilt messages.
You can move a reminder twice; if you try a third time, the app asks "Make it smaller, or drop it?" instead of scolding. Making it smaller means editing the title or first tiny step, which resets the count once.
Dropping is always available and is a decision, not a failure.
Room for real life
Can't do it now: pick a specific new time at least 15 minutes out and type why not now, and next time your reason is shown back ("Last time you said: at work. Still moving it?").
The daily emergency unlock is once a day, in the app, and lifts all locks for 15 minutes before they return on their own. Phone and Messages are never locked.
See how it works for the full details.