NewTwos

Reminders and your calendar

Reminder notifications

iPhoneiPadAndroidWebMacWindowsLinuxWatchUpdated 2026-08-18

What it takes for a reminder to actually reach you, and how to change how it sounds.

Why you'd care

Notification problems are almost never a single switch. There are usually three layers involved, and knowing which is which turns a frustrating hunt into a ten-second check.

The three layers

  1. 1

    The operating system

    Notifications must be allowed for NewTwos at the system level. No in-app setting can override a system denial, so check here first.

  2. 2

    The app

    Which kinds of notification you want. Reminders are separate from social and digest notifications. See notifications.

  3. 3

    The reminder itself

    Its time, its lead time, and whether it is an all-day reminder. See alerts, alarms and snooze.

Sounds

Reminders can use a chosen sound rather than the default, including a silent option for reminders you want to see but not hear.

Silent is genuinely useful. A reminder that appears without a noise is enough for most things and is far less likely to make you turn notifications off entirely.

Going further

Reminders are scheduled on the device. They fire without a connection, which is why they still work on a plane. It also means a device that has not opened NewTwos in a long time may need opening to pick up newly created ones.

iOS has a system limit on how many pending notifications an app may have scheduled at once. With a very large number of future reminders, the furthest-out ones are scheduled as nearer ones fire.

Browser notifications are separate. On the web, notifications need browser permission specifically. See Settings Notifications Browser notifications.

Settings that change this

Tips

  • Use silent sounds for anything routine and a real sound for the few things you cannot miss. Uniform noise trains you to ignore all of it.
  • If you are getting too many, reduce the number of reminders rather than muting the category.

If it's not working

See reminders are not notifying me, which walks through all three layers in order.