Apple is notorious for keeping its users in a closed ecosystem. Apple services work seamlessly across their devices, but when it comes to adding support for competing platforms, the overall experience isn’t as smooth as the combination of iOS and macOS. Most Apple apps, such as Reminders, Photos, Mail, and Notes, are based on the iCloud platform. And to make things easier for the majority, the company has announced a new iCloud app for Windows users.
With iCloud Web, iCloud app, and Outlook integration, it’s easier to access most Apple services on Windows. With iOS 13, Apple has completely revamped the Reminders app on the iPhone. While the app is natively available on macOS, the same is not true for Windows.
In this article, we will talk about the three best ways to access Apple Reminders in Microsoft Windows. It can be useful for those who use iPhone and Windows at the same time. Lets start.
1. Use iCloud Web
Apple provides a centralized iCloud experience on the web. You can easily access iCloud Photos, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Pages, Keynote from iCloud.com and search their iPhone using Find iPhone service.
Tap on Reminders and it will open the web version of Reminders with lists created in iCloud. From here, new tasks can be added or completed, and notes can be added to a task. However, there is no way to add new lists, add time and date to a task, or even get notifications about a task in the Windows notification panel.
The web version is strictly limited to viewing and completing tasks. Now that Apple has added powerful functionality for Reminders in iOS and macOS, I expect them to turn their attention to the web variant as well.
2. Use iCloud App on Windows
Last year, Apple made the iTunes app available on the Windows Store. Now the company offers an iCloud app on Windows. You can download iCloud app from Windows Store and use it to integrate cloud service to PC. Users can also download the iCloud app from the web.
After installing the service, open the iCloud app and sign in using the Apple account credentials. The service syncs iCloud Drive, Photos, Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Safari Bookmarks with Windows Operating System. Let’s stick with iCloud Tasks for now.
When you turn on the iCloud Tasks integration, the service syncs Apple Reminders with the Microsoft Outlook app. Open Outlook on Windows after successful synchronization.
iCloud will create a separate iCloud account under the Tasks menu in Microsoft Outlook. Tap the three-dot button from the left menu and open the Tasks section. You will find Outlook Tasks and iCloud Tasks along with lists.
This solution is more functional than the web version above. Right click on the tasks menu and it will ask you to create a task, filter menu, task order by date and more. The entire UI is pretty basic, but Apple gets the job done for viewing and handling in Reminders.
The iCloud app integrates directly with the default file manager in Windows. From here you can access all iCloud files including photos, iWork files and folders. Users can add a folder and files to sync them with Apple’s cloud services.
3. Change Default Location to Outlook in Apple Reminders
By default, Apple uses iCloud location to create and store iCloud Tasks. However, you can change it to Outlook on iPhone. Here’s how to do it. Go to Settings > Password & Account > Add Account and use Microsoft credentials to add the Outlook account.
From this account, open the Reminders tab to sync Outlook tasks with the Apple Reminders app. Now, the Reminders iOS app will display the Outlook account along with the lists. Go to Settings > Reminders and change the default list from iCloud to Outlook.
From now on, every to-do or task you add via voice or 3D touch menu is saved in the default Outlook list in Apple Reminders. Going forward, you can add each task to Outlook for easy access to Windows.
There are several ways to access these Outlook tasks on Windows. You can always use the Outlook app and go to the tasks menu to check the reminders. But I have a better way to manage them. Use the Microsoft To-Do app.
He can use the Microsoft To-Do app from the Microsoft Store and use the same credentials to import Outlook tasks. It is a native application and works perfectly with Windows 10. You can even add tasks to Microsoft To-Do and they appear directly in the Apple Reminders app on iPhone. It works both ways with Microsoft account in the center.
If you don’t want to go with a Microsoft account, the two options above with iCloud integration are perfect for you.
Access Apple Reminders Anywhere
Apple nailed the default file management on the iPhone with the iOS 13 Reminders update. If you’re using macOS, they’re easy to access and manage. But if you are a Windows user, you can always use any of the above tricks to add/complete/modify tasks in Apple Reminders.
Next: If you are tired of Apple Reminders and looking for new apps, check out the post below to discover the five best Apple Reminders alternatives for iPhone.
