Repeat
Reminders that repeat the way you actually work
Almost nothing in a real week is weekly. The bins go out on Tuesday and Friday. The class is Monday and Thursday. The standing order needs checking on the 3rd. A repeat rule that only understands "every week" makes you rebuild your own schedule by hand.
Where repeating reminders usually go wrong
Most people set up a repeat once, find it does not match the real pattern, and quietly go back to setting reminders one at a time.
The pattern is not weekly
Two days a week, three weeks in four, weekdays only, or every day except the one you work late. A single "repeat weekly" switch cannot describe any of those, so you end up with four separate reminders.
It keeps ringing after it is over
The ten-day course of tablets finished last month. The project shipped in March. The reminder is still going, and now you swipe it away without reading it, which is a habit you will take to other reminders too.
Nobody remembers to delete it
Ending a repeat is a chore that has no deadline, so it never happens. The list slowly fills with things that were true last year, and the whole list gets less trustworthy as a result.
It fires at a time you cannot act
A daily 09:00 reminder to take something out of the freezer is useless if you are on a train at 09:00 every day of the week. The rule was right and the moment was wrong.
Pick the days themselves
Timelee gives you three presets — Everyday, Weekdays and Weekends — and then seven independent day toggles underneath them. That is the part that matters. If the thing happens on Tuesday and Friday, you switch on Tuesday and Friday, and the reminder is one object rather than two.
A repeating reminder can also carry an active window: a day start, a day end, and a repeat interval inside it. That is the shape of a reminder to drink water, to stand up, or to check a monitored machine — something that should run through the working day and then stop, rather than waking you at 03:00.
- Everyday, Weekdays and Weekends as one-tap presets
- Seven per-day toggles for the patterns that are not either
- An active window with a day start and a day end
- A repeat interval inside that window, for the things that run all day
Four ways to end a repeat
Setting the end condition at the same time as the repeat is the single habit that keeps a reminder list worth reading. It takes about four seconds.
Once and done
It happens one time. Useful when you are not sure yet whether something is going to become a routine, and you would rather find out than commit.
After a number of repeats
A ten-day course of tablets is ten repeats. Six physio sessions is six. The reminder counts them for you and then stops, without anyone having to remember it exists.
After a date
For anything with a real end: a project that ships in March, a school term, a sublet, a temporary shift pattern. Set the date when you set the repeat.
Never
It keeps repeating until you mark it done. The right choice for the bins and the wrong choice for almost everything with a foreseeable ending.
What else a repeating reminder carries
A repeat is a rule attached to an ordinary reminder, so nothing else is taken away when you turn it on.
The same delivery choices
A repeating reminder can ring as a plain alarm, a full-screen in-app call, or escalate to a real phone call — set once, applied to every occurrence.
A pre-alarm on every occurrence
Useful for the weekly thing that needs twenty minutes of preparation you never leave time for. The heads-up repeats with the reminder.
Nag, per occurrence
Turn on the nag setting and each occurrence re-rings on an interval until you mark it done, rather than quietly failing once a week.
Categories and tags
File the repeating parts of your week so they can be hidden from view when you are looking at something else, and counted when you are not.
A record of each occurrence
Every completed occurrence lands in history, which is how you answer "did I actually do it last Thursday" without guessing.
Seen next to your events
Connect a Google account and your calendar events appear beside your reminders, so a weekly repeat and a meeting are visible on the same screen.
Repeating reminders have one extra delivery option
Repeating reminders can also be delivered by email, to an address you set on the reminder, with the full detail in the message. It is the one place email appears in Timelee — every other kind of reminder reaches you through an alarm, a full-screen in-app call, or a real phone call.
A routine you have to re-enter every week is not a routine. It is a chore with extra steps.
The point of a repeat rule is that the week runs without you rebuilding it, and ends without you remembering to switch it off.
Questions about repeating reminders
Can a reminder repeat on specific days only?
Yes. Use the Everyday, Weekdays or Weekends presets, or switch on the individual days yourself. Seven independent day toggles cover patterns like Tuesday and Friday, or Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
How do I stop a repeating reminder without deleting it?
Set Repeat ends. You can end it after one occurrence, after a set number of repeats, after a date you choose, or never — where never means it repeats until you mark it done.
Can I get repeating reminders by email?
Yes. Repeating reminders can also be delivered by email, with the full reminder detail in the message. Email is not available on other kinds of reminder, which reach you by alarm, in-app call or a real phone call instead.
Can a repeating reminder fire several times a day?
Yes. Give it an active window with a day start and a day end, then set a repeat interval inside that window. The reminder runs through the part of the day you chose and stays quiet outside it.
Does the delivery setting apply to every occurrence?
Yes. Delivery is stored on the reminder, so the channel you pick applies each time it comes round. Changing it on the reminder changes every future occurrence, not just the next one.
What happens to the occurrences I complete?
Each completed occurrence goes to history and stays there, so you can check later whether something was actually done on a given day rather than relying on memory.
Put one week in properly, once
Set the repeating parts of your week with the real days and a real end condition. After that, the list is describing your week rather than asking you to.
Keep reading
- Recurring reminder patternsThe repeat shapes that match a real week.
- Pre-alarm remindersA heads-up before each occurrence.
- Google Calendar in TimeleeSee your events beside your reminders.
- Reminders for shift workersWhen the pattern changes every fortnight.
- Bill payment remindersMonthly, dated, and not worth missing.
- Looking after a petFeeding, worming, the vet date and the flea treatment.
- Building a daily habitThe repeat with per-day toggles. Not a streak tracker.