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Getting started with Timelee
Ten minutes now and Timelee behaves the way you expect for the next year. Most of that time goes on two things people usually skip: the phone's permissions, and one test reminder that proves what your handset really does.
Six steps to a reminder you can rely on
Do them in this order. Each one removes a reason the reminder might not reach you later.
Sign in with Google
On the phone, in the browser, or both — it is the same account either way. There is no Timelee password to create. Apple sign-in appears in the mobile app marked as coming and is not live yet.
Install the app on the phone that is with you
The browser is where reminders are built; the phone is what rings them. If you only ever sign in on a laptop, nothing will go off.
Allow notifications, alarms and battery freedom
Without notification permission neither the alarm nor the in-app call has anywhere to appear. On Android, also allow alarms and reminders and turn off battery optimisation for Timelee, so the app is still running at the moment it should ring.
Verify your phone number
A one-time code confirms the number is yours. Do it once and phone-call delivery becomes available on any reminder. Timelee cannot ring a number that has not been verified by its owner.
Create one real reminder
Not a test — something this week you would rather not miss. Give it a title, a time, and a delivery setting. If you are unsure, leave it on App Call, which is the recommended default and costs nothing.
Run a two-minute test
Set a second reminder two minutes ahead, put the phone in the state it is usually in — silent, face down, in a bag — and watch. Whatever happens is what will happen at 3am.
The permissions checklist
- Notifications: required, or nothing can appear at all
- Alarms and reminders on Android: fires at the exact minute rather than whenever the system next wakes
- Battery optimisation off for Timelee on Android: keeps the app alive between setting and ringing
- Location, all the time: only if you use place reminders, and only then
- Microphone: only if you record voice notes
- Photos or camera: only if you attach pictures
- Contacts: only if you want birthdays pulled in rather than typed
Choosing how loud a reminder is allowed to be
This is the one setting worth understanding properly, because it is the whole point of the app. You pick it per reminder, at the moment you create it.
- notif_type 1
Regular
A full-screen alarm with a tone you chose. Right for the bins, the meter, the stretch break.
- notif_type 2
App Call
A full-screen ring inside Timelee, like an incoming call. Free, and marked Recommended in the app. Start here.
- notif_type 3Recommended
Important
The alarm, then the in-app call if you did not acknowledge it. Two chances, still free.
- notif_type 4Premium · uses credits
Phone Call Only
A real phone call to a verified number, with no app needed at the other end. Uses credits.
- notif_type 5Premium · uses credits
Critical
Alarm, then in-app call, then a phone call 10 min later if missed. Save it for the two or three things a week that deserve it.
Then move the fiddly setup to a keyboard
Once the phone is behaving, open the web dashboard and build the reminders you would never have the patience to type with two thumbs: a medication schedule with five times a day, a repeat limited to Tuesdays and Fridays with an end date, a shopping list of thirty items, a reminder assigned to somebody else.
Quick add is the fastest way in. Type the to-do and press Enter. Add !high for priority, #bills for a tag and @work for a category on the same line, and Timelee pulls them out for you. When the list has got away from you, focus mode puts one item in front of you at a time: Enter marks it done, S skips, Esc leaves.
- Everything you build on the web rings on your phone
- Pre-alarms from 5 minutes to 5 hours, stackable on one reminder
- Pinch Me repeats a reminder on an interval until you deal with it
- Snooze is set per reminder, and one of the options is Off
Do not put everything on Critical
A tool that shouts at everything gets muted, and then you are back where you started. Leave most reminders on an alarm or an App Call, and spend the loud channels on the two or three things a week that genuinely cannot be missed. That restraint is what keeps the loud channels working.
First-week questions
My reminder did not go off. What do I check first?
Notification permission, battery optimisation on Android, and whichever silent or focus mode was running at the time. Then set a test reminder two minutes ahead with the phone in its usual state and see what happens.
Do I need the mobile app if I only use the web?
Yes, for anything that rings. The browser builds reminders but does not fire them: there is no web push and no desktop notification for reminders. The exception is a real phone call, which Timelee's servers place regardless of what you are sitting in front of.
What is a pre-alarm?
A heads-up before the real reminder — 5 to 40 minutes, or 1 or 5 hours ahead. You can stack more than one on a reminder, so you get five hours out to plan and thirty minutes out to move.
What is Pinch Me?
Timelee's nag setting. Instead of ringing once, the reminder re-rings on an interval: every minute, 5, 15 or 30 minutes, hourly or daily. Some stop after six repeats; Every Minute and Every Day run until you mark it done.
How do I stop a repeating reminder without deleting it?
Set Repeat ends: once, after a number of repeats, after a date, or never — where never means it repeats until you mark it done.
Set the first one now
Sign in with Google, pick one thing this week you would rather not miss, and put it on Important. Ten minutes of setup, and then it is just there.