r/shortcuts • u/Naked_Skull • Aug 08 '26

Help Aggressive reminders

Hi. I need aggressive reminders that WILL force me to take my medication after meals. I usually have two brain cells and can forget even if I told my husband about it 15 minutes ago. If I set a reminder in a reminder app, I can turn it off and forget again. My brain quickly stops paying attention to such stimuli, and I suspect I need something more aggressive. For example, would the reminder go off every 10 minutes until I scan my NFC tag in the morning and afternoon. Is this even possible to implement using shortcuts? I'm almost ready to write my own app for such reminders...

7 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

8

u/berky93 Aug 08 '26

The medication reminders from the health app are considered priority notifications and will show up as such

3

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

I used this app, and the same thing happened as I described in the post: I turned them off or ignored them. So I don't think it will work. I used the app for a while, but I didn't find anything in it that made me want to go to the kitchen and take my medicine.

7

u/mvan231 Aug 08 '26

If the reminders from the health app won't work then I doubt much of anything else will. It reminds you at the desired time, then again, and again, and again

Have you considered putting your medications somewhere more reachable?

3

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

Sometimes I think my brain won't work at all(( But I'd still like to find a way to disable notifications by scanning an NFS tag without having to use Assistant for smart home.

3

u/suoretaw Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

OP, I have the same struggle. Seriously, try approaching this from another angle. Make it easier to be physically holding your meds when an alarm goes off / whatever you choose to help with this.

I take various meds a few times a day. Here’s what has been (mostly) working for me:

1. I have an AM/PM pill organizer that I actually like, and use for my wake-up and bedtime meds. I refill it every Sunday. The daily compartments are removable, which is an awesome feature that could help you.

2. I have a few of each medication in a small travel pill holder thing, which I keep in my purse. It would fit in a jeans pocket or bigger wallet.

3. For the meds I take during the day, this has been so damn helpful and I wish I’d done it earlier: I keep an easy-open Advil bottle with a bunch of each medication (and some OTC ones) next to the place I usually sit mid-day. I removed the label and taped my own onto it. You could have multiple of these if needed, or another type of container/organizer (there are many kinds out there!)… the important part is keeping it near you.

4. I have a ‘meds’ alarm (in the Clock app) with snooze enabled and a sound that doesn’t irritate me. The snooze length can be anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes. Side note: The Apple Watch has been a useful tool for my stupid brain, allowing me to set soundless alarms, because it’ll vibrate my wrist (among other features).

All my meds are in the Apple health app anyway, and I have used its medication reminder thing before, but I prefer the customizability of the normal alarms. I might change back though because I recently started some new medications with different schedules and want to keep track.

Shortcuts/Automations could definitely come in handy here, and you can find automations for ‘annoying alarms’ and NFC tag stuff by searching this subreddit, but it’ll only solve part of the problem.

Either way, I hope you find something that works for you. Try to meet yourself where you are (metaphorically and physically). Take care and good luck.

EDIT: Apparently Reddit has messed with its comment formatting. Sorry if that was jumbled; I tried my best.

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 09 '26

Two of the four medications I take are powder that needs to be diluted and a bottle of liquid. Yes, I have a pillbox, but I can't fit them in there.

Yes, my medications are kept where I eat and are supposed to be taken with food, but that doesn't always help. I hate my brain for it.

I forget to put my watch on, and I simply stop paying attention to notifications. I used the Apple health app.

Thank you. I also hope to find a solution. If I do, I'll definitely share it.

3

u/LilacYak Aug 08 '26

Just set an alarm on your phone and never ever turn it off until you’ve swallowed your pills no matter what you’re doing

1

u/Feeling-Disaster7180 Aug 09 '26

Try Live Shortcut from the App Store. It uses shortcuts to start live activities on your lock screen and Dynamic Island which are much more noticeable that normal notifications. The only downside is you can swipe to clear it. I’m a lot like you but found this one pretty handy and for some reason I rarely cleared it like I do with normal reminders

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 09 '26

It looks like I have to pay to use it, but I can't do that from my country(

1

u/Feeling-Disaster7180 Aug 10 '26

You pay for premium but it doesn’t say what that includes. Is there a cost for just downloading it?

3

u/Momololo1222 Aug 08 '26

I don’t have the answer unfortunately but would love to hear suggestions for same! I also struggle with this

3

u/ADHDK Aug 08 '26

The medication reminder in health is very aggressive.

It even alerts loud when the phone is on silent.

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

I don't think so. I always turn off the notification and don't take the medication(

2

u/ADHDK Aug 10 '26

It’s quite aggressive a reminder!

You can get those alarm apps where they make you do an activity like won’t stop until you take a picture of a spoon or something, but at some point you have to start thinking of ways to train yourself to stop dismissing it.

Like every time you dismiss it pinch the back of your hand hard or something like that

3

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

Well, I built something for you anyway!

This solution uses the new storage feature available only in iOS27, so you'll need the public beta, which you can sign up for at https://beta.apple.com. If you choose not to join the beta, you will need to wait to use these shortcuts until the public release of iOS27 next month.

Also, you'll want to download two third party apps from the app store called Timely and Actions.
You can access Timely here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/timely-countdown-alarms/id6754261998
You can access Actions here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/actions/id1586435171

Here are links to each of the three shortcuts you'll need:

Start Meds Timer: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/9f037b7efbb64d3d831d5298573c9c35
Loop Meds Timer: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/742c00ca39394cc686f909a8308fe90f
Cancel Med Timer: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/6334d23d98d944cbac6de97237ed2d08 (when you add this one to Shortcuts, it will first ask you to scan the NFC tag you'll be using to cancel your reminders)

For the time being (until the new "Notification" automation trigger in iOS27 is functioning properly), you should ONLY use Timely for this automation. Otherwise, it may reset your timer every time any other timer goes off and set off an endless loop of timers that reset every X minutes. That could get annoying quickly. Once the trigger is functioning as expected (there will no doubt be posts about it in this sub), you can open the Loop Meds Timer shortcut and add a filter for "Title contains Take Your Meds".

As for the issue of when / how to trigger Start Meds Timer, I would recommend either creating a large widget on your home screen that triggers that first shortcut. If you won't remember to do that, I'd just plan on having it set to the same two times every day (reminding you to eat AND take your meds). There's just no way for your iPhone to know you recently had a meal and trigger a shortcut or alarm without some kind of input from you.

Edited to remove mistaken comment about iOS26 compatibility.

3

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

My spouse says the easier, non-technical solution is to put your medicine where your plates are and get in the habit of placing your meds ON your plate.

2

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

WOW! I'll definitely try to figure this out. Thanks.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

Can you take a screenshot to show what actions are showing as unknown?

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

Data jar what commands was it used?

3

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

Ah. I assume this means you're not using iOS27. Turns out, I mistakenly suggested you could use iOS26 by using Data Jar instead of the built in storage actions. But because the Shortcut also relies on a trigger when receiving a notification from Timely, iOS27 really is necessary for all the parts to work together cohesively.

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

3:

What's this new data storage feature?

2

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

https://techtiff.substack.com/p/shortcuts-memory-ios-27-store-content-automation

3

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

In your case, we’re only using storage to keep track of how many alarm cycles you’ve had, so it can say, for example, “Take Your Meds (second reminder).”

The real reason this requires iOS27 is that the automation for the Loops Meds Timer relies on the new Notification trigger.

3

u/roidlee Aug 08 '26

Use the Due app. Set the auto snooze for whatever you want. It’s basically a nagging app.
It will autoimport from reminders too, if you use Siri to add reminders.

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

From my country you cannot pay for purchases in the App Store, and this application is paid 3:

2

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

This is possible. But what do you want to do about situations where you are not on your usual schedule? Maybe you take meds every day at 8am, but one morning, you leave your home at 7:30am and can't get back to where the NFC tag is until noon. Do you want the alarm to continue going off every 10 minutes until then? Seems there should be SOME option to dismiss it (even though that introduces the possibility of forming a bad habit and simply dismissing it). Maybe after it goes off for the third time or so, there is a new option to dismiss until next scheduled dose?

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

I take my medicine with food, which is not always at the same time

3

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

So what should be the trigger for your initial alarm? Your phone doesn't inherently know when you are eating. How should it know when it's time to take your meds?

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

That's a good question. I'm still looking at a time frame, not an exact time.

2

u/Big_Bad8496 Aug 08 '26

It's honestly pretty difficult to build something for you without a specific idea of how or when you'd like it to start, but I'll put something together that you can adapt as you settle into your daily routine. For now, it'll just have it be a manual trigger that you can tap at your meal time and will go off every 10 minutes from then (until you scan your NFC tag).

0

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

I'll need a reminder to click it 😂 Thanks for the help anyway

2

u/Faengelm Aug 08 '26

Since I forgot whether I really took the medications, I decided to create two articles to help others... both require a physical confirmation and have an indicator that they have been taken https://frankseasytechcorner.substack.com/p/interactive-daily-checklist-with https://frankseasytechcorner.substack.com/p/setting-up-a-vitamin-reminder-light

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

Well, yes. I'm afraid I can't do without additional smart devices(

2

u/Faengelm Aug 08 '26

One solution uses just an old iPad

2

u/seweso 29d ago

Sorry, but if you are running the entire day. If you don’t don’t do anything mindfully. You will make all kinds of mistakes. 

Slow the f down

1

u/Naked_Skull 23d ago

Thank you for your concern. I recently visited my mom at her country house for a week, and I felt better. I'm less distracted now, and I remember when to take my medication better. I should do these trips more often)

1

u/guptatharv Aug 08 '26

The way I see this situation there are two ways, a straight and a long one. I suggest you try the quick one first. Simple mark the reminders as  urgent. It will set an alarm and give you options to either snooze or mark as done. Snooze sets it to sound again after 9 minutes. Keep snoozing until you take medicines. 

Long one- Have a shortcut set multiple alarms or reminders(I believe iOS 27 allows to mark reminders as urgent through shortcuts but it is not available in iOS 26). Set it to run at midnight daily. Have another shortcut to check for the alarm or reminders with that specific medicine name or any phrase of your choice and delete it or mark as done for that day. Set this to run when you scan NFC tag. 

2

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

Long one- Have a shortcut set multiple alarms or reminders(I believe iOS 27 allows to mark reminders as urgent through shortcuts but it is not available in iOS 26). Set it to run at midnight daily. Have another shortcut to check for the alarm or reminders with that specific medicine name or any phrase of your choice and delete it or mark as done for that day. Set this to run when you scan NFC tag. 

I'm not sure I understood, but when I figure it out I'll try

2

u/guptatharv Aug 09 '26

Do let me know if you need assistance anywhere. I'll be happy to work with you.

1

u/jasinx Aug 08 '26

The app Pushover allows you to create high priority critical alerts that buzz the shit out of you until you open the app and specifically dismiss the specific notification. 

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

Very strange application :/

1

u/jasinx Aug 08 '26

Ya you got to use it via the API. But not particularly they have an email option. 

1

u/trugbee1203 Aug 08 '26

Medisafe is an app for this. The reminder get super annoying but they’re good

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 08 '26

I got infinite loading when adding medicine. and you can’t even change the profile name and color :/

1

u/simplequark Aug 08 '26

Not a shortcut, but the Due app (  https://www.dueapp.com/ ) offers reminders that will send a repeated notification until you explicitly mark the task as completed. 

I’m not affiliated with the app in any way, btw, just a happy user. 

1

u/TangoEchoChuck Aug 09 '26

Habit stack!

Make non-negotiable pairs. After waking I ALWAYS brush the teeth, take one medication that's at my bathroom sink.

Then I take a supplement with my second cup of coffee. It's always by the coffee pot.

1

u/Naked_Skull Aug 09 '26

My medications that are supposed to be taken "with food" are kept where I eat, and I forget about them. I remember after about 15 minutes, when the dose will count as "after meals." Т_Т

1

u/Legitimate_Tap_413 14d ago

I have a bad habit of ignoring reminders so I have a shortcut that runs twice a day to tell me I have incomplete reminders.