One of the features that was rumored before WWDC 2024 but was not announced by Apple during WWDC 2024 introduction speech It is the integration of the Reminders app into Calendar. These are still standalone applications, but the first is integrated into the second. Yes, this is something Microsoft and Google did a long time ago.

Starting with iOS 18 and macOS 15 Sequoia, we will be able to see and manage pending tasks from the Calendar app along with events. Beyond the fact that this change is only for native apps from a single manufacturer, it brings up something interesting: How we organize our daily lives between tasks and appointments.

Because this is important. Until now they were standalone applications. You had to jump from one to the other if you wanted to get a complete view of your agenda. Apple has integrated them in a way that looks very accurate, allowing them to interact and sync.

Beyond convenience, this move underscores the subtle but important difference between two often confused concepts: tasks and appointments.

The interface of the new integration in iOS 18. Image: Guille Lomener (Applesfera), Mockuuups Studio.

Difference.

• Tasks These are the things we need to do, the actions we need to complete. Send an email, file your taxes, make an appointment with the doctor, change the car battery… Go to Reminders (or any task app).
• Appointments What is happening at a particular moment are activities that we have to participate in, in person or digitally. A business meeting, a doctor’s appointment, a birthday, a football match… These go on the calendar.

It sounds obvious, but they are often thrown together without judgment. We also tend to put “just in case” dates on all our tasks so we don’t forget. But assigning an arbitrary date to something that doesn’t actually have a due date only creates stress. And as the work piles up, frustration sets in.

Not all tasks are urgent or have a natural deadline.

When will the quests be updated?. We should only do this in two cases.

1. When it is necessary to do it before a certain day. For example, submit your income tax return before June 30.
2. When it is part of the planning of a project and we decide to dedicate that day to this particular task. For example, spending Thursday afternoon writing the first draft of a report.

The rest of the tasks (purchases, errands, pending readings, to-do calls) are better left to undated thematic lists, and then set aside some time daily or weekly to review and move them forward. Saturating the agenda with fake deadlines is counterproductive.

I don’t follow the GTD method, but it is one of its principles and I share it.

Tips for such integration. With a combination of Apple apps or any third-party app that integrates reminders and calendar.

1. Use the calendar to get a “snapshot” of your day, along with your fixed appointments and most important tasks.
2. Make time in your schedule for blocks of work that focus on specific tasks. HE time blocking: give them stress-free time.
3. Only assign a time to your reminders when it’s relevant. For example, “buy tickets for a concert at 20:00 tonight.”
4. Create lists in Reminders by projects or areas (Personal, Work, Home, Health…) and review them daily or weekly.
5. Continue using the tasks app to manage the same. The calendar is for seeing, not for doing.

in perspective. Integrating reminders into Calendar is a good step to help us have a more realistic view of our time, but to make reasonable use of it, we need to be clear about the difference between tasks and appointments. And believe me: not everyone has it.

The important thing is not to optimize our time, but to give it meaning.

Featured image | Guille Lomener (Applesfera), Mockuuups Studio

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