Reminders
How prayer reminders work, how to set them up and change the times, and what to do when they stop arriving.
Reminders are how Prayminder reaches you during the day. You choose how many you want and between which hours. Prayminder picks a prayer from your list for each one, rotating through the list so the same prayer does not keep coming up. You can also give any single prayer its own fixed times.
How do reminders work?
There are two kinds of reminder, and a prayer can have both.
Rotation reminders are the everyday ones. You set how many you want each day and a start and end time. Prayminder spreads the reminders through that window and chooses a different prayer for each, working through your whole list before it repeats. Only prayers in the In progress list take part; answered and archived prayers are never chosen.
Specific-time reminders belong to one prayer. If you want to pray for someone every morning at 7:30, every Sunday, or once on a particular date, set a time on that prayer. These fire in addition to the rotation.
Where the reminders are scheduled depends on your phone.
On iPhone, reminders are scheduled on your phone. Nothing about your prayers leaves the device, and reminders work without an internet connection.
You can optionally turn on Cloud-assisted reminders (optional) in Reminders Settings. That hands the rotation reminders to Prayminder's cloud, which can be more dependable on some phones. It applies only to the rotation; specific times you set on a prayer are always scheduled on your phone. See What are cloud-assisted reminders?
Turn reminders on
If you tapped Allow notifications when you first opened the app, reminders are already on. To check, or to turn them on later:
Open Reminders Settings
Go to the Settings tab and tap Reminders Settings.
Turn on Enable reminders
Switch on Enable reminders. The line under it tells you the current state: On means reminders are being delivered, Off means you have turned them off, and Not delivering or Not allowed means something is in the way.
Allow notifications if asked
If the screen shows Allow notifications, tap it and accept the system prompt. If it shows Not allowed, your phone is blocking Prayminder's notifications. Tap Open Settings app and turn notifications back on for Prayminder there.
Empty list, no reminders
Reminders need at least one prayer in your In progress list. With an empty list the status reads Not delivering until you add one.
Change how many reminders you get, and when
Open the schedule
Go to the Settings tab, tap Reminders Settings, then Reminders Schedule. You can also reach it from the Reminders tab: open the menu in the top corner and choose Reminders Schedule.
Set the number
In Prayer rotation schedule, use the minus and plus buttons to choose how many reminders you want each day. The default is 7.
Set the window
Tap Start time and End time to choose the earliest and latest a reminder may arrive. Reminders are spread out between the two, at slightly different times each day.
The new schedule applies from the next reminder.
Set a specific time for one prayer
Open the prayer's settings
Open the prayer from the Prayers tab and switch to its Settings tab.
Add a time
Under Set specific times, tap Add.
Choose how it repeats
Under Repeats, pick Daily, Weekly or Once. Weekly adds a Day of week choice; Once adds a Date.
Pick the time and save
Set the Time and confirm. The new time appears under the prayer's settings and in Reminders Schedule, grouped under Daily, Weekly or Once.
You can also start from the list: long-press the prayer, choose Reminder schedule, then Add a time….
Specific times are scheduled on your phone and work offline.
Change or delete a specific time
Open the prayer's Settings tab and tap the time you want to change. Adjust it and confirm, or tap Delete to remove it. You will be asked to confirm the deletion.
You can also tap a time from the Reminders Schedule sheet, where every specific time across all prayers is listed.
If you switch a time from Daily to Once, the daily reminder is replaced by the one-off. Nothing fires twice.
Keep a prayer out of the rotation
Open the prayer's Settings tab and switch off Include in prayer rotation. The prayer stays in your list and keeps any specific times you set; it is just no longer picked for the rotation.
Marking a prayer as Answered or Archived removes it from the rotation as well, and cancels any specific times that have not yet fired.
Respond to a reminder
When a reminder arrives, take a moment to pray. Then:
- Long-press the notification and tap Amen. The reminder is marked as prayed without opening the app.
- Or open the Reminders tab, where each reminder is listed with an Amen button. Tapping it moves the reminder under Marked as prayed.
- Or tap the notification to open the prayer itself, read your notes, and tap Amen there.
Every Amen is counted towards that prayer and towards your stats.
Change the notification sound
Go to the Settings tab, tap Reminders Settings, then Notification sound. Tap a sound to hear it and confirm your choice. Reminders that are already scheduled switch to the new sound.
Why does a reminder show a group name instead of "Pray continuously"?
Reminders arrive with the prayer's name underneath a title. When the prayer belongs to a group, that title is the group's name, so you can tell at a glance which list the prayer came from. Prayers with no group use "Pray continuously". If you would rather every reminder said "Pray continuously", go to the Settings tab, tap Reminders Settings and switch off Use group name as notification title.
What are cloud-assisted reminders?
By default, your iPhone schedules the reminders itself. Most of the time that works well. On some phones, though, iOS holds back scheduled notifications, and reminders can arrive late or thin out.
Cloud-assisted reminders (optional) is an opt-in setting at the bottom of Reminders Settings. When it is on, Prayminder's cloud decides when each rotation reminder should arrive and sends it to your phone. Your prayers and notes stay on your device.
A few things to know:
- It applies to the rotation only. Specific times you set on a prayer are always scheduled on your phone.
- Reminders need an internet connection to arrive.
- You can switch it off at any time and your phone takes over again with the same schedule.
Tap Read more under the setting for the full explanation.
What happens when my phone is off, or on Do Not Disturb?
Do Not Disturb and Focus modes silence notifications; they do not stop them. Reminders still arrive and wait in your notification list, and the Reminders tab lists them as usual. If you want reminders to break through, allow Prayminder in your phone's Do Not Disturb or Focus settings.
If your phone is off or has no signal at the moment a reminder is due:
Reminders scheduled on your phone need the phone to be on at the time. A reminder whose time passes while the phone is off may show up when you switch it back on, or be skipped; the next one arrives as normal. With cloud-assisted reminders on, the reminder is held and usually arrives when the phone reconnects.
Battery saver modes can also delay notifications. If reminders are consistently late, check that Prayminder is not restricted in your phone's battery settings.
Tidy the Reminders tab
The menu in the top corner of the Reminders tab has five options:
- Clear prayed reminders removes the reminders you have already marked as prayed.
- Clear all reminders empties the list. Your prayers and Amen counts are not affected, and new reminders keep arriving.
- Show today only hides older reminders.
- Hide status block hides the card at the top that tells you whether you are caught up.
- Reminders Schedule opens the schedule, the same one as in Reminders Settings.
Why did my reminders stop?
The most common reasons, in order:
- Notifications were switched off for Prayminder in your phone's settings. Reminders Settings will read Not allowed; tap Open Settings app.
- Enable reminders was switched off. The status reads Off.
- Your In progress list is empty, or every prayer in it has Include in prayer rotation switched off. The status reads Not delivering.
- Your phone is restricting Prayminder in the background or in battery settings.
The troubleshooting page walks through each fix step by step.
Turn reminders off
Go to the Settings tab, tap Reminders Settings and switch off Enable reminders. The rotation stops and specific times stop too. Your schedule is kept, so switching it back on later restores everything as it was.
To silence a single prayer instead, switch off Include in prayer rotation on that prayer, or mark it as Answered or Archived.