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iOS 26.4 makes Apple’s best new Reminders feature easier to use

iOS 26.4 arrived last week, and with it Reminders got three improvements that make the app’s recently added urgent task feature easier to use. Here’s how.

Three changes to ‘Urgent’ reminders arrive in iOS 26.4

iOS 26.4

When iOS 26.4 launched last week, some of its biggest changes were new features for Apple Music, the Podcasts app, and CarPlay.

But the update also brought welcome improvements to the Reminders app’s recent alarm feature for urgent tasks.

The most noticeable change is a brand new ‘Urgent’ Smart List.

You’ll see the new list near the top of the main Reminders home screen. It provides a convenient hub for all of your most time-sensitive tasks.

iOS 26.2 introduced the ability to mark any reminder ‘Urgent’ if it has a due time. I’m a big fan of the new feature, which triggers an alarm with snooze option when the due time arrives.

Now, every task marked ‘Urgent’ can be found inside the new dedicated Smart List, regardless of the list it’s actually assigned to.

In addition to the new Smart List, iOS 26.4 brings two brand new methods for marking a task as ‘Urgent.’

  1. By long-pressing the task and hitting ‘Mark as Urgent’
  2. From the Quick Toolbar, after tapping the calendar icon

Before, the only way to activate the ‘Urgent’ alarm was to enter the full task details view and toggle ‘Urgent’ on. But now there are several options.

These changes offer convenient shortcuts so you can use the new Reminders feature from wherever you are in the app.

Have you been using Reminders’ new ‘Urgent’ feature in iOS 26.4 or sooner? Let us know in the comments.

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Avatar for Ryan Christoffel Ryan Christoffel

Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.