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Apple’s handy Reminders app is included with Siri on your iPhone 4S. This app lets you create and view reminders, without having to add them to your calendar. Siri makes using Reminders a lot easier as it takes just a few seconds to instruct Siri to add a reminder to your to-do list.

Here's how to get going.

Starting a reminder

If you'd like Siri to remind you to do something in the future, take out your iPhone 4S and try the following operation.

  1. Press and hold the Home button.

    You'll hear the familiar chime, letting you know Siri is ready for action.

  2. Tell Siri what you'd like to do.

    Speak into your iPhone 4S with a command like, "Remind me to buy milk, bread, and eggs today at 4 p.m." or you can say something like, "Remember to thank John for the present."

  3. Glance at your iPhone 4S screen to review your reminder. Or listen to Siri's confirmation.

  4. Assuming everything looks good to you, say or tap "Yes" to create the reminder. (If something isn’t quite right, say, "Cancel," to cancel the reminder.)

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Telling Siri when and where to remind you

If you tell Siri to remind you about something but don't specify a time or date, you'll be asked to do so on the spot. Neat, huh? This is how the exchange looks with Siri:

  1. Press and hold the Home button.

    You'll know Siri is ready for instructions when you hear the familiar chime.

  2. Tell Siri what to remind you of.

    One of the coolest things about using Siri is you can ask to be reminded to do tasks by location, too. Because the iPhone 4S is location-aware (thanks to its GPS chip), you can instruct Siri to remind you about something when you leave or arrive at a particular location. For example, say, "Remind me to buy flowers and wine when I leave here."

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  3. When Siri prompts you to specify a date and/or time, tell Siri when you'd like to be reminded of whatever you stated needed reminding.

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    You can also combine a date with a location! For example, you can tell Siri something like, "Remind me to make a doctor's appointment Monday morning when I get to the office."

Previewing your reminders

You can also ask Siri to preview your reminders. She won't read them to you verbally, but she will tell you if you have any you should know about and display them on the screen.

To preview your reminders, follow these steps:

  1. Press and hold the Home button.

    You'll hear the Siri chime, which is your cue to begin speaking.

  2. Ask Siri if you have any reminders.

    You can ask it in different ways, but it might be easiest to ask, "Do I have any reminders today?" Or you can ask "Do I have any reminders tomorrow?" or "Do I have any reminders next week?"

    Siri will display whatever reminders you have listed in the Reminders app for a given date or location.

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While it's very fast to ask Siri to show you reminders for today, it's even faster to slide your finger down from the top of the iPhone 4S screen to open the Notifications app. Part of this screen includes upcoming reminders for the day. Also, remember that you can also turn Reminders on in the iCloud service, meaning all reminders will be synched between your iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. To set this up on your iPhone 4S, tap Settings→iCloud→Reminders.

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