What You Can Ask
How Reminders Work
Reminders vs Automations:
- Reminders — Single-shot, fire once and auto-archive
- Automations — Recurring workflows that run on a schedule
- “in 2 hours”
- “tomorrow at 3pm”
- “next Monday at 9am”
- “in 30 minutes”
Delivery Channels
Push Notifications
Free — Mobile notifications on your device
Premium — Sent to your connected email
SMS
Premium — Text message to your phone
Creating Reminders
Just tell Sift when and what:Managing Reminders
| Action | What to say |
|---|---|
| View | ”Show my reminders” or “What reminders do I have?” |
| Update | ”Change my reminder to 4pm instead” (Premium) |
| Cancel | ”Cancel my reminder for tomorrow” |
When to Use Reminders vs Automations
| Use Reminders when… | Use Automations when… |
|---|---|
| You need a one-time alert | You need recurring alerts |
| The timing is specific to a single event | You want complex workflows |
| You want a quick, simple notification | You need conditional logic |
- Reminder: “Remind me to submit my essay tomorrow at 11pm” (fires once)
- Automation: “Remind me about assignments 24 hours before they’re due” (fires for every assignment)
Free vs Premium
| Feature | Free | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Create reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Pending reminders limit | 3 | Unlimited |
| Delivery channels | Push only | Push, Email, SMS |
| Update reminders | Limited | Full |
Tips
- Be specific about timing — “tomorrow at 3pm” is clearer than “later”
- Use SMS for time-sensitive reminders you can’t miss (Premium)
- Reminders auto-archive after firing—no cleanup needed
- Free users: Cancel old reminders or wait for them to fire before creating new ones if you’ve hit the 3 reminder limit