Published Mar 22, 2025, 6:00 PM EDT
Lando has been a freelance Productivity writer at MakeUseOf since 2021. From the early days of Windows Vista, he has cultivated a deep-rooted passion for technology and consistently navigated the evolving tech landscape, embracing everything from Android and iOS devices with impartial curiosity. Lando’s interest isn’t tethered to brand loyalty but driven by a desire to utilize each technology for its unique strengths.
His fascination with productivity software stems from a relentless pursuit of efficiency—finding innovative ways to achieve more in less time. This passion is a personal mantra and extends into his professional expertise, where he blends tech savviness with digital marketing strategies to create impactful content and campaigns.
Since beginning his writing journey in 2018 as part of the digital marketing team at Xanda in London, Lando has become a trusted source of tech advice. He is often approached by peers for insights on the latest tech trends and tools. Committed to staying abreast of new advancements, he continues to enrich his knowledge through continuous learning and active participation in tech discussions.
In addition to pursuing a degree in computer science, Lando enjoys traveling and gaming outside of work, particularly on his favourite console, the PS5.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by endless to-do lists, your Apple devices have an underrated feature hiding in plain sight—and chances are, you’re not using it to its full potential.
What Are Smart Lists?
It probably helps to start with what Smart List is not. A Smart List in Apple Reminders isn’t a traditional list of to-dos. Instead, think of it as a dynamic filter that automatically pulls in tasks from your existing lists based on specific criteria—like due dates, tags, or priority levels. This means your tasks stay in their original lists, but you get a focused view of what you’d like to see.
How is this useful? Smart Lists help you to cut through the noise. If you use Reminders to organize your to-dos, chances are, it’s packed with various tasks scattered across multiple lists—groceries, work projects, personal errands, and more. Scrolling through all of them to find what you need to work on can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Smart Lists solve this problem by automatically organizing your reminders into focused, actionable views. Instead of wasting time scrolling, you see only the tasks that matter right now. For instance, do you need to tackle urgent work tasks? You can create a Smart List that filters reminders tagged Work and which are due today.
How to Use Reminders’ Smart Lists on Your Mac
Before you create your first Smart List, consider taking a moment to add tags. Tags in Apple Reminders allow you to categorize tasks, making it easier to filter them. For example, you might tag tasks with labels like Work, Personal, Errands, or School.
Smart Lists rely on tags (among other criteria) to pull in the right tasks automatically, so setting them up first can make your workflow even smoother.
Here’s how to add tags to your reminders on a Mac:
- Open the Reminders app.
- Create a new reminder or click on an existing one.
- Click the info icon, you’ll see a field labeled Add Tags.
- Type a # (hashtag) followed by your tag name, for example, #work, and press Return to save the tag.
Once your tasks are tagged, you can start using Smart Lists in Reminders on your Mac. Here’s how to create a Smart List:
- In the Reminders app, click the (+) Add List button in the bottom-left corner.
- Click the List Type field and select Smart List.
- Name your list, for example, Today’s Work.
- Choose the filters you want to apply and click Ok to save your Smart List.
Once created, your Smart List will populate with reminders that match your criteria. This underrated Apple feature has improved my workflow, and it's one of the reasons I believe you already have the best to-do app on your iPhone and Mac. Smart Lists give me actionable views that help me prioritize and stay on track.Here are a few examples of how I use Smart Lists to supercharge my productivity:
1. Today’s Work Smart List
One of the biggest challenges with productivity is knowing what to focus on each day. Instead of juggling multiple lists, I created a Smart List called Today’s Work that automatically pulls in tasks with the #work tag and Today as the due date.
Now, every morning when I sit down at my desk, I don’t have to dig through different lists—I just open this Smart List, and everything I need to complete that day is already laid out. Here’s how to set the filters for Today’s Work Smart List:
- Add work-related tags as described above, for example, #work, #communication, #meeting, #project, etc.
- On the Smart List window (follow the steps described above), add all the work-related tags in the Tags field, and make sure that it is set to All Selected.
- Click the + button next to the Tag field, and select Date and Today.
You can check the Include Past Due box to include overdue tasks.
2. This Week's Smart List
Sometimes, I need a broader perspective on my workload. This Smart List is perfect for planning by seeing what I need to do in the next seven days. This ensures I’m on top of upcoming deadlines and it also helps me do my weekly review to crush my to-do list.
As above, you can add tags you think may be relevant to this Smart List. However, when it comes to the Date field, select Relative Range and In the Next. Add 1 and select Week in the next field. Click Ok to save.
3. The Someday/Maybe Smart List
Not every task needs immediate attention. Inspired by the Getting Things Done method, my Someday Maybe Smart List gathers tasks or ideas that don’t have a specific due date but are worth revisiting when I have extra time.
For example, I might tag a reminder like Research new productivity tools or Organize files on my desktop with the #somedaymaybe tag. Alternatively, if you don’t want to use tags, you can select No Date in the Date field to gather all the tasks without a due date.
Smart Lists in Apple Reminders can completely change the way you manage tasks—helping you stay organized, focused, and in control of your to-dos. If you haven’t tried them yet, set up your first Smart List today and see how much easier task management can be.