Show HN: macOS Reminder Sync for Obsidian Tasks

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall use case and appeal

  • Many see native iOS/macOS reminders as uniquely reliable for notifications, but find Apple’s Reminders UI limited.
  • Obsidian is valued as a powerful, markdown-based notes/tasks system; tying its tasks into Reminders is viewed as “the missing piece” for several workflows.
  • Some already sync Reminders via open standards (CalDAV/CardDAV) to non-Apple clients and like that this app leverages Apple’s EventKit rather than private APIs.

Implementation details & behavior

  • Reported sync rules:
    • Deleting a synced task in Obsidian deletes the corresponding Reminder; deleting a Reminder can delete the task (premium/optional).
    • Completing in either app marks the other complete (Obsidian changes apply on next sync; Reminders → Obsidian can be immediate).
    • New Reminders in the synced list appear as tasks in a dedicated “inbox” note.
    • Editing a task in Obsidian recreates the Reminder.
    • Conflicts are resolved in favor of Obsidian.
  • Known limitation: editing the Reminder’s description does not propagate back to Obsidian, due to lossy markdown → text conversion.
  • Multi-machine use is currently “undefined”; likely to cause duplicates.
  • At least one user hit an off‑by‑one date bug and trouble with the listed support email.

Features, pricing & feedback

  • Free tier: periodic (6‑hour) sync, manual sync button, completion and creation sync.
  • Paid: faster intervals (down to 1 minute), deletion sync, richer Reminder descriptions, option to sync only dated tasks.
  • Some users immediately bought lifetime licenses; others want clearer IAP details and/or a formal trial.
  • Early surprise: initial sync pulled in every task in the vault and, for some, thousands of completed Reminders; filtering was later added (global filter by text/tag).

Ecosystem, alternatives & skepticism

  • Requests for integrations with Logseq, JIRA, OmniFocus, Todoist.
  • Some prefer keeping “real” task management outside Obsidian, using this kind of tool only as a capture/bridge layer.
  • Broader thread debates Obsidian’s longevity, closed-source status, plugin lock-in vs markdown/YAML portability, and compares it with Logseq, Evernote, Apple Notes, and simple editors.
  • Opinions diverge on Apple Reminders’ adequacy (e.g., lack of “persistent” nagging reminders) and on the reliability of Shortcuts-based reminder automations.