A to-do list always at hand on your Mac

Reminders: the full list, synced with your iPhone

Reminders comes with macOS and syncs with iPhone and iPad through iCloud. To get started:

1. Open Reminders and create a list with File › New List ("Work", "Home"…).
2. Select the list, click the add button next to the search field, then type the task.
3. If needed, add a date (Add Date), a location, a tag, or a flag for what matters.
4. In the sidebar, the Today, Scheduled and Flagged Smart Lists gather what's urgent.

Two shortcuts to capture a task without opening the app: Siri ("Add bananas to my groceries list"), and, since macOS 26, Spotlight: press ⌘ Space, search for "New Reminder", then type the task and the list.

Put the list on your desktop: the Reminders widget

Since macOS Sonoma, widgets can leave Notification Center for the desktop, and the Reminders widget is interactive: you check off a task without opening the app.

1. Control-click the wallpaper, then choose Edit Widgets.
2. Search for "Reminders" in the gallery, pick a size, then drag the widget onto the desktop.
3. Click Done. To switch lists, Control-click the widget, choose "Edit…", then click the highlighted list.

The limit is well known: a desktop widget is only visible when no window covers it. Apple acknowledges it and suggests clicking the wallpaper to move windows aside. The other option, Notification Center (click the date and time in the menu bar), takes a click every time. All the Mac's widgets are covered in our widgets guide.

A quick list: checklists in Notes

For a grocery or packing list, Notes is enough. In an iCloud note or a note stored on your Mac:

• ⇧ ⌘ L turns the line into a checklist, with a circle to check.
• Select several paragraphs, then click the checklist button: each becomes an item.
• Drag an item to move it; Format › More › Check All or Uncheck All handles the whole list.
• A Notes setting, "Automatically sort checked items", moves checked items to the bottom.

What's missing: no due dates, no alerts, no "today" view. Notes keeps lists; Reminders manages tasks.

Always on top: Stickies

Stickies, which comes with every Mac, puts sticky notes on your desktop. What makes it useful for a to-do list: a note can stay in front of all other windows.

1. In Stickies, choose File › New Note and type your list.
2. Choose Window › Float on Top: the note stays in front of other windows.
3. If it's in the way, Window › Translucent makes it semi-transparent.

It's the most visible option, and the most basic: no checkboxes, no dates, and the note takes up room all the time.

To-do apps compared

Prices and versions checked on September 27, 2026 on the US App Store and the developers' sites; they may have changed since.

Tack+: your tasks at the edge of the screen

Tack+ tucks your Mac into a thin line at the edge of the screen: push the cursor against the edge, or press ⌥ Space, and a panel opens above your windows. It offers two ways to keep a list, depending on whether you want it on your iPhone too.

The Reminders page: your Apple reminders, without opening the app

Among the panel's app icons, Reminders shows your unfinished reminders. Click the circle to check one off, and a field adds a new one to your default list, without a date. Everything stays in the Reminders app, so on your iPhone too.

The To Do widget: lists of your own

To Do ("Your to-do lists") is a widget from Tack+'s gallery, with lists of its own:

• several lists (New list), tasks with a note, and a star (Mark as important);
• a due date in one click: Today, Tomorrow, Next week or None;
• drag tasks to reorder them, clear Completed tasks in one click, and take back a deletion with "Undo";
• on the home, the large card shows the next three tasks, which you can check off without opening the page; the small card shows how many are left and the first one.

To add it: in the panel's tools row, click Rearrange the home, remove a card with "−", click "+" in its place, then choose To Do.

Good to know: To Do lists are saved in a file on this Mac, with no sync to other Macs or to your iPhone. For a list that follows you everywhere, use the Reminders page. The same panel also holds your clipboard history and the Stash for files in transit.

Sources: Apple Support, Use Reminders widgets on Mac, Add lists in Notes on Mac and Stickies User Guide, accessed September 27, 2026.