Apple Reminders is unmatched for "remind me to buy milk." Past that it falls apart. Here is when to switch and what to switch to.
When Reminders is enough
Lists with no projects. Time-of-day reminders. iCloud sync across devices. Hey-Siri capture. If that's your full need, stay where you are.
When it cracks
When you have projects (multi-step work), recurring patterns more complex than "every Monday," or when you need calendar integration that goes beyond just appearing as a reminder.
The contenders
Things 3 — beautifully designed, no cloud AI. OmniFocus 4 — for power users. Todoist — cross-platform. Sovereign — for users who also want the journal + knowledge graph + private AI in one app.
Migration cost
Reminders has decent export options. Most apps will ingest. Budget an hour for a full move.
Avoid the multi-app trap
Don't run Reminders + Things + Notion + a journal app simultaneously. Pick one. GTD works in any of them; it doesn't work spread across all of them.
About Sovereign — A privacy-first AI personal assistant that runs entirely on your iPhone. On-device LLM, zero-knowledge encryption, and a coach that learns from your own words. See how it works or visit the homepage.