Timers from steps (Remind me)

From the Speak List user guide · updated 2026-10-20.

Any step that names a time — for example Boil salted water (10 min) or Rest 12 min — can show Remind me in…, both on the opened list row and while reading.

Write waits in seconds, minutes or hours: “Rest 60 sec”, “Simmer 5 min”, “Bake 8 hours” or “Brine 48 hours”. Day units and recurring-frequency expressions are not treated as waits. Write clock times with a colon, like “Dentist 14:30”. Durations are not shortened to a fixed limit; unsupported values cannot be scheduled. Check the shown duration. With Count down on, recognized waits start automatically after reading; tap Next to skip or turn Count down off. Remind me needs a tap; check its scheduling result. Text such as “30 minutes before meals” can still start a countdown, including on medication lists: the app does not know when the meal happens. Turn Count down off when reading these instructions and use the item’s bell for medication schedules, dates or repeating reminders.

You can run several timers at once — one per item; each is named after its item so the alert tells you which finished.
Each item keeps one Remind me. Tapping Remind me again on the same item — for example another set of the same exercise (“set 2 of 3”) — asks to replace the earlier one, so the Reminders page shows one entry for that item, not several. Give each thing you want timed its own item.
This is independent timing for cooking and other tasks, separate from the item bell (calendar reminders for meds and appointments).

Cooking with timers (step by step)

Put times in the steps themselves — digits or spelled out, for example Boil water (10 min) or Pasta into the pot (rest 12 min).
Open the list and tap Read out. Use Step by step if you want each step to lead; leave the reading Count down switch on so rest/wait lines can pause and count down while you cook.
For an alert while you do something else (oven, simmer), open the timed step and tap Remind me in N min — from the list row or while reading. You can arm more than one — one per timed item; each is named after its item.
The app tells you which shape you got (alarm, extra reminders, or one notification) — see the table below. Extra reminders are finite; they do not continue until you answer.
When an alarm rings, use Stop; open or dismiss a notification as you prefer. This does not check the item off — mark the step done yourself if you want.
A rest/wait step can be timed twice on purpose: reading pauses and counts down, and Remind me can still ring while you walk away.
For “take the meds at 8:00 every day,” use the item bell instead (§5b and §7) — not Remind me.

What rings — three honest outcomes

When you arm Remind me, the app chooses exactly one shape and tells you which:

You get	When	What you notice
Alarm	A supported iPhone, alarm permission, and system acceptance	Can sound through Silent mode and Focus; keeps ringing until Stop; +5 min snoozes (rings again later). Stop only stops the alarm — it does not check the item off.
Extra reminders	Settings switch below on, but no cooking-style alarm available or allowed	An initial notification, then up to 5 more, two minutes apart (~10 minutes total), then stops. In Silent mode, notifications make no sound but may vibrate. Focus may silence sound and vibration. Permission and capacity still matter.
One notification	Extra reminders / strong ring switched off in Settings	A single notification. In Silent mode, notifications make no sound but may vibrate. Focus may silence sound and vibration.

Settings that change step-timer strength

In Settings, under Voice (the switch covers only the one-tap Remind me in… button, in a list or in Read out — not reminders set with the bell):

On phones that support alarms: “Remind me in…” rings as an alarm — when on and alarm permission is allowed, a step timer can use the alarm face on a supported phone. It can sound through Silent mode and Focus until you stop it. If you declined alarm permission, turn it on in iPhone Settings → Apps → Speak List → Alarms.
On phones that do not support those alarms: “Remind me in…” sends extra reminders controls the bounded notification series instead.

With that Settings switch on, an unsupported or denied alarm can fall back to an initial notification plus up to five extra notifications two minutes apart, then stop. Turning that switch off requests only one notification. Read any scheduling warning; notification permission and capacity still matter. Tapping any button on one of them, including Close, stops the remaining extras without checking the step off or changing its reminder; simply clearing a banner does not. In Silent mode, notifications make no sound but may vibrate. Focus may silence sound and vibration.

Dual timing on purpose

A rest/wait step can be timed twice: reading pauses and counts down and your armed Remind-me can ring on its own. The button is independent timing; it does not replace the reading pause.

Changing or cancelling a step timer

Tap Remind me on a step that is already armed and the app tells you so — Already set, with time left — and tapping takes you to the Reminders page to change or cancel it (no accidental double timers from the same button). Cancelling a timer from the Reminders page stops every part of it — alarm or remaining extra notifications.

If the app is fully closed

Stopping an alarm ends that alarm.
Reopening the app does not cancel a valid extra-reminder chain. Pending extras may continue within its bounded ten-minute window. To stop them, use Close on the notification or cancel the reminder in Reminders.

For a calendar time (tomorrow morning, next week), use a bell reminder on the item. A relative wait such as 48 hours can use Remind me.