Reminders 'urgent' toggle missing after iOS 26.2

turkey101 wrote:

I have come to the same conclusion myself, but I still find it illogical.

It's the way things have worked for quite some time. Lists that sync to iCloud get more features than lists that don't. It's not new.

<old man rant mode on> Why would the "Urgent" alarm feature be unavailable just because the list is not synced through the cloud? (A rhetorical question unless someone has an actual answer).

You have the actual answer. And it's documented.

Add details in Reminders on iPhone - Apple Support

I don't know what the reason is. I suspect there's a good one, though.

And as shown in my screenshots, it's not just the Urgent toggle... those un-synced reminders can't use Tags and other Reminder features.

That's correct. Lists that don't sync to iCloud don't have all the feature of the ones that do.

That's OK, I'll cope! 😁 Thanks everyone for trying to help. I'll switch to synced Reminder Lists only.

Good call. That also means that, should something happen to your phone that renders it unusable or inaccessible, you'll still have your reminders.

A follow up…

The Urgent toggle does not appear for “Local” Reminders. It only appears for Reminders I share in iCloud.

As only some of my Reminders are shared, this is very frustrating.

The reason it was working on my wife’s phone is that all her Reminders are shared.

turkey101 wrote:

When I click the second icon, I get the selection bubble pop out with a choice of either creating a shared Reminder on my iCloud (.Mac) Account, or a Local Reminder. Folder names redacted for privacy.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/2f26c45b-61f8-471f-8155-b3c63b394a32

If I press “.Mac”, I get my first screenshot with the List Type options. When I select “Local”, I get the simplified List screen.

You're using the term "shared" when I think you mean "synced."

I don't share reminders with anyone. However, I do sync them to iCloud. And they all have the "Urgent" option. If I create one that's synced to my Gmail account, that feature isn't there. There are a number of features that only work if you are using a list that is tied to your Apple account.

Unless you're sharing an Apple Account with someone (bad idea for a lot of reasons), syncing your reminders to iCloud doesn't share them with anyone.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

"Local" lists exist only on your iPhone. As such, they will not have all of the features of a list synced through iCloud. Why it works that way, I don't know for certain.I would recommend not using anything except lists synced to iCloud.

I have come to the same conclusion myself, but I still find it illogical.

<old man rant mode on> Why would the "Urgent" alarm feature be unavailable just because the list is not synced through the cloud? (A rhetorical question unless someone has an actual answer). And as shown in my screenshots, it's not just the Urgent toggle... those un-synced reminders can't use Tags and other Reminder features. Those conditions appear to be undocumented and not mentioned by reviewers etc. <rant mode off>

That's OK, I'll cope! 😁 Thanks everyone for trying to help. I'll switch to synced Reminder Lists only.

turkey101 wrote:

But none of this should preclude my “Local” unshared lists from being able to use the new “Urgent” option. Surely?

This has nothing to do with collaboration or sharing. It has to do with the fact that the "Local" lists exist only on your iPhone. As such, they will not have all of the features of a list synced through iCloud. Why it works that way, I don't know for certain.I would recommend not using anything except lists synced to iCloud.

Are you synching your reminders with iCloud? I believe it is necessary. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud to make sure Reminders is turned on.

None of my reminders are shared yet I see the Urgent toggle in all my reminders lists (synched to iCloud). Both my iPhone (iOS 26.2) and iPad (iPadOS 26.2) show the toggle.

I’m not sure what the issue could be on your end. I found an Alarms toggle in Settings > Apps > Reminders. Mine is turned off but see if toggling it helps.

I’m using an iPhone 15 Pro Max and have the same issue as heshie1. My reminders are synced with iCloud already.

I have trawled through the Settings and reset my phone to no avail. The “Urgent” feature does not appear on my iPhone in 26.2 (23C55).

It’s working flawlessly on my wife’s iPhone. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I think we are onto something.

I'm not seeing what your 1st screenshot shows. Can you show me the steps you do for this?

On my end, I have only one choice to create a new list (by clicking the 2nd icon). (At this stage, I can't choose to create a Smart List) :

Then I see what you see in your 2nd screenshot and I can only choose a Smart List from the List Type field.

When I click the second icon, I get the selection bubble pop out with a choice of either creating a shared List on my iCloud (.Mac) Account, or a Local List. Folder names redacted for privacy.

If I press “.Mac”, I get my first screenshot with the List Type options. When I select “Local”, I get the simplified List screen.

Apologies, yes I meant synced when creating a new Reminder List, but I can share those via Collaboration. Here’s a Screenshot from a test reminder list that I created:

And obviously I can only share/collaborate from my synced iCloud lists.

But none of this should preclude my “Local” unshared lists from being able to use the new “Urgent” option. Surely?

Already tried that Alarms toggle - no change.

Just FYI, on my iPhone….

A new Local Reminder:

A new Shared Reminder:

As you can see, I get some other differences with a Shared Reminder too, like Tags, Subtasks, etc…

I don’t get the List Type option (and all of the other features) when creating a non-shared list:

I can only choose a List Type when creating a shared list:

🙄