iOS 5: deleting Completed Reminders list

Hi mbaltozer,

I am sure you were only trying to help with the support article you directed us to. But, as others have said, what we are all looking for is a way to do bulk deleting of reminders FROM WITHIN THE REMINDERS APP (or perhaps within Settings) ON OUR iOS DEVICE. Going to settings in the iCal application on our laptops or desktops to affect functionality on our iDevices is inconvenient at best. At worst, it won't work, because (as 100 Watt Walrus states) that functionality is only available to those running the Lion operating system. In addition, philosophically, it seems to really go against the "cutting the cord" paradigm that Apple has fairly aggressively advertised. What about all those folks who only have an iDevice?

Still, the more important issue here (IMHO) is that you tried to help. As for me, since I am not running Lion, I have but one option if I want to contribute. Go to Apple's feedback site and explain the problem and request a speedy and smart solution. Hopefully, others will do the same. For all we know, the soon to be released iOS 6 will address this issue. I sure hope, for Apple's sake, it does. Otherwise the wrath of those participating in this discussion forum is sure to descend on Apple. :-)

Cheers, Mr. Luigi

Pretty well said. I was just sharing the only solution I am aware of to something that also annoys me. For the time being, it just is what it is.

mbaltozer,

Fact is, your contribution is a way to solve the problem for those with a Mac desktop or laptop running Lion. It is what it is...something definitely better than nothing! :-)

Mr. Luigi

Go to settings

Press iCloud

Turn "Reminders" OFF

You will be asked if you want to delete all reminder, press delete

Wala!

Deleting reminders that have been completed on your iPhone can be done directly on your iPhone. You do not need to use your computer. Again:

Settings

iCloud

Reminders - turn off

It will ask you if you want to delete, press DELETE

From now on when you check-off your reminder list, they are gone!!!!!!

@Pumpkin peach

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've never turned on iCloud on my device, let alone had Reminders backing up to the cloud, so for me at least, iCloud can't be the source of the problem or the solution.

Am I misunderstanding something?

When I go scroll "pull down" the top of any Reminders list, I see XXX Competed. When I tap it, I get a huge, long list of compelted recurring Reminders going back months.

100 Watt Walrus

I can see what you are saying. I was having trouble with all of the completed reminder lists by date and I was frustrated that there wasn't a more straight forward way of managing the reminders. I followed the steps that I indicated on my previous replies and it is now fixed. When I enter a reminder and then check it as completed it no longer keeps a record by date.

I am not a techie person I was just bugged that I couldn't clear the reminders so I played around and this worked. Hope it works for you.

Hi All,

OK, first. This situation Apple has created is still moronic. Why there is not a "switch" within the reminders app in iOS to delete all reminders is beyond me. Hm...now I feel better.

I tried the trick of going into settings and turning off reminders in iCloud and accepting the option to delete all reminders on my iPhone. It worked!

So, even though there is still no way, as far as I know, to remove all your "old" reminders from within the reminders app, this is a better way than deleting all of them, ONE BY PUNISHING ONE from within the app. If you only have 2 or 3 old reminders, might as well get rid of them one by one. But the iCloud method is great when you have a lot of old reminders.

Beyond the fact that you need to go into settings and mess with iCloud to accomplish what should be a simple IN APP task of removing all old reminders, I believe there is another problem for those who do use iCloud. If you turn off reminders in iCloud, then reminders created on, say your iPhone, will no longer be pushed by iCloud to your other devices connected to that iCloud account. In my case, this means my iPad and my MacBook Pro will not show any reminders created on my iPhone anymore. That is one of the BIG reasons for iCloud. It keeps all your Apple products synced with the same data. So, the only solution I can see to this is:

Turn off iCloud. Accept invitation to delete all reminders. Then turn iCloud back on so future reminders are sent to all your devices.

If you don't care to have all your reminders synced by iCloud to all your Apple devices then I guess you could just keep reminders off in iCloud.

BTW, is anyone in this discussion forum running iOS 6 Beta 2? If so, do you know if Apple has upgraded its reminders app to include bulk deleting from within the app?

I have sent several feedback requests to Apple about this. Shockingly, nothing appears to have come from all that well-intentioned communication. Perhaps some of you would have better luck. This may be an especially important time to provide feedback as Apple is moving through its beta versions of iOS 6 in anticipation of a fall release. If enough of us speak out, we may just be able to influence things sufficiently to get bulk delete functionality from within the Reminders App in the final release of iOS 6.

http://www.apple.com/feedbtack

<Edited by Host>

LoL@ not wanting to upgrade to Lion. Apple makes it so cheap to update, you're silly for not spending several bucks to do so. And LoL@ people who don't want to upgrade and complain that the world isn't catering to them. I have Lion, I went into my ICal settings and now this problem is automatically resolved for me. Ahhhh, to be young and not stuck in my own ways.

Ah...simon165...you are so right. Although a mobile platform, unlike OS X, Android users are often stuck with whatever operating system came with their phones. Even if they wanted to update, they couldn't. So, Mac owners should be very happy that they even have the option to upgrade to Lion...especially, as you say, considering the price.

Having said that, we all need to remember that some people have truly cut the cord entirely. The don't own anything but their iOS device..such as an iPad. So, Lion is not part of their Apple Ecosystem and therefore it can't be part of any solution to this notification problem.

Then their are others who can't update to Lion even though they would like to. Many teachers like myself are given a computer to use in their jobs. But, we work in an enterprise environment and often tech support is very reluctant to adopt new operating systems until the last possible minute. That is my case. If I could, I would have bought Lion and installed it in my (the school's) MBP a long time ago. But, I am not allowed to do that. Tech would kill me.

So your point is a good one. But, like many things, there are exceptions that should give us pause before expressing one's opinion so strongly.

Ah...to be young.

OK, so I turned on Reminders in iCloud, then tried this:

Pumpkin peach wrote:

Deleting reminders that have been completed on your iPhone can be done directly on your iPhone. You do not need to use your computer. Again:

Settings

iCloud

Reminders - turn off

It will ask you if you want to delete, press DELETE

From now on when you check-off your reminder list, they are gone!!!!!!

And now I'm REALLY, ROYALLY screwed. It deleted EVERY REMINDER, not just the completed ones. Now I have absolutely HOURS of work ahead of me restoring 7 lists and all the recurring events on them.

I chose the Keep On My Device option, rather than delete when prompt. That way, I won't loose any of my reminders that I've already created.

That's exactly the opposite of what we're looking for here. Having reminders hanging around that you completed last week, last month, last year — that's exactly what we're hoping to find a way of doing without having to manually delete every single one by hand.

This is how I delete completed Reminders if this is of any help to anyone.

1) ON YOUR COMPUTER Go to icloud.com and login

2) Click on the Reminders app

3) Click on Completed List on the left

4) Click the very first Completed Reminder in the list and it will highlight

5) Hold "Delete" key on the keyboard till they are all gone.

6) Reminders app on iphone will sync next time you open it. (May take some time depending on how many Reminders you have just deleted.

This will also obviously work to delete only selected Completed Reminders if you are so inclined to do so.