Medication reminders other people can see

Other people see a medication reminder in four places: your Lock Screen, your Apple Watch, Siri over AirPods, and any list, calendar or device you share. Apple's Health app has a Medications feature with alerts of its own, and a plain reminder has the ordinary ones; here is what each shows and the setting that quiets it.

This is about who sees the reminder. For anything about the medication itself, doses, timing or what happens if you miss one, your doctor or pharmacist is the person to ask, and Apple's own page says the Medications feature "should not be used as a substitute for professional medical judgment." I make a reminders app, Notif, and the last section says where it fits.

Where it shows up

• Health's Medications alerts. Apple's medications page says that once you set a schedule, "you receive notifications from the Health app reminding you to log the medication," with Follow Up Reminders 30 minutes later if you haven't logged it, and optional Critical Alerts that "appear on the Lock Screen and play a sound (even if a Focus is on or iPhone is muted)"
• The Apple Watch. Apple's Watch medications page says the Watch reminds you to log medications by default, and its notifications page says ordinary notifications go to the Watch whenever the iPhone is locked or asleep
• Health Sharing. Apple's add and log medications page says that if you share health data with family and friends, you can include which medications you take, so check what you've chosen to share
• A plain reminder shows its words on the Lock Screen, goes to the Watch, can be read out by Siri, turns up in search, and sits on every device and shared list that holds it

What to do

1. Decide which alerts you want from Health. Open Health, tap Browse, tap Medications, then Options. Apple's medications page and its add and log page describe Dose Reminders, Follow Up Reminders and, per medication, Critical Alerts. Critical Alerts are the loud ones by design; if the people around you are the concern, leave them off, and Apple gives the off switch as Settings, Apps, Health, Notifications
2. Hide previews for Health and Reminders. Go to Settings, tap Notifications, tap the app, tap Show Previews and choose When Unlocked. Apple's notification settings page says the alert still arrives; only the content waits. The same page is where a Lock Screen other people can see is handled
3. Quiet the Watch. Open the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, tap Notifications, turn on Tap to Show Full Notification and turn off Show Summary When Locked; Apple's page says nothing then shows until you tap. For Reminders, tap the app, tap Custom and choose Send to Notification Center, as Apple's watchOS guide describes
4. Stop Siri announcing it. Go to Settings, tap Notifications, tap Announce Notifications and turn it off, or turn off Reminders inside it. Apple's page says Siri only announces while you wear compatible AirPods or Beats and the iPhone is locked. More on Siri reading a reminder out loud
5. Take the app out of search. Go to Settings, tap Search, tap the app and turn off Show App in Search, per Apple's Search page
6. Keep it off shared lists and shared devices. Put the reminder in a list you never shared; Apple's sharing page says anyone who accepts a list can see and change what's in it. On a shared iPad or Mac, Apple's iCloud Reminders page says a device with Reminders turned off in iCloud settings can't reach your iCloud reminders, which is the point. If a child uses your devices, see when a kid sees your reminders
7. Lock the Reminders app. Touch and hold it on the Home Screen and tap Require Face ID. Apple's lock or hide an app page says information inside a locked app won't appear in notification previews, search or Siri suggestions
8. Write the reminder for you, not for the room. "8 am, kitchen" tells you everything and tells a passer-by nothing. That's a habit, not a setting, and it costs nothing

The catches

• Critical Alerts are built to get through. Apple's wording is that they appear on the Lock Screen and play a sound even with a Focus on or the phone muted. Hiding previews doesn't change that; only turning them off does
• Follow Up Reminders double the chances. A dose you haven't logged half an hour later is two banners, not one
• The Watch gets the alert when the phone doesn't. Apple says notifications appear on the Watch or the iPhone, not both, so a phone face down on the table means the Watch has it
• Health Sharing is only what you chose. Apple says medications are included only if you include them; it's worth a look at what you set up months ago
• The app lock is per device, and Apple says it doesn't sync through iCloud. I haven't found an Apple page saying whether the Health app itself can be locked this way, so I'm not claiming it can
• Missing a dose has consequences a privacy setting can't weigh. If quieter alerts mean you miss doses, that's a conversation with your pharmacist before it's a settings change

Where Notif fits

Notif is the reminders app I built on top of Apple Reminders, so a medication note in it gets every setting above, and the Health app's Medications feature is a fine choice if you'd rather log doses than tick a note. The reminder I'd rather nobody read is the one I mark private in Notif; it's a per-note switch, and the box below says in the app's own words what that means. The same thinking applies to therapy and doctor appointments, and the longer story is in private reminders on iPhone; Notif is free on the App Store: get Notif.

Questions

Does the Health app's Medications feature show alerts on the Lock Screen?

Yes. Apple says that once you set a schedule, Health sends notifications reminding you to log each dose, with optional follow-ups 30 minutes later. Critical Alerts, if you turn them on, appear on the Lock Screen and play a sound even when a Focus is on or the iPhone is muted; turn them off under Settings, Apps, Health, Notifications

How do I hide what a reminder says on the Lock Screen?

Go to Settings, tap Notifications, tap the app, then Show Previews, and choose When Unlocked or Never. Apple says you can set this for all apps or override it for one, so Health and Reminders can be stricter than Messages

Will the reminder show on my Apple Watch?

Yes. Apple says the Watch reminds you to log medications by default, and ordinary notifications go to the Watch whenever the iPhone is locked or asleep. In the Apple Watch app, tap Notifications and turn on Tap to Show Full Notification so nothing shows until you tap

Can Siri read a medication reminder out loud?

With Announce Notifications on, Apple says Siri announces notifications from apps such as Messages and Reminders while you wear AirPods or Beats and the iPhone is locked. Turn it off under Settings, Notifications, Announce Notifications, or take Reminders out of its list

Is a reminders app the right place for a medication schedule?

That's a question for your doctor or pharmacist, not for me. Apple itself says the Medications feature is not a substitute for professional medical judgment, and the same goes for any reminder