How to set reminders in Google Calendar, including by text
To set a reminder in Google Calendar, open the event, choose Edit, and add a notification with a time such as 30 minutes or 1 day before. For a to-do with a time, create a task instead of an event. For a birthday, create a birthday event, which reminds you a week before and on the day. You can also change the default notifications for a whole calendar, so every new event gets them automatically.
Google Calendar can't send reminders by text message any more: Google ended SMS notifications in January 2019. It now notifies you through the app, a browser or email. If you want calendar alerts somewhere harder to miss, Pokobot can link to Google Calendar and send you a WhatsApp message 15 minutes before each timed event. We build Pokobot, but none of Google's own steps below need it.
Steps were checked against Google Calendar Help on 7 October 2026. Menu names can differ slightly between the Android app, the iPhone app and a computer.
How to add a reminder to a Google Calendar event
Each event can have more than one notification, and each can arrive on your device or as an email. Google calls them notifications; they are what most people mean by a calendar reminder.
On a computer
Open the event and click Edit event. Next to Notifications, choose Notification or Email, then set how long before the event it should arrive. Add another if you want a second one, then click Save.
On Android
Open the event in the Google Calendar app and tap Edit. Tap Add notification, choose how and when you want to be notified, then tap Done and Save.
On iPhone or iPad
Open the event in the Google Calendar app and tap Edit. Tap Add notification, choose a time, then save the event.
Use two reminders for things that matter
Set one early enough to prepare, such as a day before, and one close to the start, such as 15 minutes before. Google notes that when an event has several notifications, Snooze appears only on the last one.
How to change the default reminders for all events
Default notifications save you adding a reminder to every event. They apply to new events on that calendar unless you change a particular event.
On a computer
Open Settings, then under Settings for my calendars click the calendar you want. Set the default times under Event notifications, and separately under All-day event notifications.
On Android
Open Settings in the Google Calendar app, choose the calendar under your account, then pick a notification type and the time you want it, for timed and all-day events.
Add a daily agenda email
To get the day's schedule in your inbox each morning, open the calendar's settings, go to Other notifications and choose Email next to Daily agenda.
Reminders for to-dos: use a task, not an event
An event blocks out time; a task is something to do. In Google Calendar, click an empty time slot or Create, choose Task, then set a start date and time and, if you like, a deadline. Tasks are stored in Google Tasks and appear on your calendar beside your events.
This is also where Google's old reminders went. Calendar and Assistant reminders moved to Google Tasks in 2023, and Keep reminders followed in 2025, so a timed task is now the closest thing to a classic Google reminder.
How to set birthday reminders in Google Calendar
Birthdays saved in Google Contacts appear on your calendar automatically. To be notified about a particular birthday, create a birthday event: in the Android or iPhone app, tap Create, choose Event, switch to Birthday, and add the name and date. Google says a birthday event reminds you one week before and on the day, and you can add more notifications.
If a birthday isn't showing, check it is saved in Google Contacts for the same Google account, and that Birthdays isn't hidden in your calendar list. In Settings, under Birthdays, you can choose which accounts' contacts are synced.
Birthdays are all-day events, so a reminder at a specific time on the day, such as 9am, can be easier to act on. A yearly Pokobot reminder in WhatsApp can do that, and it repeats every year until you cancel it.
Every year on 12 May at 9am remind me it's Priya's birthdayOpen in WhatsApp Can Google Calendar send reminders by text message?
No. Google Calendar used to offer SMS notifications, but Google ended them on 7 January 2019, by which point they were limited to paying G Suite customers. Notifications now arrive through the Calendar app, a browser on your computer or email.
Some old workarounds are unreliable now. Sending calendar emails to your carrier's email-to-text address often fails, and AT&T shut its email-to-text gateway in June 2025. Automation services can connect a calendar to a text-message service, but they take setup and may cost money.
If you need to send text reminders to clients about appointments, that is a different job, and appointment-reminder services built for businesses handle consent and opt-outs. If you just want your own alerts somewhere hard to miss, a WhatsApp message can do what a text used to.
Get Google Calendar reminders on WhatsApp
Pokobot connects to Google Calendar and messages you on WhatsApp 15 minutes before each timed event on your primary calendar, with the Google Meet link when the event has one. If an event has its own Google reminder set two hours or less before it starts, Pokobot uses that time instead. All-day events, events you declined and time marked as free are skipped.
You can also manage the calendar from the same chat: ask what's on tomorrow, add an event with a time and length, or delete one by name. Pokobot doesn't switch off Google's own notifications, so you can keep both while you decide which you prefer.
It needs WhatsApp and an active trial or subscription. The first 7 days are free with no card required, and reminders need a paid plan after that.
Connect your calendar
Send this to Poko, tap the secure link, choose your Google account and allow access to calendar events. The first alert arrives before your next timed event.
connect calendarSend in WhatsAppCheck your day
Poko reads back the day's events in time order, with their exact titles.
what’s on my calendar tomorrow?Send in WhatsAppAdd an event by text
The event is created on your primary calendar with the time and length you give.
add dentist Friday at 2pm for 45 minutesSend in WhatsAppPause the alerts
Send “calendar alerts off” to stop the before-event messages and “calendar alerts on” to bring them back. Everything else keeps working.
If Google Calendar reminders aren't working
Most missing reminders come down to one of a few settings. Check them in this order.
The event has no notification
Open the event and look under Notifications. Events from invitations or other calendars may have none, even if your own events do.
It's on a different calendar
Defaults are set per calendar. An event on a shared or secondary calendar uses that calendar's settings, not your main one's.
Your phone is hiding it
Make sure notifications for the Google Calendar app are allowed in your phone's settings, and that Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode isn't silencing them.
Your browser is blocking it
On a computer, turn on desktop notifications in Calendar settings, and allow calendar.google.com to show notifications in your browser and operating system.
It was a task, not an event
Tasks remind you through Google Tasks and Calendar. If a task never alerted you, check that it has a time, not just a date.
Questions, answered
- How do I set a reminder in Google Calendar?
- Open the event, choose Edit, and add a notification with a time before the event, such as 30 minutes or 1 day. On a computer you can choose a notification or an email. To set reminders for every new event, change the default notifications in that calendar's settings.
- Can Google Calendar send text message reminders?
- No. Google ended SMS notifications for Google Calendar in January 2019. Reminders now arrive as app or browser notifications or by email. To get calendar alerts as messages, Pokobot can send them to WhatsApp 15 minutes before each timed event.
- How do I get Google Calendar reminders on my phone?
- Install the Google Calendar app, sign in with the same account, and allow its notifications in your phone's settings. Then add notifications to events, or set default notifications for the calendar in the app's settings.
- Does Google Calendar remind you of birthdays?
- Birthdays from Google Contacts appear on your calendar. To get notified about one, create a birthday event in the Google Calendar app; Google says it reminds you one week before and on the day, and you can add more notifications.
- What's the difference between an event and a task in Google Calendar?
- An event blocks time, such as a meeting or appointment. A task is something to do, with a date, an optional time and a deadline, stored in Google Tasks. Use a task for a to-do you want reminding about.
- Can I get Google Calendar alerts on WhatsApp?
- Not from Google itself. Pokobot can link to your Google Calendar and message you on WhatsApp 15 minutes before each timed event on your primary calendar, or at the event's own reminder time if it is two hours or less before the start.
- Why am I not getting Google Calendar notifications?
- Check that the event has a notification, that it is on a calendar whose defaults you set, that the Calendar app is allowed to notify you, and that Do Not Disturb or your browser isn't blocking alerts. Tasks need a time to notify you.