Apple has always been known for having a very robust ecosystem. Their software syncs across the various platforms, iOS to iPad OS to Mac OS. This is the main reason that I switched to using an iPhone and an older Mac Pro. But to my surprise, I cannot access the reminders I created on my iPhone when sitting at the desk. That’s a very awkward situation for an Apple user.
1.
What happend?
When opening Apple’s ‘Reminders’ app from the dock, I was greeted by a big warning triangle next to the list name, that’s never a nice symbol to see on any device. The list then includes two items, the first one says that “The creator of this list has upgraded these reminders.” followed by a link to learn more on the Apple Support portal. Then a second item posing the question “Where are my reminders?”. After seeing the warnings, I decided to do a quick investigation into what’s happening? Read on to find out what Apple has done.

2.
What I found out
Apple has recently decided to upgrade the reminders app with some new functionality. Notable new features include improved shared lists with the ability to assign taks to individuals as well as a new smart list that helps you to find everything assigned to yourself. Other features include the ability to reorganize smart lists, edit multiple items at once, new date and time picker, more emojis, add reminders from list view, smart suggestions and more powerful search functionality.
As a result, the new app requires other devices to have the at least iOS 13 and Mac OS Catalina or above. This means that people running older macbooks or a Mac Pro 5,1 without a GPU that supports Metal, will be unable to synchronise their reminders accross devices if they decide to update their iPhone to the latest iOS version. It’s unfortunate that such a situation exists, but it is to be expected that Apple will stop supporting older hardware and software, even though they are more than capable of running a light application such as reminders. This is yet another nail in the coffin for me when it comes to using my 2012 Mac Pro.
3.
What can you do?
Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to keep the reminders synchronised accross iOS13+ devices with harware running Mac OS versions prior to Catalina. But there are two work arounds:
Work around 1: Sign in to iCloud in a compatible web browser and access your reminders from there.
Work around 2: Switch to applications such as Microsoft ToDo, Todoist, Google Tasks or Trello.