Wednesday, October 26, 2011

iOS 5 Tips: Location Based Reminders & Microsoft Do Not Mix!

While we were being victimized by the infamous hacker, I was busy upgrading my iDevices to iOS 5, and ran across some small issues that it is likely Mod-Blog readers have also (or will also) face. Thus, our return will begin with a small series of IOS 5 TIPS, based on my experience.

TIP: LOCATION-BASED REMINDERS AND MICROSOFT EXCHANGE DO NOT MIX!

One of the big new features of iOS 5 is system-based reminders, which can be either time or location-based. Locations based reminders are great for keying you to do a certain things "when I get to work" or "the next time I go out". They can even be set up via Siri, if you have an iPhone 4S.

But when I got to iOS 5, I found no way to set a location-based reminder. Every attempt to set one up via touch or via Siri failed entirely. I wasn't even given the option. And yet, there was no indication of an error or failure.

Well, it turns out the issue was the fact that I was syncing my Reminders (as Tasks) to my work's Microsoft Exchange server. This is automatic if you have an Exchange e-mail account set up. But Exchange is incompatible with iOS5's method of storing geographical information. This is mentioned in Apple's documentation, but buried deep and hard to find.

The simple solution? Turn off syncing of Reminders with the Exchange server. Sync with iCloud instead. Once that is done, the option for location-based reminders will "magically" appear.
Also, remember that Location-based alerts are only compatible with the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. If you have an iPad, or older iPhone, reminders can only be time-based.

iOS 5:  Location-Based Reminders

No comments: