How to delegate tasks to another person in Reminders in macOS Monterey

Apple's own first-party Reminders app, which was overhauled in 2020, lets users assign tasks to other people. Here's how to do it in macOS Monterey.

Delegating and assigning tasks to other people is an incredibly useful feature — and it happens to be one that's missing from even the most feature-packed to-do third-party list apps.

Although the feature itself is fairly simple, it requires a bit of setup. Here's how to do it.

How to set up assigning tasks

You create a shared Reminders list by inviting people via the share sheet.

In the Reminders app on your Mac, click on Add List in the bottom left
Create a new list you'll use for all your assigned tasks
Hover over the list and click on the icon of a person
From the dialog box that appears, click on Add People
Choose Mail, Messages, Copy Link, or AirDrop
Click Share to send the person a link to your new list

These steps simply give another Apple user the ability to view and use your Reminders list, which includes being able to read and write to it.

How to assign a task to another person

Click on the task you want to assign
On the line that begins Add Date, click on the person icon
Pick from the list of people authorized to see this list

Once you assign a task to another person, they will get a notification alerting them that they now have something to do. On your end, you'll see their image — or initials — in the task title.

What happens when they complete the task

You can assign tasks to other people — or yourself, as this image illustrates.

Even if you assign the task to someone else, you can still complete and check it off the list yourself. No matter who actually ticks the reminder as complete, it'll disappear from the list.

It's worth pointing out that you won't be able to assign a task to more than one person. You can, however, reassign it to another person the same way you delegated it originally.

Click on the task you want to reassign
On the line that begins Add Date, click on the icon of a person's head
Either click the X next to their name to remove them
Alternatively, click on their name and pick someone else from the list of people authorized to see your tasks

That's pretty much all there is to assigning and delegating tasks in the Reminders app. While it's a useful feature, it probably won't work for more complex collaboration when multiple people need to be working on a task, or if you need to track steps within a particular project.

With that being said, the Reminders app is still a great option for couples, families, or even small teams.