Why act on a medication reminder from the lock screen?
A reminder that requires unlocking, finding the app and finding the button is a reminder that gets postponed. Postponed becomes forgotten. Putting the action on the notification cuts the cost of logging to one press-and-hold and one tap, which is cheap enough that people actually do it.
Taken, Snooze, Skip
Taken writes the dose to the log with its time, drops the widget's count and fills the ring. Snooze brings the same reminder back in ten minutes, so "not right now" never turns into "not today". Skip records a deliberate miss; it ends the streak honestly instead of leaving a question mark. All three work with the app closed.
Do the reminders get through Focus and Do Not Disturb?
PillPal marks dose reminders time-sensitive on iPhone, a category iOS lets through Focus modes by default because it is meant for things that matter at a specific minute. You stay in control: Settings, Notifications, PillPal lets you hold them if you prefer, and PillPal's own Settings can turn reminders off entirely.
What happens if you miss the reminder anyway?
The dose stays pending on the Today screen and counted as "left" on the widget until midnight. Mark it Taken or Skip from the app when you see it, or undo a wrong tap. Nothing is silently lost.
On Android
The same reminders arrive as high-priority notifications with the same three actions. Android 13 and later ask for notification permission once; PillPal asks during setup.
PillPal is a reminder tool, not medical advice. Nothing here tells you what to take or how much; follow your doctor's or pharmacist's instructions.
Questions about lock-screen reminders
Do the buttons show without unlocking my iPhone?
Yes. Press and hold the notification on the lock screen, or swipe left and tap View, and the Taken, Snooze and Skip buttons appear. Face ID or a passcode is not needed to tap one, so logging a dose costs a press and a tap with the phone still locked. The Today screen and widget update straight away.
Can I change the snooze length?
Snooze is fixed at ten minutes, on purpose. A configurable snooze quietly becomes an hour, then tomorrow, which is exactly how doses get lost. Ten minutes is long enough to finish what you are doing and short enough that the dose still happens near its scheduled time. If a time of day consistently does not work, change the pill's schedule instead.
Will reminders wake me at night?
Only if you schedule a dose at night. Reminders fire at the times you set and at no other moment; PillPal never sends promotional or catch-up notifications. If you have a bedtime dose and would rather not be woken, set it for when you are still awake, or turn reminders off for that pill and rely on the widget instead.
Try it on tomorrow's first dose
Add what you take, pick a time, and let PillPal do the remembering. Free to start, no account, works offline.
