How-to

How to Create Subtasks and Sublists in Apple Reminders

By Vyshakh Nair, Founder, Ultra Reminders · Updated May 6, 2026 · 7 min read
Part of the master guide: Apple Reminders for Power Users: The Complete System

Apple Reminders subtasks let you nest one level of child tasks under a parent reminder by dragging right or using indent, but recurring and multi-level nesting break in known ways.

I lost a 14-task list of subtasks last March because I tried to nest a sub-sub-task and the whole thing collapsed sideways into the wrong list during sync. The fix took an hour. So before you build anything elaborate, read the pitfalls section. Reminders does support subtasks. It just supports them in a narrower way than people assume.

What you'll achieve

A working parent task with one level of child tasks beneath it, that survives iCloud sync, plays well with the Today view, and doesn't bite you when the parent recurs. By the end of this guide you'll know exactly which patterns work and which ones break, plus the workaround for true nested structure when you actually need it.

What you'll need

  • iPhone, iPad, or Mac running iOS 17 or later (subtasks improved meaningfully in iOS 17, and again in iOS 26)
  • A Reminders list where the items live
  • About 5 minutes
  • Optionally, Ultra Reminders for true multi-level nesting if step 4 is not deep enough for your needs

Step 1: Create the parent reminder first

Open Reminders. Tap the list where you want this to live. Add the parent task. Type the headline that captures the outcome: "Ship Q4 marketing plan." Hit return.

You now have a single line item. This is the parent. It needs to exist before you can nest anything under it. Honestly, this trips people up because in apps like Things 3 you can build the full hierarchy before you hit save. Apple Reminders wants the parent committed first.

Step 2: Add the child tasks below it

Press return after the parent and start typing the next reminder. "Draft slide 3." Return. "Get logo from design team." Return. "Final review with Maya." Return.

These are now siblings, not subtasks. They sit at the same level as the parent. We'll fix that in Step 3.

Step 3: Indent each child task to nest it

On Mac:

  • Click the task you want to nest
  • Press Cmd + ] to indent (or drag the handle on the left to the right)
  • The task now sits visually under the parent with an indent

On iPhone or iPad:

  • Long-press the child task
  • A menu appears, choose "Indent"
  • Or, drag the task slightly right onto the parent

Repeat for each child. Each one should now show indented under the parent. The parent now displays a small chevron to expand or collapse the children, and a count like "3 subtasks."

That's the supported pattern. Parent, with children one level below.

Step 4: Try not to nest beyond one level

This is where Apple Reminders is honest about its limits. You can attempt to indent a child of a child (a "grandchild"), and the UI will sometimes appear to allow it. But:

  • The grandchild often gets visually flattened back to a sibling on next sync
  • Smart Lists do not always count grandchildren correctly
  • Recurring tasks do not respect grandchildren at all
  • iCloud sync between Mac and iPhone occasionally loses the grandchild entirely

If you genuinely need multi-level structure (project to phase to task to subtask), Apple Reminders will fight you. Workarounds:

  • Use sections within a list as the higher level, with parent-child inside each section. Sections are a free way to add one organizational layer without nesting.
  • Use a folder of lists. Each list represents one project or phase, the tasks inside represent steps.
  • Use Ultra Reminders, which sits on top of Apple Reminders and adds true multi-level nested subtasks while syncing back to iCloud.

Step 5: Set dates and notes on subtasks individually

Each subtask can carry its own due date, time, location trigger, priority, flag, tag, and note, the same way the parent can. Tap the subtask, hit the info button, set what you need.

Side note: a subtask's date is independent of the parent's date. If the parent is due Friday and you set a subtask to Wednesday, the subtask appears in Today view on Wednesday and the parent appears on Friday. They are linked organizationally, not temporally.

This is genuinely useful for a project plan. Parent: "Ship Q4 plan, Friday." Subtask: "Send draft to Marcus, Wednesday." Subtask: "Get Maya's signoff, Thursday." Each fires its own notification.

Step 6: Use sections as a pseudo-second layer

Open the list. Tap the three-dot menu, choose "New Section." Name it ("Phase 1: Research"). Drag the relevant parent tasks into that section.

Now you have:

  • Section ("Phase 1: Research")
    • Parent task ("Talk to 5 customers")
      • Subtask ("Email Sundeep")
      • Subtask ("Email Priya")

That's effectively three levels of organization, achieved without breaking the one-level subtask rule. This is the cleanest workaround inside Apple Reminders alone.

For a fuller tour of how sections work, see our kanban inside Apple Reminders guide. It uses sections as columns and treats each task as a card.

Step 7: Make subtasks survive recurring parents (mostly)

Here's the brutal one. If you make the parent task recurring (say, "Weekly review" every Sunday), the subtasks you've nested under it will:

  • Sometimes carry forward to the next occurrence
  • Sometimes vanish when you complete the parent
  • Sometimes carry forward but with their own status not reset

This has been a documented bug for years. The honest workaround is to use a template instead of recurrence for any list with multiple subtasks. Save the parent-with-subtasks as a template, and create a fresh copy from the template each week. It's two extra taps. It actually works.

"I gave up on recurring weekly reviews in Reminders after the third week of subtasks just disappearing. Templates plus a calendar reminder to instantiate the template was the only way."

  • paraphrased from r/macapps, March 2026

Step 8: Verify it survived a sync

Add the parent and three subtasks on Mac. Wait 30 seconds. Open Reminders on iPhone. Confirm the parent shows the chevron, the subtask count is correct, and each subtask renders at the indented level.

If anything is missing on iPhone, force-quit Reminders on both devices and reopen. If it's still missing, you've hit the iCloud subtask sync gap. There's a longer fix list in Apple Reminders not syncing fixes.

Common pitfalls

  • Indenting grandchildren. Stop. Use sections instead. The grandchild pattern breaks on sync.
  • Recurring parent, recurring subtasks. They don't reliably carry. Use templates.
  • Sharing a list with subtasks. The shared participant sometimes sees the parent without the children for the first 30-60 seconds. Wait, then refresh.
  • Smart List filtering on subtasks. Smart Lists in iOS 17+ can include subtasks, but the filter UI is confusing. If you set "show all tasks tagged #project" the subtasks tagged #project will appear, but their parent context will not unless you manually open the parent.
  • Drag-to-indent on iPad. The iPad drag-and-drop indent gesture is finicky in landscape mode. Use the long-press menu instead.

Verification

You'll know it worked when:

  • The parent task displays a chevron icon and a "N subtasks" badge
  • Tapping the chevron expands and collapses the children
  • The Today view shows the parent on its due date and each subtask on its own due date independently
  • Force-quitting and reopening on a second device shows the same structure
  • Marking the parent complete grays out the subtasks (they don't auto-complete unless you tap each)

For the bigger picture on what Reminders can and cannot organize, Apple Reminders for Power Users: The Complete System is the best starting hub. The companion piece 13 Apple Reminders Limitations Power Users Hit lays out the full list of where the app falls down for serious project work.

FAQ

Q: Can I have unlimited subtasks under one parent?

A: Yes, you can add as many as you want at the one-level deep position. No app-imposed cap. Practical limit is around 30-40 before the parent becomes hard to scan visually.

Q: Why is "Indent" greyed out on my Mac?

A: There's no task above the one you're trying to indent into. You can only indent a task if there's a sibling task immediately above it that becomes the parent. Move the task into position first, then indent.

Q: Do subtasks count toward "completed" stats?

A: Yes. The Completed view shows them. Smart Lists that count completed tasks include subtasks. The parent does not auto-complete just because all children did, which is honestly a bit annoying.

Q: Can I move a subtask to a different list?

A: Yes, but moving a subtask to another list breaks the parent-child link. The moved task becomes a top-level task in the new list. Plan accordingly.

Q: What's the deepest nesting structure I can build?

A: Inside Apple Reminders alone: Folder, List, Section, Parent, Subtask. That's five levels of organization, even though "subtasks" only nest one deep. For deeper true nesting (parent, child, grandchild, great-grandchild as actual subtask relationships), you'll need Ultra Reminders or a Things 3 / OmniFocus-style app.

Ultra Reminders solves subtasks that actually nest, sync, and recur correctly. Free 14-day trial at ultrareminders.com.