Reminder rules
Set a reminder time and check when billing, shared-plan, paid-for and low-balance reminders are sent.
Calends sends a daily reminder on days that need one, and a bill preview on the 1st of each month. Reminders go to every enabled notification channel.
- Choose your time zone under Settings → General.
- Set Remind me and Send at under Settings → Reminders.
- Add and enable at least one notification channel, then click Send a test reminder to all channels.
- Check the result and the log under Today, and confirm the message reached the channel.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”Under Settings → Reminders:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Remind me | How many days before a charge: on the day, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 or 14 days; 3 by default. Each subscription can override this under More options → Reminder in the editor, including Never. |
| Send at | The time of day to send, in the time zone from Settings → General; 09:05 by default. |
| Monthly preview on the 1st | On by default. |
| Send a test reminder to all channels | Sends a test right away, using the first daily reminder that would trigger in the next 30 days, or a sample if there isn’t one. |
| Preview today’s reminders | Opens the email version of today’s reminder in a new tab. |
Below, Today lists the reminders going out today and the most recent sends.
When they’re sent
Section titled “When they’re sent”A scheduled job runs at minute 5 of every UTC hour. When the current hour in your time zone equals Send at, it works out today’s reminders and sends them The interface displays times such as 09:05. Whole-hour UTC offsets trigger at minute 5 locally; half-hour and 45-minute offsets trigger at a different local minute.
- At most one daily reminder per day and one bill preview per month; nothing is sent twice.
- If at least one channel succeeds, it counts as sent. If every channel fails, no sent marker is kept. The scheduler only sends during the configured hour, so a retry next hour is not guaranteed. Fix the channel and test it manually.
- On days with nothing to remind you about, no daily reminder is sent.
What’s in the daily reminder
Section titled “What’s in the daily reminder”The daily reminder is grouped as follows, listing only what triggers today:
| Section | When an item appears |
|---|---|
| Upcoming charges | Active or not-renewing subscriptions whose next charge is exactly n days away (n being that subscription’s lead days); when n is more than 1, again the day before; when n is 0, only on the day. A charge right after an intro offer ends is noted as back to regular price. |
| Trials ending | The trial ends in n days, tomorrow or today. |
| Low balance | A payment method won’t cover a charge in n days, where n is its low balance alert (30 by default), and at 14, 7, 3, 1 and 0 days. |
| Shared plan payments | For plans you host, a member’s next period is due in 7 days, 3 days or today; when overdue, on day 7 and 14, then every 30 days. |
| Owed for paying on behalf | The day of a charge you paid for someone; if not paid back, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days after. |
| Ending soon | Subscriptions with an end date, 7 days and 1 day before. |
Each item carries the amount (with the base currency equivalent for foreign currencies), the date and the payment method. Shared plan and paid-for items include the other person’s contact so you can go and collect.
The reminder opens with your current monthly subscription spend and the number of active subscriptions.
Turning off one subscription’s reminders
Section titled “Turning off one subscription’s reminders”With a subscription’s reminder set to Never, its upcoming charges, trial ending and ending soon reminders stop. Shared plan payments, paid-for and low balance reminders aren’t affected by this setting.
When shared plan reminders stop
Section titled “When shared plan reminders stop”A member’s next period is due the day after their Paid through date (or the plan start date if they’ve never paid). Reminders stop when:
- the subscription has an end date and the next period would start on or after it (not renewing, or cancelled);
- the subscription isn’t billing (paused or ended);
- the member doesn’t pay.
Monthly bill preview
Section titled “Monthly bill preview”On the 1st of each month, at your send time, it lists every charge of your own for the month (excluding paid-for-others): date, amount and payment method, plus the expected monthly total, number of charges, current monthly cost and roughly what that adds up to per year. Preview totals use today’s rates and full charges, before shared-plan contributions.
Language and links
Section titled “Language and links”Reminders use the language from Settings → General → Language; with System default, the language the app was last used in.
The Open Calends link in messages points to your site address: SITE_URL if configured; otherwise the address recorded the last time you opened the app from a non-local address. So after deploying, open the app at least once to get the links right.