How to Set Location-Based Reminders on Android
Get a reminder the moment you reach home, the office or the warehouse. Set up location-based reminders in Karo in four steps, free.
“Remind me when I get home.” It is one of the most useful reminders there is, and a clock cannot do it. A reminder at 7 pm rings whether you are home or still stuck in traffic.
A location-based reminder (also called a geo reminder, a geo notification or a geofence reminder) rings when you arrive somewhere instead of at a time. In Karo, these are called place reminders. This guide sets one up on Android, step by step. It takes a few minutes and Karo is free.
What you need
- An Android phone with the Karo app. Get the Android app.
- A free Karo account. Register free if you don’t have one.
- Ideally, to be standing at the place you want to save. It is the quickest way to get it exactly right.
Step 1: Save a place
Open Places in Karo’s menu (it says “Reminders when you get somewhere”) and tap Add a place.
- Name it. Short and clear: Home, Office 1, Warehouse, Bank. Each name is used once.
- Choose where it is, in whichever way is easiest:
- Use my current location if you are standing there. Karo follows the phone’s position until it is good enough, then stops by itself. Near a window or outside is quicker.
- Search an address, such as a road, an area or a shop’s name with its city.
- Paste coordinates (like 12.9716, 77.5946) or a full Google Maps link. A short Maps share link has no coordinates in it: open it in Maps first and copy the full link.
You can save up to 20 places, and change a place’s name, spot or distance whenever you like.
Step 2: Choose how near counts as “there”
Under How near counts as being there, pick a distance. A new place starts at 100 metres. You can choose 100, 150, 200 or 500 metres, or Custom, anywhere from 50 metres to 1 km.
| Place | A good distance |
|---|---|
| Home, a small shop or a clinic | 100 m |
| An office in a large building or a busy market | 150–200 m |
| A warehouse yard, a factory or a construction site | 200–500 m |
| A whole campus or industrial area | 500 m – 1 km |
Why not 10 metres? Indoors, a phone’s idea of where it is can be 20–50 metres out. A bigger circle rings more reliably; a smaller one rings closer to the door. That is why 50 metres is the smallest.
Step 3: Put the place on a task for yourself
Give yourself a task as usual. Under Remind me at a place, choose one of your places and save. That’s it.
A repeating task for yourself can carry a place too, so the weekly stock count reminds you every time you reach the warehouse.
Place reminders are for your own tasks. A place is yours alone, so a task with a place has nobody else on it. For work you give other people, use a due date, a time and reminders.
Step 4: Let Karo check where you are
Android asks first, and place reminders need a few switches on. Karo shows a banner naming the first one that is missing, with a Turn on button:
- Location switched on for the phone.
- Google’s location accuracy (improved location accuracy) on.
- Precise location for Karo, not only approximate.
- Allow all the time, so the reminder can ring while the app is closed.
- Notifications for Karo, so the reminder can show.
When everything is ready, the banner says place reminders are on.
What happens when you arrive
When your phone comes within the distance of a place, Karo shows a notification such as “You’re at Home · Pay the electricity bill”. If several open tasks have that place, it reads “Pay the electricity bill (+2 more)”. Tap it to open the task, or the place with all its tasks.
- It rings once per visit, and not again for the same place within two hours, however often you walk in and out.
- If the place was saved while you were already standing there, that does not count as arriving. The next time you arrive, it rings.
- Finished tasks stay quiet. When a place has no open tasks left, Karo stops checking for it.
- It works without internet: your phone keeps its own copy of your places and their open tasks.
If a reminder does not ring
- Check the banner in Places: it names any setting that is off.
- Some phones stop reminders for apps that are swiped away or put to sleep to save battery. Open the phone’s battery settings for Karo and let it run in the background.
- Inside a big building, try a bigger distance, such as 150 or 200 metres.
Questions
Does it work on iPhone?
On iPhone and on the web you can save places and put them on your tasks, and the place stays with the task. The reminder itself rings in the Android app.
Does Karo see where I am?
No. Your phone works out where it is by itself and that never leaves the phone. Karo keeps only the places you save. More in Place reminders in Karo and our privacy policy.
Is it free?
Yes. Karo is free for everyone, with no ads.
Try it now
Save Home, give yourself one task you keep forgetting at home, and see it ring tonight. Get the Android app, or read what a geofence reminder is and 12 ideas for your business.