Starting one
On a going run, press Not now…, then one of:
- Check in on this step… for a step waiting on a reply, a parcel or the oven. The step goes to the end meanwhile (Put it at the end meanwhile), so the run is not held up.
- Check in on the run… for a run put down. The run pauses meanwhile (Pause it meanwhile), so its timers do not run on without you.
The sheet has four parts:
- It asks: the question, or empty for the usual one.
- Remind me: on, each time it asks a card goes to the Lock Screen and the watch. Off, it only waits in In hand and on the run's page, marked Due.
- How often: Again and again, every so many minutes, hours or days, or Once, at a time. For minutes and hours, Only between keeps it to part of the day.
- Answers: up to three. A step's are Now, Next and Later, plus Last when the step is not already at the end. A run's are Next step, Pause, Finish and Stop, or Resume instead of Pause when the run is paused meanwhile.
Press Check in.
Answering
Press an answer on the card, or in In hand. Not yet is always there too — a button on the card, and in In hand behind the ⋯ beside the question. Wherever you press it, the question hides and comes back after the whole interval, counted from that press. With Only between, it comes back at the first time inside those hours after that.
Once answered, it stops asking and says what it was answered. Ask again starts it over.
Decide later, on the Lock Screen card or under Not now…, is a quick one: the step stays where it is, the run moves on past it, and the question waits in In hand, with no card. Its answers are Now and Skip. Leave it unanswered and nothing is lost: at the end the run comes back for it, after everything you have done. See Pause, Later and Last.
Every run of a routine
On the routine's page, tap the step on the line at the top and press Not now… on its card, or open the step and choose Not now… in its menu. Then choose Check in on it… under "Every run of it, from now on". Each run gets its own question when it reaches that step, counted from that moment.
Good to know
- A check-in goes when its run does, and the orange band never counts it.
- Cards count against the 64 notifications iOS holds for the app. A longer gap or Only between uses fewer.
- They work the same on iOS 26.1 and 27.
When something goes wrong
- It keeps asking. Not yet is not an answer. Press one of the others.
- No card arrives. Remind me is off, or notifications are off for the app. Look in In hand.
- Stop it without answering. Open it and press Stop asking.