Some things are too important for a notification. A doctor's appointment, a client call, a school pickup, a flight check-in. A banner on your lock screen is easy to swipe away without reading; a ringing phone is not. That is the whole idea behind a reminder phone call service.
The short version: a reminder phone call service places an automated call to your phone before an event, and a voice tells you what is coming up. Remindavo does this for every timed event on your Google Calendar or Outlook calendar, so you never have to book a reminder call by hand. Free to try with 5 real calls.
What a Reminder Phone Call Service Does
The older kind of reminder call service is built for businesses ringing their customers: a dentist's office uploads a list of appointments and a robot calls each patient the day before. That is useful, but it does nothing for your own schedule. A personal reminder phone call service works for you instead. It calls your number, before your events, at the time you choose.
Your phone rings. It looks and sounds like any incoming call, so you hear it in a pocket, a bag or across the room.
A voice reads the event. When you pick up you hear the event title, so you know straight away whether it is the dentist or the board meeting.
It happens automatically. Every timed event on your connected calendar gets a call. Moved events get a call at the new time, and cancelled ones are dropped.
Automated Reminder Calls vs. Notifications, Alarms and SMS
| Reminder type | Hard to miss? | Tells you what it is for? | Set up per event? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calendar notification | No, silent banner | Yes, if you read it | No |
| Phone alarm | Yes | Only a label | Yes, every time |
| SMS reminder | No, one short buzz | Yes | Depends on the service |
| Reminder phone call | Yes, it rings until you answer or it times out | Yes, read out loud | No, it follows your calendar |
Alarms are loud but dumb: you have to set each one, and when it goes off you have to remember why. Notifications and texts are smart but quiet. A reminder call is the one option that is both loud and specific, and because it reads from your calendar, it needs no extra setup per event.
How to Get an Automated Call Before Any Event
Sign in. Go to web.remindavo.com and sign in with your name and email.
Connect your calendar. Pick Google Calendar or Outlook / Microsoft 365, then tick the calendars you want calls for. Remindavo reads event times and titles only.
Verify your phone number. Calls go to mobiles in more than 50 countries.
Choose your timing. Anywhere from the start time itself to an hour before. Set quiet hours if there are times you never want to be rung.
Add an event and wait. Put a test event fifteen minutes from now on your calendar and your phone will ring before it.
One-off appointments: there is nothing separate to book. If you want a reminder call for a single appointment next Tuesday, add it to your calendar as you normally would. The call is scheduled the moment the event appears.
Works With Google Calendar, Outlook and Your Phone
Most people already keep their life in one of two calendars. If yours is Google, follow the Google Calendar phone call reminder guide. If it is Outlook or Microsoft 365 at work, see the Outlook calendar phone call reminder guide. On iPhone, the Remindavo app can read the calendars on your device, including iCloud, and show a full-screen incoming-call alert for free; see the Apple Calendar guide.
Who Uses a Reminder Call Service
Busy professionals use it to get pulled out of one meeting in time for the next; see an app that calls you before meetings. Field workers and tradespeople use it because a ringing phone is the only alert they hear on a job site. People who find notifications easy to miss, including many with ADHD, use it because a call demands a response; read our ADHD reminder app article. Small teams use it so nobody misses the client call; see Remindavo for Teams.
What It Costs
You can try Remindavo free with 5 real phone calls or 14 days, whichever comes first, and no credit card. After that, Premium is $10 a month for unlimited reminder calls. Compare that with the cost of one missed appointment fee or one missed client call, and the maths is usually easy. If you want to see how reminder calls compare with other options, read the best reminder apps that call you, or start on the phone call reminder app home page.