User Guide

Awan

Smart reminders that reach you at the right moment — when you arrive somewhere, leave it, at a chosen time, or when you connect to your car. Plus a built-in text scanner.

Download on the App Store
Awan smart reminder features
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14 topics
Overview

Awan at a glance.

Choose the moment that matters — a place, a time, or your car — and Awan monitors it for you in Arabic or English.

Triggers
Location · Time · Car
Create with AI
Just describe it
Alerts
Regular · Urgent
Languages
English · Arabic
Data
On-device or iCloud
CarPlay
Supported
A subscription is required to create and manage reminders, with a 7-day free trial on your first subscription.

How Awan works

You tell Awan once what should happen and when. From then on iOS watches that condition — a place, a time, or your car — and delivers the reminder at the right moment, even when the app is closed and your phone is locked.

  • Set it and forget it. Reminders keep working in the background — you don't need to open the app.
  • On your device. Your reminders and saved places stay on your iPhone (or your private iCloud, if you turn on sync). Only text you send to Create with AI leaves the device.
  • You stay in control. Every reminder — including ones made by AI — opens in the editor so you can review it before it's saved.
Awan Home screen showing location, car and time reminders with filter tabs
Setup

Two quick steps, and you're ready.

Awan needs location and notification access so reminders can work in the background and reach you at the right moment.

  • Location — Always and Precise. Tap Allow While Using, then Change to Always Allow, and keep Precise Location on. iOS only runs geofences reliably in the background with this access.
  • Notifications — Allow. So your reminders can alert you.

iOS asks about location in two steps. Choose Allow While Using first; when the second prompt appears, choose Change to Always Allow. "Always" doesn't mean Awan tracks you — it only lets iOS wake the app when you cross a boundary you set.

Awan notification permission prompt with Allow button
Awan location permission prompt with Allow While Using App option
Awan background location prompt with Change to Always Allow option
In Awan, open Settings, then Permissions to review both at any time. If location is only "While Using," location and car reminders won't fire in the background.
Create with AI

Describe it. Awan handles the setup.

Type what you want in plain Arabic or English, then review the reminder Awan prepares for you.

  1. Tap the ✨ Create with AI bar on the Home screen.
  2. Describe it — for example, “email the report when I arrive at work” or «ذكرني أن أتصل بأمي الساعة ٨ مساء». You can describe several reminders in one message.
  3. Awan opens the editor pre-filled. Review the details, then tap Save.
Create with AI bar on the Home screen with a described reminder
The text you enter is sent securely to our AI provider, Anthropic (Claude), only to create the reminder. It is not linked to your identity or used for advertising. See the Privacy Policy.
Create a Reminder

Create your first reminder in four steps.

  1. 1

    Pick a trigger

    Tap + and choose Location, Time, or Car.

    Trigger Type sheet — Create with AI, Location, Time, Car
  2. 2

    Add the details

    Give it a title, then set the trigger (see Triggers).

    New reminder editor — title, urgent alert, schedule and trigger times
  3. 3

    Choose the alert

    Keep it Regular, or choose Urgent for reminders that need immediate attention. Open Advanced Settings to control activity, repeats, completion on open, schedule, and an optional time window.

    Advanced Settings with Active, Repeat Until Acknowledged, Mark Complete on Open and schedule controls
  4. 4

    Save

    Tap Save. Monitoring starts right away.

Triggers

Three ways a reminder fires.

Awan reminder trigger types and how each one works
TriggerHow it works
📍 LocationFires when you arrive at or leave a place. Drop a pin, search, or pick a saved place, then set the radius (100 m–2 km).
⏰ TimeFires at the times you add (up to 15 a day). Schedule Every Day, Weekdays, or a Custom date range, with an optional time window.
🚗 CarFires when your iPhone connects to or disconnects from your car (Bluetooth or CarPlay). Optionally pin it to a nearby saved place.

📍 Location reminders

Pick a spot on the map, search an address, or choose a saved place, then decide whether the reminder fires when you arrive or when you leave. The radius is how close you need to be before it triggers.

RadiusGood for
100–200 mA specific shop, office, or your home — on foot
300–500 mA mall, campus, or neighborhood
1–2 kmArriving in an area by car (roads need a wider radius)
Location reminder details with map, radius circle and Arriving or Leaving control

⏰ Time reminders

Add one or several times a day (up to 15), then choose how the reminder repeats:

  • Every Day — fires every day at the times you set.
  • Weekdays — pick specific days (e.g. Sun, Tue, Thu).
  • Custom — a start and end date for a limited run (e.g. a 10-day course of medicine).

Great for medication ("3 times a day"), prayers, standups, or any routine.

Time reminder editor showing a custom schedule and multiple trigger times

🚗 Car reminders

Awan can remind you when your iPhone connects to your car or disconnects from it over Bluetooth or CarPlay. Create a Car reminder, choose the connection or disconnection event, and save it as active. You can also restrict it to a nearby saved place.

To connect a specific car's events to Awan and save your parking spot automatically, follow Car & Parking Setup. Choose the Bluetooth device in the Shortcuts automation; Awan's Settings → Car & Parking controls whether parking logs replace the last entry or keep a history.

iOS allows each app to monitor up to 20 active geofences. Pause ones you no longer need to make room for other location reminders.
Saved Places

Your regular spots, one tap away.

Save places you use often — Home, Work, Gym — and reuse them in any reminder without searching again.

Saved Locations list with Auto-Logged Parking and Office
Add a saved location with a name, icon and map pin
  • Open the Location tab → Add Location, name it, then drop a pin or search.
  • Give it an icon (Home, Work, Parking…). Parking places can store a floor and bay.
  • Swipe a place to edit or delete it.
Organize & View

Find and manage everything fast.

  • Filters — All, Today, Active, or Inactive, with live counts. Today sorts by nearest first.
  • Search — match any reminder by title, description, or place.
  • Pause / resume — tap the circle on a row instead of deleting.
  • Details — tap a reminder for its map, status, and trigger history.
  • List / timeline — switch between compact reminder cards and a time-based view of your day.
  • Calendar — browse reminders by day in Gregorian or Hijri.
Awan timeline view showing all-day and timed reminders
Calendar view showing location, time and car reminders for a selected day

Search and reminder details

Search checks both reminders and saved places. Open a reminder to review its trigger, map, radius, status, schedule, and firing history.

Awan search results showing a matching reminder and saved location
Location reminder detail screen with map and status cards
Notifications

How reminders reach you.

Awan notification options and their behavior
OptionWhat it does
Regular / UrgentRegular uses your chosen sound; Urgent plays an alarm that bypasses Silent and Do Not Disturb.
Repeat Until AcknowledgedSends up to 5 follow-ups (every 1–10 min) until you open one.
Complete on OpenMarks the reminder done when you tap its notification.

Regular vs. Urgent

Regular reminders behave like normal notifications and respect Silent mode and Do Not Disturb. Turn a reminder Urgent when it must not be missed — it plays its sound even in Silent mode and Do Not Disturb. Use Urgent sparingly so it stays meaningful.

Choosing sounds

In Settings → Sounds you can set a separate sound for regular and urgent reminders:

  • Gentle Bells — the default urgent sound: attention-getting but calm, not a harsh alarm.
  • Classic Alarm — a louder, traditional alarm tone.
  • Soft Chime, Standard, or Silent — for a lighter touch.
📷 SCREENSHOT
screenshots/current/en/sounds.png
Settings → Sounds showing the Regular and Urgent sound pickers.
Tapping a notification opens that reminder. Use Repeat Until Acknowledged for reminders you tend to swipe away — it re-alerts until you actually open one.
Scan Text

Pull text out of the real world.

Extract Arabic and English text from documents and signs — right on device.

Scan Text screen with extracted text, upload image and saved scans
  • Scan with the camera or pick a photo, then edit the result.
  • Copy it, or Save it to Saved Notes to revisit later.
CarPlay

Your reminders on the road.

  • Today's reminders appear on the car screen, most actionable first.
  • Tap a row for turn-by-turn navigation to its location.
  • Alerts play through the car speakers; urgent ones stand out in orange.
Awan reminders displayed in CarPlay
Shortcuts · Car & Parking

Link your car. Save where you parked.

Set up two automations in Apple's Shortcuts app: one to run Awan's car reminders when you connect, and another to record your parking location when you disconnect.

1. Prepare your iPhone and Awan

  1. Pair your iPhone with the car in iPhone Settings → Bluetooth and connect once. If you use CarPlay, complete its setup and confirm it connects.
  2. Open Awan. Under Settings → Permissions, enable notifications and set location access to Always with Precise Location on.
  3. For car alerts, create an active Car reminder for the event you want. The connect and disconnect actions run existing reminders; Log Parking saves a place separately.

2. Link the connection event to Awan

  1. Open Shortcuts → Automation, tap + or New Automation, and choose Bluetooth.
  2. Tap Choose beside Device and select your car. Choose Is Connected. For a CarPlay setup, use the CarPlay → Connects trigger instead.
  3. Select Run Immediately, then Next. Choose a new blank shortcut or Add Action, search for Awan, and add Fire Car Connect Reminders (shown as Fire Car Connect in the app shortcuts).
  4. Save the automation with Done or the checkmark. Connecting to the selected device now runs Awan's active car-connect reminders.
Choose your car's name rather than Any Device, so this automation runs for that car. If you use CarPlay, use its connection and disconnection triggers consistently.

3. Log parking when you disconnect

  1. Create a second automation. For CarPlay, choose CarPlay → Disconnects. For Bluetooth, choose the same car and Is Disconnected if that option is available on your iPhone.
  2. Choose Run Immediately, then Next, and create a blank shortcut or tap Add Action.
  3. Search for Awan and add Log Car Parking Location (shown as Log Parking in the app shortcuts).
  4. To also receive your car-disconnect reminders, add Fire Car Disconnect Reminders to this same automation. Keep the parking action in it to save the location.
  5. Save the automation. When the selected connection ends, Awan records your iPhone's location in Saved Locations as Auto-Logged Parking.
Button names vary with your iOS version. If you see Ask Before Running, turn it off. If Bluetooth has no disconnection option, use CarPlay → Disconnects when available, or run Log Parking manually after parking.

Keep the latest spot or a parking history

In Awan, open Settings → Car & Parking → Overwrite Auto-Logged Parking. Leave it on to update one parking entry each time, or turn it off to add a separate entry with the date and time on every run. This setting controls how the shortcut saves locations; the disconnection automation above starts the recording.

Awan actions in Shortcuts: Fire Car Connect, Fire Car Disconnect and Log Parking

Test it once after setup

While parked, connect your phone, then disconnect it. Wait a few seconds and open Awan → Saved Locations → Auto-Logged Parking. Check that the saved position matches where you parked. Each disconnection can start a log, including an interrupted connection before you finish a trip.

  • No parking entry? Run Log Parking manually once, allow any requested access, and check Awan's location permission. Then check that the automation uses the disconnection event, the correct car, and Run Immediately.
  • No reminder? Check that the reminder is active, matches the connection event, and meets any saved-place or schedule conditions.
  • Parking details locked? Viewing automatic parking details beyond the free allowance requires a subscription.

For the iPhone automation controls, see Apple's guides to CarPlay triggers and Bluetooth triggers.

Settings

Tune it to how you work.

Current Awan Settings screen
  • New reminder defaults — radius, type, schedule, and calendar (Gregorian / Hijri).
  • Car & Parking — choose whether Log Parking updates the latest spot or adds a dated entry each time. Follow Car & Parking Setup to make it run automatically.
  • Sounds — separate sounds for regular and urgent alerts.
  • Language — switch English / Arabic instantly.
  • Appearance — System, Light, or Dark.
  • iCloud Sync — keep reminders in sync across your Apple devices (off by default).
  • Subscription — required to create and manage reminders; 7-day free trial on first subscribe.
Tips & Tricks

Get the most out of Awan.

Small habits that make reminders more reliable and less noisy.

📍
Match the radius to the trip
Use a small radius (100–200 m) for walking spots and a wider one (1–2 km) when you'll arrive by car.
🗣️
Speak your reminders
Tap the mic in the Create with AI bar and just say it — in Arabic or English. Review, then save.
🚨
Save Urgent for the important ones
Urgent breaks through Silent and Do Not Disturb. Keep it for reminders you truly can't miss.
🔁
Nag yourself on purpose
Turn on Repeat Until Acknowledged for tasks you tend to swipe away and forget.
⏸️
Pause instead of delete
Tap a reminder's circle to pause it. It stops firing but stays ready to switch back on.
🅿️
Never lose your car
Wire "Log Car Parking Location" to a Shortcuts automation so your parking spot is saved every time.
FAQ

Quick answers to common questions.

Why didn't my location reminder fire?
Check that it's Active, Location is Always with Precise on, you're under the 20-active-geofence limit, and the radius isn't too small for a moving car (use at least 200 m on roads).
Why does Awan need “Always” location?
iOS only checks geofences in the background with Always access. It doesn't track you — it only watches the boundaries you set.
How does Awan affect battery life?
Awan uses iOS's energy-efficient geofencing to minimize battery impact instead of continuously tracking your location.
Where is my data stored?
On your device by default. Enable iCloud Sync to keep reminders in sync in your private iCloud container. Create with AI is the only feature that sends text off device — see the Privacy Policy.
Can I use Awan offline?
Yes. Geofencing works offline. Only place search and Create with AI need a connection.
What if Create with AI gets a detail wrong?
Every AI-created reminder opens in the editor before it is saved. Correct the title, trigger, schedule, or alert type, then tap Save.
How do I edit or remove a reminder?
Open the reminder from the Home screen to change its details. If you only need a temporary break, pause it from the list instead of deleting it.
Which languages does Create with AI understand?
Both Arabic and English — type or speak naturally, and Awan keeps the reminder in the language you used.
Is Awan free?
Awan is free to download. Creating and managing reminders needs a subscription, which starts with a 7-day free trial — cancel anytime before it ends and you won't be charged.
Do I need CarPlay for car reminders?
No. Car reminders work over a normal Bluetooth connection to your car. CarPlay simply adds an on-screen list of today's reminders while you drive.
Still need help?

Tell us what happened and we’ll help you get Awan working.

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