How to Get a Reminder When It's Time to Leave for a Meeting
For in-person meetings and appointments, being "reminded about the event" is not always enough. What really matters is knowing when you need to leave.
Direct Answer
Standard calendar reminders fire a fixed number of minutes before the event starts — not when you need to leave. If your drive takes 25 minutes and your reminder fires 15 minutes before the meeting, you're already late before you've left. A traffic-aware departure alert calculates your leave time based on your actual travel duration and current conditions.
Why leave-time reminders matter
A calendar event tells you when something starts. It does not tell you when to stop what you are doing, gather your things, and account for transit time and traffic.
Most people either underestimate travel time or forget to factor it in at all — especially for meetings they know the location of and feel comfortable with. The result is leaving on time for where they think they're going, not for the traffic conditions they'll actually encounter.
A departure alert solves this by working backwards from the meeting time: it calculates when you need to leave and fires the alert at that moment — not at a fixed offset from the meeting start.
Why normal calendar reminders fall short for in-person meetings
Fixed time offsets ignore actual travel
A 15-minute reminder is useful for a virtual meeting. For a 30-minute drive, it fires after you're already late.
No traffic awareness
Calendar reminders don't know if there's an accident on your route, a sports event adding 20 minutes, or road construction you forgot about.
No departure calculation
Standard reminders alert you to the meeting. They don't tell you the specific moment you need to walk out the door.
Easy to dismiss under pressure
A passive notification is easy to see, decide 'I have a few more minutes,' and be wrong about.
What to look for in a leave-time alert
A useful departure reminder should:
- ✓recognize the event location from your calendar
- ✓calculate travel time based on your transport mode
- ✓adjust for live traffic conditions at departure time
- ✓fire an alert at the departure moment — not just before the meeting
- ✓work automatically without manual entry for each event
How OnTimer Time To Leave works
For calendar events with a location, OnTimer calculates when you need to leave based on your transportation mode (driving, transit, walking) and live traffic at departure time. It fires a departure alarm at the right moment — not a fixed number of minutes before the meeting starts.
This means your departure alert adjusts automatically: if traffic is heavier than usual, it fires earlier. If the meeting location is closer than expected, it fires later. The alert is persistent — it stays on screen until you dismiss it, so you can't swipe it away and lose track.
Time To Leave is a Pro feature. Available on iPhone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a reminder when it's time to leave for a meeting?▾
Most calendar apps let you set a reminder before the event, but these are time-before-start reminders — not departure reminders. For accurate leave-time alerts, use an app that reads your event location and calculates when you need to leave based on your actual travel time and current traffic conditions.
Why does my calendar reminder fire at the wrong time?▾
Standard calendar reminders fire a fixed number of minutes before the event starts — regardless of where you're going or how long it takes to get there. A 15-minute reminder is useless if you need 30 minutes to drive. Traffic-aware departure alerts calculate leave time based on real travel time, not a fixed offset.
Does OnTimer tell you when to leave for meetings?▾
Yes. OnTimer's Time To Leave feature reads your event location and calculates when you need to depart based on your transportation mode and live traffic. It fires a departure alert at the right time — not just a fixed number of minutes before the meeting starts. Time To Leave is a Pro feature.
Know when it is time to head out
Download OnTimer and get traffic-aware departure alerts from your calendar.