If you didn't know, Apple Reminders has added a lot of new features over the past few years, and currently it's actually a pretty complete to-do list app. But it's not perfect: For one thing, it doesn't offer a menu bar icon that allows you to quickly check reminders, nor does it offer a system-wide keyboard shortcut for quickly adding tasks to a list. The free app Reminders Menu Bar solves these problems so perfectly you'd think Apple made it themselves.
First, just download and launch the app. After providing the necessary permissions, you can click the new menu bar icon to view your current tasks. From there, you can also type the task immediately and hit Enter to add it to your inbox. There's even support for natural language deadlines, meaning you can type "Writing report will be finished tomorrow" and the app will add tasks due tomorrow.
Today's tasks are at the top, followed by all your lists. You can use the filter buttons in the lower left corner to decide which options you want to see.
There aren't many options - there's no need - but there are a few things you can configure by clicking the gear icon in the lower right corner. You'll find toggles such as launch on login, whether to use dark mode or light mode, and which menu bar icon you want to use.
You can also add custom keyboard shortcuts.
Triggering the shortcut will open the menu bar icon. You can start typing a new task immediately after using the keyboard shortcut, which means the app adds another feature that Reminders lacks: the ability to quickly add tasks without opening the full app. Every major to-do list I can think of, from Todoist to Omnifocus to TickTick, offers some version of it—and via the Apple Reminders menu bar, you can eventually add it to Apple Reminders, too.
