What are three-layer reminders?
Three-layer reminders are a notification model with three escalating tiers — Awareness (the night before), Action (1 to 2 hours before), and Urgency (the leave-by moment) — that surface an event at the three moments planning actually happens. The term is used by Composed for this specific layered alert architecture; single-fire reminders are the industry default.
How do three-layer reminders work?
The Awareness layer fires the night before, low-frequency and silent, so the event enters tomorrow’s mental model without interrupting tonight. The Action layer fires one to two hours before, also silent, so the prep window starts in time to actually prepare. The Urgency layer fires at the leave-by moment with sound and lock-screen priority — it is the only layer that breaks through quiet hours. In Composed, Awareness is suppressed when the user’s readiness score is high; Action is suppressed at near-complete readiness; Urgency is never suppressed.
What’s the difference between three-layer reminders and a single reminder?
A single reminder fires once at a fixed offset, usually fifteen minutes before. It catches the user at one moment, with no preparation time and no margin if traffic is bad. Three-layer reminders catch the user at three different planning moments — the planning moment (night before), the prep moment (hours before), and the action moment (leave-by) — so the event surfaces in each natural decision window. Each layer has different intensity, so the night-before Awareness doesn’t feel as loud as the Urgency push.
Why does three-layer reminding matter?
A single reminder fifteen minutes before an event is too late to do anything except show up frantic. Two hours is too vague to act on without a specific prompt. Three layers cover the actual sequence of getting-ready — yesterday’s mental rehearsal, today’s preparation, and now’s departure — without flooding the lock screen with redundant pings.
Get Composed
Composed builds three-layer reminders into every event automatically. Download Composed on the App Store and try it free.
Related: leave-by alert · calm planning · time blindness · calendar prep tasks