Birthday Reminders on Android: 3 Easy Ways to Set Up

Android gives you two free ways to get birthday reminders: Google Contacts and Google Calendar. Both use the birthdays saved in your Google contacts. If you would rather set reminder times for groups of people than one birthday at a time, or want a place to keep gift ideas, a birthday reminder app is the third option.

Here is how to set up each one, and what each can and cannot do. If reminders are not showing up at all, go straight to the battery settings fix.

Want reminders timed by group, not one birthday at a time? Jump to the app option.

Steps checked against Google Help for Contacts and Calendar, September 2026.

Option 1: Birthday reminders in Google Contacts

Google Contacts can remind you about birthdays and other significant dates saved on a contact.

Before you start: the contact must be saved to your Google Account, and the reminder has to be set at least 24 hours before the date.

Allow reminder notifications:

1. Open your phone’s Settings.
2. Tap Apps, then Contacts, then Notifications.
3. Turn notifications on and make sure Reminders is enabled.

Add a birthday to a contact:

1. Open the Contacts app and tap the person.
2. Tap Edit.
3. Add their birthday as a significant date.
4. Tap Save.

Set the reminder:

1. Open the contact.
2. Go to Contact settings, then Reminders, then New reminder.
3. Choose Birthday as the label and check the date.
4. Pick when to be notified: on the day, 2 days before, 7 days before or 14 days before. You can also pick the time of day.

Good for: a few important people, with no extra app. Limits: you set it up one contact at a time, the earliest reminder is two weeks ahead, and apart from the contact’s notes field there is nowhere to keep gift ideas.

Option 2: Birthday notifications in Google Calendar

Google Calendar shows birthdays from your Google contacts automatically.

Show birthdays in Calendar:

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. Tap Menu, then Settings, then Birthdays.
3. Turn on Sync from Contacts.

By default, Calendar reminds you one week before and on the day of each birthday. Open a birthday to remove a notification or tap Add notification to add another.

To add someone who is not in your contacts, tap Create, then Event, then Birthday, add their name and date, and tap Save.

Good for: seeing birthdays next to everything else in your week. Limits: birthdays sit among meetings and bills, and every birthday starts with the same default reminders. You can change them, but only by editing birthdays one at a time, and there is no way to group people. There is also no place for gift ideas or the little things about a person.

Option 3: A birthday reminder app

A birthday reminder app is built around people rather than dates. Dearly is one, made for Android. Here is what it adds on top of the built-in options:

• Import from contacts. Birthdays and anniversaries already saved in your contacts come in without retyping.
• Reminder timing by group. Put each person in a group instead of setting reminders one birthday at a time. By default, Nudge reminds you on the day, Heads-up a week before, a day before and on the day, and Plan ahead from one month before. You can change each group’s schedule, so your mom can get a month’s notice while a colleague gets an on-the-day nudge.
• Gift ideas and little things. Save the book they mentioned, their coffee order or their ring size on their page.
• Anniversaries and festivals too. Wedding, relationship and work anniversaries, plus festivals and family days like Diwali, Raksha Bandhan and Mother’s Day.
• Home screen shortcuts that open someone’s page, or save a gift idea for them, in one tap.

Dearly is free, has no ads, needs no sign-up and works offline. For a fair look at the other apps, see our comparison of birthday reminder apps for Android.

Which option should you use?

• Just a few people? Google Contacts or Calendar is enough.
• Friends and family, with gifts to plan? Use a birthday reminder app.

If you already live in your calendar, here is a closer look at what a calendar does well and where it falls short.

Birthday reminders not working on Android? Check battery settings

If a birthday reminder arrives late or never shows up, the cause is often the phone rather than the app. Many Android phones stop apps in the background to save battery, and an app that has been stopped cannot show a reminder. This affects Google Contacts, Google Calendar and birthday reminder apps alike, and it is especially common on the phone brands most popular in India.

First, check these on any phone:

1. The contact is saved to your Google Account, not only to your phone or SIM. Google Contacts reminders and Calendar birthdays only work for contacts saved there.
2. Notifications are on for the app. Open Settings, then Apps, then the app, then Notifications.
3. Battery is not restricted. In the same app page, open Battery and pick the least restricted option your phone offers, such as Unrestricted or No restrictions. On some phones you turn off battery optimisation for the app instead.
4. Autostart is allowed, on phones that have it. Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo and Vivo do.
5. The app is locked in recent apps, so clearing your recent apps does not close it.

Menus change between phone models and software versions, so the names below may not match your phone exactly. If you cannot find an option, search your phone’s Settings for “battery”, “autostart” or “background”.

Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO (HyperOS and MIUI)

• Autostart: open the app’s page (Settings, then Apps, then the app) and turn on Autostart (called Background autostart on some versions). On older phones it is in the Security app, under Permissions.
• Battery saver: on the same app page, set its battery saver to No restrictions.
• Lock the app: open recent apps and drag the app down, or long-press it and tap the padlock.

Screenshots and more steps: Don’t Kill My App: Xiaomi.

Realme and Oppo (realme UI and ColorOS)

• App battery management: go to Settings, then Battery, and find App battery management (inside Power saving settings on some versions). Pick the app, turn on Allow auto-launch and Allow background activity, and turn off battery optimisation for it.
• Older ColorOS versions: open the app’s info page and turn on Allow Auto Start-up, then set its battery usage to run in the background.
• Lock the app in recent apps so it stays open.

Screenshots and more steps: Don’t Kill My App: realme and Oppo.

Vivo (Funtouch OS and OriginOS)

• Autostart: turn it on for the app. On newer versions it is under Settings, then More settings, then Applications, then Autostart, though the path can differ.
• Background power use: go to Settings, then Battery, and open Background power consumption management (High background power consumption on some versions). Allow the app there.
• Lock the app: in recent apps, swipe the app down or open its menu and tap the lock.

Screenshots and more steps: Don’t Kill My App: Vivo.

Samsung (One UI)

• Battery: go to Settings, then Apps, pick the app, open Battery and choose Unrestricted. On older versions, turn off battery optimisation for the app instead.
• Sleeping apps: in your battery settings (under Device care on some versions), open Background usage limits. Take the app out of Sleeping apps and Deep sleeping apps, and add it to Never sleeping apps. Turning off Put unused apps to sleep stops the phone putting it back to sleep after a few days.
• Keep open: in recent apps, tap the app’s icon and choose Keep open, if your version has it.

Screenshots and more steps: Don’t Kill My App: Samsung.

On other brands, look for battery optimisation, autostart or background activity in the app’s settings, or find your phone on Don’t Kill My App. Big system updates can reset some of these settings, so check them again after one.

Common questions

Does Google Calendar remind you of birthdays automatically?

Yes, once Sync from Contacts is on in Calendar’s Birthdays settings. By default it reminds you one week before and on the day.

Can I set different birthday reminder times for different people?

Yes. In Google Contacts you pick the timing when you set each contact’s reminder. In Google Calendar you can edit the notifications on each birthday, one at a time. In Dearly you set the timing once for a group, and everyone in that group follows it.

How do I get birthday reminders earlier than a week before?

In Google Calendar you can add a notification to a birthday. Google Contacts can remind you up to 14 days before. In Dearly you can put someone in the Plan ahead group to hear about their birthday from one month before.

For more ways to stay on top of dates, read how to remember birthdays.