Recurring tasks: common problems
A repeat that stopped was almost always deleted rather than completed, or reached an end condition you set. A repeat that landed on an unexpected day is usually anchored to the scheduled date rather than to completion. Both are two-click fixes once you know which one you are looking at.
By Bohdan StefaniukLast updated
The next one never appeared
Three causes, in the order they are worth checking.
The task was deleted, not completed. Deleting a repeating task removes the series with it — there is nothing left to generate the next one. Look in Trash; restoring it brings the rule back.
The series ended. If you set “after 6 times” or an end date, the sixth completion is the last one by design. Open the task and check the Repeat settings; the count shown is how many are left, not how many there were.
It repeats from completion and has not been completed. A completion-anchored repeat generates the next occurrence when you tick the current one. If the current one is sitting there unfinished, nothing is due to appear yet — that is the anchor working correctly.
The next one is on the wrong day
Nearly always the anchor. A repeat set to count from the scheduled date keeps its rhythm no matter when you finish, so completing Friday’s task on Wednesday still puts the next one a week after Friday. That is deliberate — it stops a monthly bill drifting earlier every time you pay it promptly — but it is not what you want for anything measured from the last time you actually did it.
Switch the anchor to from the day you complete it and the interval runs from the tick instead. See recurrence anchor.
The other case is monthly repeats around the end of the month. A task set to the 31st appears on 28 February and then on 31 March, not 28 March: the rule remembers the day you chose rather than the last date it used, so it recovers the moment a month is long enough.
I ticked it off by accident
Untick it. The completion is genuinely reversed — the dates roll back, an end-after-N count goes back up by one, and a checklist that was cleared for the next occurrence comes back as it was. Two limits worth knowing: this works in the web app while you are online, and it cannot rescue the final occurrence of a series that has just ended, because at that point the rule has already been cleared. Unticking then gives you an ordinary task back rather than the series.
I want to miss one without breaking the rule
Use Skip to next from the task’s menu, which advances the series one step and leaves the rule alone. It is in the web app only — the iPhone app has no skip action yet. The alternative on mobile is to complete the occurrence, which has the same effect on a completion-anchored repeat but a different one on a fixed schedule.
Questions people ask
Why did my recurring task stop repeating?
Usually because it was deleted rather than completed — deleting a repeating task removes the rule with it, and restoring it from Trash brings the rule back. The other common cause is an end condition: if you set "after 6 times" or an end date, the series is finished by design.
Why is the next occurrence on the wrong date?
Check the anchor. A repeat counting from the scheduled date keeps its rhythm regardless of when you complete it, so finishing early does not pull the next one forward. Switch it to count from the day you complete it if you want the interval measured from the tick.
What happens to a repeating task on 31 February?
It lands on the last day of the shorter month — 28 or 29 February — and then returns to the 31st in the next month that has one. The rule remembers the day you picked rather than the last date it produced, so it does not ratchet down over time.
Can I skip one occurrence on my iPhone?
Not yet. Skip to next is in the web app only. On iPhone you can complete the occurrence instead, which for a completion-anchored repeat gives the same result, but for a fixed schedule it marks the occurrence done rather than skipped.
Does unticking a repeating task really undo it?
Yes — dates, the remaining count and the checklist all return to their previous state. It works on the web while online, and not on the final occurrence of a series that has already ended, because the rule has been cleared by then.
Will TaskPocket remind me when a repeat is due?
No. There are no reminders or notifications on any platform. A repeating task appears in Today on its day and waits there until you look. If a nudge is how you remember things, this is the wrong tool and it is better to know now.