To hide and remove completed reminders on iPhone: open a list, tap ... → Show Completed, then tap Clear at the bottom. Repeat on your three busiest lists, then empty Recently Deleted.

If you finish tasks daily but scrolling still feels sluggish and your home-screen widget shows checked items from last month, this is for you.

What every guide says (and why lists still feel heavy)

Apple Support and every iPhone how-to repeat the same toggles:

  • Hide Completed is the default. Checked tasks disappear from the active list view automatically.
  • Show Completed brings them back. Tap the three-dot menu inside a list to flip the toggle.
  • Swipe left to delete one task. Works for a single reminder, not a month of finished errands.
  • Recently Deleted holds mistakes for 30 days. You can recover or purge from the sidebar.

Third-party guides often jump straight to the Shortcuts app for bulk deletion. Your takeaway: Apple already ships a one-tap Clear button. Most people never find it because they stop at Hide Completed.

The CLEAR Rule: five moves across three lists

CLEAR is a weekly list-hygiene ritual. It takes about three minutes and runs inside the stock Reminders app. No automation required.

  1. Check your top three lists. Open Work, Personal, or whatever lists you touch every day. Skip Someday and archive folders for now.
  2. Lift completed into view. Inside each list, tap ... in the top right → Show Completed. Strikethrough lines appear. That is the pile hiding under your scroll.
  3. Erase with Clear. Scroll to the bottom. Tap Clear. Every checked item in that list deletes at once. Do not confuse this with Hide Completed, which only covers them up.
  4. Audit Recently Deleted. Back out to the sidebar. Tap Recently Deleted. Swipe left on anything you meant to lose and tap Delete again for a permanent wipe.
  5. Refresh widgets. Return home. Long-press your Reminders widget if it still shows old checks. Open Reminders once, then go home. The widget usually updates within a minute.

Your takeaway: Hide controls what you see today. Clear controls what your phone stores tomorrow. Run both, in that order, once a week.

Walkthrough: Friday cleanup on a Work list

Picture this: your Work list shows eight open tasks. You checked off twelve more this week. The count on the sidebar still says twenty because finished items count toward list totals even when hidden.

Step 1: Tap Work. You see eight circles. Tap ... → Show Completed. Twelve strikethrough lines slide in below the active tasks.

Step 2: Scroll past "Send Q3 invoice," "Review deck slides," and "Email Sarah re: budget." At the bottom, tap Clear. Confirm if iOS asks. The strikethrough block vanishes. Active count drops to eight real lines.

Step 3: Tap the back arrow. Open Errands. Repeat Show Completed → Clear. Same two taps. Groceries from Tuesday disappear for good.

Step 4: Open Personal. Show Completed reveals "Book dentist" from January. Clear. Tap sidebar → Recently Deleted → swipe the oldest rows → Delete.

Step 5: Jump home. Your medium Reminders widget still lists "Milk" with a checkmark. Long-press → Edit Widget → confirm the list is Today, not Errands. Open Reminders, wait three seconds, go home. The checkmark is gone.

That is the whole sweep. You did not rebuild your system. You stopped paying storage rent on tasks you already finished.

Before and after: what changes in daily use

Before CLEAR: Search for "dentist" returns four checked copies across lists. The widget shows finished errands mixed with tonight's dinner prep. Flagged Smart Lists feel slow to open because iCloud syncs hundreds of dead rows.

After CLEAR: Search returns only live tasks. Widgets mirror active work. New captures land on a list that scrolls in one thumb-swipe. You trust the count in the sidebar again.

If Today view is still bloated with overdue items, pair CLEAR with our TRIM Sweep for a messy Today list. CLEAR handles finished history. TRIM handles what is still open but wrongly dated.

Common mistakes (and the fix)

  • Hiding without clearing. Hide Completed feels like cleanup. It is not. Finished tasks still sync, still appear in search, and still clog widgets pinned to that list. Always run Clear after you peek.
  • Clearing the wrong list. Clear only deletes completed items inside the list you have open. It does not touch other lists or Smart Lists. Run the two-tap combo on each active list separately.
  • Skipping Recently Deleted. Cleared items land there for 30 days. A full trash folder still syncs. Empty it when you mean permanent deletion.
  • Expecting Clear on the Today view. Today is a Smart List, not a single list. Open the source list (Work, Errands) to find the Clear button. Today itself has no bulk delete.
  • Building a Shortcuts script first. Shortcuts help if you manage fifty lists. For three active lists, the built-in Clear button is faster and needs zero setup.

If search still misses live tasks after CLEAR, run the FORK method for Reminders search failures before you blame iCloud.

Where Divux fits

CLEAR keeps Reminders honest. The friction is jumping between finished history and what you will actually do this afternoon.

Divux shows today's tasks, calendar blocks, and a focus timer on one iPhone screen. Run CLEAR on Friday, then open Divux Monday morning to time-box the eight tasks that survived the purge.

That single-screen loop is what Divux is built for. Clean lists, clear next step, one app to execute.

Frequently asked questions

Does hiding completed reminders delete them on iPhone?

No. Hide Completed only removes checked tasks from view inside that list. They still sync through iCloud and can resurface in widgets or search. To actually remove them, open the list, tap the three-dot menu, choose Show Completed, then tap Clear at the bottom of the list.

Where is the Clear button for completed reminders on iPhone?

Open any list in Reminders, tap the three-dot menu in the top right, and choose Show Completed. Checked items appear with strikethrough text. A Clear button shows at the bottom of that list. Tap it once to delete every completed item in that list only.

Why do completed reminders still show on my iPhone widget?

The widget is pinned to a list that still stores finished items, or iOS cached an old view. Run CLEAR on that list, then long-press the widget, tap Edit Widget, and confirm the list name. Open Reminders once and return home so the widget refreshes within a minute. Our 3-Spot widget setup guide covers which lists belong on the home screen.

Open Reminders now. Pick your busiest list. Tap Show Completed, then Clear. Repeat twice more before you close the app.

More iPhone task workflows live on the Divux product page, or grab Divux free on the App Store.