Reminders, the new app built in to iOS 5, is really useful, especially in conjuction with iCloud. However, there seems to be a bug in the app – you can't set a due date for a reminder on iOS.

When you create a reminder in the app, you can set a date and time to be reminded by using the 'Remind me on a day' setting. However, there is no option to set a due date, even though due dates are a feature of Reminders.

Screenshot of Reminders on the iPad, showing all the options that can be set up for an individual reminder.

What use is a due date feature? Take an example of how I use reminders: college homework. I'd like to be able to set a due date, which is when the actual homework is due, but get it to remind me (via an alert) the day before so I have a chance to complete it if I haven't already. The way the app stands at the moment, I have to set the reminder the day before and remember that the homework is due the say after the alert.

That's not to say it's completely impossible to set a due date; if you access your reminders on your computer, through Calendar on icloud.com or through iCal, you can set a due date.

Screenshot of the same reminder as the previous image, but this time on icloud.com, showing that the due date feature is available there.

And the really annoying thing is, once you've set a due date on your computer, you can then edit the due date field on iOS! That behaviour convinces me that this is a bug – why would a feature rely on using a computer like this when iOS 5 is meant to be PC-free?

Another screenshot of the reminder on the iPad, this time after setting the due date.

Please, Apple, get this sorted out, preferably soon. Looking forward to iOS 5.0.1!