Trying to change a habit or adopt a new habit is a difficult process. Almost all productivity experts agree that to be successful, you need to track your activity regularly. But these experts vary on how you track it and how you define success. In this article, we look at five different types of productivity systems around the concept of habit formation and apps that help you implement habit tracking for those beliefs.
1. Goated (Android, iOS): Get to 10,000 Hours of Practice
In his bestseller book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the productivity concept that you need 10,000 hours of practice to master any skill. Goated is built around that principle as a way for you to track the number of time spent on that skill and how much more you'll need to do.
The free version of the app only tracks one skill at a time, but the details it offers are quite interesting and motivational. Whenever you start practicing your activity, start the timer in the app so that you're actually counting the time accurately. In the paid version, you can also write journal entries.
As you log more hours, Goated will show you statistics on your current proficiency level, your current and longest streak, and calculate when you will hit 10,000 hours based on the amount of time you spend practicing daily. It's a great app if you believe in Gladwell's rule, but remember, there are many who think the 10,000 hour rule is wrong.
Download: Goated for Android | iOS (Free)
2. Progr (Web): Create a Habit Streak With Custom Inputs for Your Tracker
Progr employs Jerry Seinfeld's famous "Don't Break the Chain" productivity technique that's already been adopted by several excellent habit tracker apps. The idea is to mark every day of the calendar with your intended activity and to keep the streak going so that you are motivated not to break it, even if you do only a small bit on any day.
The free version of Progr lets you create up to three trackers. And it's among the more customizable chain trackers we have seen. You can set start and end dates for the calendar or leave it unscheduled to simply create a certain number of cells. You can also choose the style of the cells (square, circle, dotted border, single dot) and the size.
Progr lets you fill a cell in multiple ways. You can add an emoji (with the default being a checkmark) or log it with words or numbers. It's effectively a mood tracker for the activity, as well as lets you add journal logs, and you can choose which of the two you want to see.
3. Respawn (Android): Create Habit-Stacking to Form Rituals
Respawn believes in the principle of habit stacking. This principle states that you are more likely to do tasks and good behaviors if you turn them into batches, doing one after the other. Respawn calls these Rituals and tries to make it as easy as possible for you to create these Rituals and follow through on them.
Each Ritual can have multiple habits that you add to it from a library of habits. You can search through all the habits, filter them by time (morning, afternoon, evening), or by category (keystone, health, productivity, social, finance, mindfulness, learning). It's ideal to set the order of the habits in the way you'll approach them because Respawn includes a full-screen mode where you check off each activity in a distraction-free environment.
Rituals can have reminders, which you can set daily or pick a lower frequency. The app tracks all your activity and gives you a point for each habit done. You can see overall statistics at any time. The paid pro version lets you create challenges with friends, but the free version has no restrictions for a solo user.
Respawn is currently available only for Android, although the team has said on Reddit that they are committed to start working on an iOS version before the end of 2023.
Download: Respawn for Android (Free)
4. LvlUp (Android, iOS): Habit Tracking, Reflections, and Learning
LvlUp is a beautiful habit tracking app for multiple small activities based on James Clear's principle of atomic habits. In what's called one of the best productivity books of all time, Clear writes that as long as you make tiny tweaks but stay consistent, you'll make huge changes in the long term. And it's important to reflect upon those atomic habits to see your progress as well as challenge yourself gradually.
The free version of LvlUp lets you track up to three habits at a time. You can set how frequently you want to track that habit with an optional reminder. You can set a maximum of four sessions per habit, which can thus even give you four reminders through a single day.
Tracking a habit is a simple yes or no for the activity and doesn't include logging anything more. However, there is a journal section where you are encouraged to reflect upon the day and your activities for that day. It'll log the statistics, ask your mood, and give you the chance to write any notes about it.
LvlUp also includes a section called Habit Academy, where you can learn more about how habits form and how you can slowly change them. It's a series of short, guided lessons that use the principles of Clear's book, as well as a few well-established truths about the science of habits.
Download: LvlUp for Android | iOS (Free)
5. Buddy Crush (Web): Track Habits With Friends and Stay Accountable
Social accountability has proven to be one of the best motivators for habit changes. When you have announced your intentions and goals, you are more likely to follow through on the small tasks even when they seem daunting. And if your friends can see your progress, that's even better. Buddy Crush is one of the simplest habit tracking apps to get started.
Register for an account, and you can create a new buddy group or join several existing groups. It's the existing groups that make Buddy Crush stand out, as you will find people from all around the world who share your goal but encounter different problems and different solutions. You can browse groups in several categories for habits such as learning a language, working out regularly, having less sugar, quitting coffee, etc.
Each group has a leaderboard to track the activity of members for the last 30 days. You can also see the current day's check-ins for all groups and share the groups with your friends. Buddy Crush also has an active Slack community with separate channels for all the public groups so that you can chat with others in your accountability group.
It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint
None of these habit tracking apps is superior to the other. It simply depends on which productivity principle you most subscribe to and are likely to follow through. Once you've made your decision, please do remember that habit formation or habit change takes a long time. Pace yourself, don't be impatient, and don't be disheartened if you falter a few times. Forgive yourself and restart the process.