Best Habit Tracking Apps 2022

It is easy to overlook the importance of tracking both your good and bad habits. The reason critics dismiss habit tracking is they believe there is no beneficial information because individuals are already aware of their habits. While many individuals are aware of their habits, they often underestimate how influential the habit is. By tracking your habit, you get a better idea of how often you perform certain habits. This is an effective way to encourage positive behavior, as well as get rid of negative behavior.

In 2022, tracking your habits is easier than ever thanks to apps. Habit tracking apps not only take away the tedium of normally tracking your apps by hand, but they are also a useful tool to get meaningful data from your habits. With an app, you can perform tasks such as setting goals, automatically tallying the results of your habits and tracking when you are most likely to perform a habit. More information about using and selecting habit tracking apps is detailed below.

Skill Mastery

Many experts in difficult fields, such as musicians or athletes, credit tracking their habits as a key to success. To become a master in your chosen field, you need to develop positive habits involving that field. For example, with athletes, it involves practicing different drills and limiting unhealthy behavior. By tracking your habits, you are creating a loose schedule to follow and setting goals for yourself.

Breaking Bad Habits

Tracking habits is not solely for mastering skills. Many individuals use a habit tracking app when they are trying to improve their health, such as losing weight, giving up smoking or lowering their blood pressure. With weight loss, you can track how often you have snacks. This lets you know what time you are most likely to have snacks, as well as how often you eat each day. You can also go one step further, such as tracking eating habits by the total calories. You may find that your issue is not with larger meals, but the number of smaller snacks you consume throughout the day.

Habit tracking is also a way to keep yourself honest. Many individuals develop unhealthy habits because they are in denial about how often they perform an act. Smokers frequently downplay the number of cigarettes they smoke, or how often they take smoke breaks that disrupt productivity. If you use a tracking habit app, the data is presented without any bias and may open your eyes on how much an unhealthy habit dictates your routine.

Motivation

Habit tracking apps are not solely about recording information. There are motivational benefits for keeping track of your habits, whether you are trying to track a positive or negative habit. With positive habits, it is a way to remind yourself you are making progress towards your goal. If you have a difficult day and want to skip practice, looking at your habit tracker can motivate you, reminding you how much progress you have already made in previous weeks. It is also easier to fall into a routine if you consistently track your habits. Tracking habits also offers an immediate satisfaction, which is important for longer term goals, such as weight loss, which may not have noticeable effects for several months.

Tips for Using a Habit Tracker

While a habit tracker automates many of the processes, it still requires some human input. One of the biggest decisions you must make is which habits are worth tracking. A common mistake is getting excited by an app and trying to keep track of too many habits. If you try and track every single habit, you will become overwhelmed with information and are more likely to miss recording some of your habits, which will result in skewed data.

A recommended tactic is to start small by tracking a few habits, based on which ones are most important to you. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, start by tracking how often you snack, whether you include healthy foods in your meals and whether you exercise each day. If you are already comfortable tracking habits, you can make these goals more specific, such as exercising for 10 minutes every day. You can also narrow down categories. Instead of tracking exercise, track whether you performed your push up or running goals. The more comfortable you are using an app, the easier it is to add more habits, as well as focusing on the ones that matter most to you.

Do not despair if you are unable to hit your goals. This does not mean the app is not working, or your goal is unobtainable. Instead, look at why you are unable to hit your goal, and consider altering it to more reasonable standards. As you get more comfortable hitting your target goal, consider increasing it back to the original value.

Streaks

Streaks is a great tracking app available for the iPhone and other Apple devices. The app is focused on developing positive habit streaks, with options to set daily, weekly, or monthly goals. The habits are highly customizable, and you can also group similar habits together for ease of tracking. It is also compatible with several other Apple apps, such as Health Kit. Streaks can automatically transfer your data, further automating the tracking process. The app has a one-time payment of $4.99 as of writing.

HabitNow

HabitNow is available for Android devices. A free version is available, but it only allows you to track seven habits at a time. If you want the full version, you must pay a single payment of $9.99. The app allows you to set multiple goals for your habits and includes a tagging system to create distinct categories. In addition to tracking habits, you can also set general schedule reminders.

Habitica

Habitica is one of the most unique habit tracking apps. When you create an account, the app generates an avatar, which acts as a character. Your character is assigned statistics like the app was a roleplaying game. Completing your goals earns you rewards for your characters and allows you to go on quests. If you are a gamer and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with completing your tasks, Habitica is an excellent choice and more likely to keep you engaged than other apps. Habitica is $4.99 each month and available for both Android and Apple devices.

Momentum

Momentum is another app only available for Apple devices. What sets it apart from other apps is the ability to import your data into an Excel document using the iCloud. This makes it much easier to track and record your habits. Even without importing your information, the app is highly optimized and customizable. Best of all, Momentum is entirely free and frequently updated as of writing.