Mini Loops

Choosing a habit app

Which shape of habit app suits you, and what to check before installing one. Written to be useful even when the answer is not this app, because a recommendation that never says no is not worth reading.

Which habit tracker should I use?

Six models of habit app, what each is actually for, and who each one suits.

Choosing a habit tracker for iPhone

The four things that actually differ, and the free option already on your phone.

Do habit trackers actually work?

The recording part has real evidence. Most of what is built on top of it does not.

An alternative to Streaks

If breaking a run is what stops you, another counter will not help. What changes and what it costs.

A Habitica alternative

Leaving the game usually means one of two things. What you lose, and when to stay.

A HabitKit alternative

The grid keeps every missed day in the picture. How that differs from a counter, and when to stay.

Streaks vs Habitica

A paid one-off built on consecutive days against a free game with a subscription. Who each suits, and the pattern neither handles.

Habitica vs Finch

Two apps that put a character between you and the job, aimed at different jobs. Who each suits, and the pattern that beats both.

A Finch alternative

For when the companion became another thing you were letting down.

Habit trackers without streaks

How to tell a genuinely streak-free app from one that renamed the counter.

For people who keep quitting

Three ordinary causes of abandoning habit apps, and what to change before installing another.

An alternative to gamified apps

Why points and characters work brilliantly for some people, and what to use if you are not one.

Apple Reminders as a habit tracker

Free, private and already installed. Where it runs out, and what to try before paying.

Notion and spreadsheet trackers

Free, private and yours. What a grid cannot do is tell you why a habit stopped.

Are habit trackers worth paying for?

Mostly no, and here is the narrow case where it changes something.

An app for one habit at a time

Why the restriction is the feature, and what an app can do once it has one habit to think about.

A habit app that adapts

Most apps calling themselves adaptive change what they say. The useful version changes the plan.

A private tracker with no account

What on-device actually means, what to check before believing it, and what you give up.