More and more these days Gents see the power of routine and how solid habits form the foundation of those routines. We can use technology, particularly apps, to help us establish those habits and routines.
Some of these apps work on the tried-and-true “don’t break a chain of Xs on your calendar” format, but others offer a bit more nuance. We tracked down five solid, continuously supported apps for Gents to consider if they are looking to establish some new habits.
Streaks
- Streak based (the name!)
- Integrates with Apple’s Health App
- $4.99
Once you’re set up with daily, weekly, or monthly habits, this Apple Design award-winning app only needs two taps for you to mark a habit as done: one to open the app and one to mark it done…unless the app has already done it for you. Because of its integration with the Health App, if one of your goals is, for example, to take 10,000 steps in a day, once you’ve done that the Health App will mark it done for you.
This app is perfect for those who like to-do lists. The downside is that it’s only available on iOS.
Habitify
- Shows you which habits and jobs need to be done first
- Available across iOS, Android, and web-based platforms
- $5.99/month
Habit areas are broken into Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. You then can create an “area” like “mindfulness” or “family time” or “learning” and assign habits to these categories so they are grouped instead of in a long list.
You can also receive reminder (e.g. grab your gym gear) or track your mood or jot down notes on how the habits are going.
Way of Life
- Not streak-based
- Can export data to Excel/CSV
- Can share progress socially
- Free for 3 habits; $6 for unlimited
Rather than focus on done or not done, the app gives each habit a journal which can be marked done, not done, or skipped. You can also write a note explaining why you broke a habit. This gives you a better picture of what you are sticking to.
You can also set custom “streaks” called chains in the app — like five days without soda — which set easier baselines for some to start with.
Loop
- Open source
- Can export data as CSV or SQLite file
- Free
For those who like the premise of Streaks but don’t have iPhones, Loop has a lot of similar functionalities, but is for Android.
On the home screen you can see the previous four days where you can easily check off days you forgot to mark as done (because what matters is establishing the habit, not tracking the establishment of that habit). You can also see habit “scores” which contextualizes missing a few days after a long streak (you don’t just go back to “zero” for missing).
For those who love to get into code, the Github repository for Loop also allows you to customize this anyway you want.
Productive
- Offers a Read of the Day that’s relevant for building habits
- Has a “trending habits” section
- 7-day free trial, then $29.99/year
When you first sign up for Productive, you’ll be asked questions like, “are you easily distracted” or “do you often procrastinate” so that you can be given different guidance based on your answers.
It’s also more suggestive with habit categories, like “Morning Routine” or “Preventative Care” or like mentioned above, “Trending Habits.”
Whatever better habits you want to incorporate into your routines, these apps can help!
