Any resolution to develop better habits or quit bad habits is hard enough in the first place. Tracking your progress should be as simple as possible. These free habit tracker apps make it super easy to gauge how you’re coping with your new goals.
With simplicity as the core focus of these apps, they lack the extra features you’ll find in some of the more popular habit trackers. For example, you won’t get detailed statistics about your records, or you won’t be able to share and track habits with friends. But those are worthwhile sacrifices when you want a simple and efficient personal habit tracker.
1. DailyHabits.xyz (Web): Simpler habit tracker for streaks or flexible goals
The internet’s favorite daily habit tracker is Every day, but the free version only allows you to add three targets. DailyHabits includes most of the features of Everyday and is completely free forever. Also, it’s not just about creating unbroken chains or success streaks, and can be used for flexible goals.
When you create a new habit in DailyHabits, you need to set how many days of the month you want to do that activity. Your dashboard shows all your habits, as well as the calendar for the entire month. Keep marking the days you reach your goal. In the last column, DailyHabits will show the total days of the goal and the total days achieved so far.
DailyHabits also includes a journal element. The creators say that adding notes about your habits, whether it’s how you’re feeling or your new accomplishments or even mistakes and failures, helps you stay on track overall. You can add unlimited habits and notes to DailyHabits, and even use it on your phone, as the calendar is responsive to fit mobile screens.
2. Trackers.gg (Web): Card Tiles Board for Different Habits
Trackers.gg is one of the simplest and most minimalist habit tracking web apps we’ve come across. It’s also completely free, with no hidden fees, restrictions, or ads. And the responsive design means you can use it on both desktop and mobile with equal ease.
Once you sign up, you can create as many habit goals as you like, each of which will appear as a card on your dashboard. The card itself is all you need to see and interact with. There are no other stats or additional features.
Each habit card can be of two types: ticks (to track incremental progress on whatever task you’re doing) or numbers (to track number-based tasks, like how many glasses of water you drank today). You can tap the mark or number on the card to update your progress. A successful session is recorded on the timeline within the card itself. It couldn’t be simpler and easier.
3. dreamophora (Android, iOS): Guided habit tracker templates to ensure success
Let’s say your resolution is to get lean, toned, and healthy. What are the habits you need to instill to reach your goal? How often should you exercise, when should you add meditation, and how do you manage hydration? Dreamfora is a habit tracker app that does this heavy lifting for you with pre-made plans for different common habits.
Each plan has three elements: habit, task, and note. The habit part adds some things that you will need to do regularly and sets the weekly schedule for them. Tasks are to-do items that aren’t a regular habit, but something you need to do to make sure you stay on track. And the notes are tips, helpful links, and pep talk to set you on the road to success.
You can add three dream plans at once, and Dreamfora discourages you from adding more to your plate before you finish what you started. All of today’s habits from all three dream plans will show up as a common list in the Today tab, so you don’t have to check each dream separately. Just check the box when you are done with an activity.
Dreamfora keeps activity logs and displays statistics in visual graphs. You can even use the app anonymously without signing up for an account. If you register, you will be able to share and interact with the community.
Discharge: dreamfora for Android | iOS (Free)
Four. youtine (Web): Create printable habit trackers for multiple goals
There’s something satisfying about picking up a pen and checking off a box on a habit tracker. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld said this is how he maintained the “don’t break the chain” method of productivity. If you want to ditch apps, Youtine will create printable habit trackers for multiple types of habits.
Once you sign up, you can create multiple sheets, each with their own habits. Choose the month and year, give it a title and description, and add habits from the list. Each habit has its own icon. You will also need to allocate how long you want to do any habit, between 5 and 60 minutes. Finally, choose the days of the week that you want to do that habit.
The created sheet will display the icon, time, and checkboxes for the days of the week you have chosen. The days not chosen are dimmed. You can simply check or cross the checkboxes, type emojis to track your mood on the day you succeeded, or fill them in with different information, like the actual time you performed the activity.
The free version restricts you to three habits on one sheet. Paid levels allow you to add unlimited daily habits, as well as create custom habits and icons. If you want to stick to a free PDF but don’t want to spend on Youtine, check out some of the best free eBooks and printables to change habits.
5. Loop Habit Tracker (Android): Private, secure and simple
Many of the best habit tracker apps have one problem in common: your personal data is sent to their servers, and you’re not in charge. Loop is a free and open source habit tracker that operates entirely locally. All the data is on your phone and is never sent to any server. You can also export it as CSV if you want.
Simplicity is at the core of Loop’s mission in habit tracking. The main page is a list of all your habits that you want to change, with activity in the last four days. By default, it’s a gray cross, which means you haven’t. But if you’re sticking with your habit, change it up by long-tapping on it to add a blue tick or enter a value, like how many miles you ran.
Loop keeps track of all the data about an activity and presents it in various charts and graphs to visualize your progress over time. You will find useful data such as your longest streak or which days you do that activity most frequently.
Be sure to check out the Loop settings for some additional cool items. For example, you can make Loop’s reminder notifications sticky so they can’t be cleared until you finish the task. Or you can add “skip days” so you don’t lose your streak on a rest day due to some habit.
Discharge: Loop Habit Tracker for Android (Free)
Forming new habits? allow failure
In addition to keeping your habit tracker app simple, hopefully you’ll also keep your habit goals simple. People tend to overreach or set unrealistic goals and are too hard on themselves when they can’t meet them.
In fact, when you’re forming new habits, it’s best to establish a mindset that allows for failure. Too many habit and method trackers focus on continuous streaks and uncompromising routines. But if you’re wrong, it’s not the end of the world. So keep that in mind when you’re establishing the habit itself, and have a plan for how to pick yourself up and restart in case you stumble.