Habits · Productivity · Free
Every habit as a ring you tap, twelve weeks of days beneath it, and a smaller version for the days you don't feel like it.
Recurring practices as rings you tap to log, each with twelve weeks of days beneath it, a minimum version for hard days, and schedules from daily to "3 times a week".
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One tap to logTap a ring to check a habit off or tick its next check. A counter's ring opens − and +, its quick amounts and "Mark Done".
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Weeks you can seeUnder every ring sit twelve weeks of days, darker the closer each came to its target, with today ringed.
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Kind to hard daysA minimum version keeps the streak on a day you only manage a little, and grace misses let a slip go without starting over.
Your first week with Habits
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Start with one or two
Tap + and name a habit you already half do. Pick its type, set a target, and leave "Repeat" on Daily for now.
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Make it yours
The second step gives the habit a life area, an emoji and a colour, and can link it to a goal, a person or a module.
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Set a minimum
In the habit's edit sheet, add a "Minimum version", the smallest amount that still counts. On a bad day, long-press the ring and do that.
Every step, in detail
- 1 Open Habits and tap +. The "New Habit" sheet has three steps, "What's the habit?", "Make it yours" and "Review & create".
- 2 Name the habit and pick a type, "Checkbox", "Counter", "Duration", "Multi-check" or "Checklist", then set its target.
- 3 Under "Schedule & Timing", choose how often it repeats, which days, and the time of day it belongs to.
- 4 In the second step, pick a life area, an emoji and a colour, and use "Link To" to tie it to a goal, a person or another module.
- 5 Log it by tapping its ring on the Habits page, from Today, or from the habit's own page with a quick-add button or "Enter amount…".
A ring for each habit, and a tap to log it
The Habits page draws every habit as a ring over twelve weeks of days. The ring fills with today’s progress and turns solid when the habit is done. These three are a sample: tap each ring to see how it logs.
Sample · Tuesday, October 20
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Drink water
of 8 glasses
Drink water
3 of 8 glasses
26d · best 26d
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Take vitamins
1 of 3
5d · best 5d
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Read 20 pages
Not done yet
12d · best 14d
Drink water opens its log: − and +, the quick amounts, and “Mark Done”. Take vitamins ticks Morning, then Noon, then Evening, and a fourth tap unticks the last. Read 20 pages checks off, and a second tap takes it back.
- The flame counts the streak. Until today is done it counts back from yesterday, so an unticked ring in the morning has not broken anything.
- Long-press a ring for its quick amounts, “Take off” and the minimum version. A checklist’s ring opens its steps instead.
- The page groups habits by time of day, under “ACTIVE”, and keeps paused ones under “PAUSED” at the end. “View as List” in the ⋯ menu swaps the rings for rows.
Sixteen weeks, one square a day
A habit’s own page draws a longer run of days than its tile: sixteen weeks, a column a week from Monday. A square is darker the closer that day came to the target. A day kept with the minimum sits a step lighter than a full one.
Sample · Drink water, 8 glasses a day
- Current Streak
- 26d
- Longest Streak
- 26d
- Total Days
- 84
- Total Count
- 809
LAST 7 DAYS
- 8
- 10
- 1
- 9
- 10
- 10
- 3
ACTIVITY
Active on 99 of the last 107 days. The two lighter squares in the current run are days kept with “1 glass”, the minimum.
How a streak counts, and what a grace miss forgives
A streak counts the habit’s days back from today, or from yesterday while today is still open. Days the habit isn’t due are skipped, so a weekday habit keeps its streak over the weekend. A miss ends it, unless you allow grace misses.
Sample · Morning pages, Monday to Friday
6d Current Streak
17d Current Streak
22d Current Streak
With none, the streak runs back from Monday the 19th and stops at the miss on Friday the 9th: 6 days. The weekend between counts for nothing either way.
With one a month, October’s grace covers the 9th and September’s covers the 30th. The 22nd is September’s second miss, so the streak stops there: 17 days. The bridged days are not counted, only forgiven.
With two a month, September can forgive both the 30th and the 22nd. The 14th would be its third, and ends the streak at 22 days.
- “Grace misses per month” is under RECOVERY in Advanced Settings, from 0 to 10. Grace works on habits with set days; a flexible “3 times a week” habit counts its weeks instead.
- A day kept with the minimum version counts in full. It only looks lighter.
- “Longest Streak” on the habit’s page is the best run in its whole history, measured the same way.
Five ways to count a day
A habit’s type decides what “done” means and what a tap does. The filter chips at the top of the Habits page are the same five.
Checkbox
Floss
Done or not done. One tap checks it.
Counter
Drink water
3 / 8 glasses
Duration
Deep work
45 / 90 min
Multi-check
Take vitamins
- Morning
- Noon
- Evening
Checklist
Morning routine · 2 / 4 complete
- Meditate 10 min
- Cold shower
- Read 20 pages
- Journal entry
Sample habits. A counter or duration logs with its quick-add buttons or “Enter amount…” on its page; a checklist can take its steps from a saved checklist template.
Schedules, from every day to once a month
“Schedule & Timing” sets how often a habit repeats and on which days. A habit asks for you only on the days it is due. Here are five sample habits over the same four weeks; a filled dot is a day the habit is due.
Sample · September 28 to October 25
For the flexible run, the dots are the days it was done: any three in a week meet the target, and the count under each week is what the Habits page shows as “2/3 wk”.
Time of day
Each habit belongs to a part of the day
Anytime shows all day, and is where a habit goes until you choose.
The Habits page groups its rings under these headings. A weekly habit can be set to early, mid or late week instead, and a monthly one to early, mid or end of month.
A smaller version for hard days
A “Minimum version” is the least that still counts: one glass instead of eight, one push-up instead of fifty. Doing it keeps the streak, and the ring and the day show a shade lighter so you can tell.
Sample · Drink water, three days
- 8 of 8 glassesDone
- 1 of 8 glassesMinimum kept
- 3 of 8 glassesNot done yet
LONG-PRESS THE RING
Once the minimum is logged, the same item reads “Undo minimum”. A minimum is offered on habits you want at least of; a habit you want less of has no smaller version that counts.
Allow catch-up sessions
Forgot to log? “Catch up 3 missed”
Before
After
Turn on “Allow catch-up sessions” and the habit’s ⋯ menu counts the due days you missed in the last 90. “Catch up N missed” fills the most recent of them to the target, as many as “Catch-up limit per day” allows. To log one particular day yourself, turn on “Allow backdating”.
Insights: how often the habits happen
“Insights”, in the ⋯ menu, looks across every habit at once. It counts the days each habit was due, and how many of those you completed.
Sample · August 3 to October 20
You complete 73% of your scheduled habits.
Consistency · 12 weeks
Trending up: 83% completion over the last 4 weeks.
Each bar is the share of scheduled habit-days completed that week.
- 12-wk avg
- 73%
- last 4 wks
- 83%
- vs avg
- +10 pts
The last four weeks are drawn darker here, to show what “last 4 wks” covers. This week has two days in it so far.
Momentum
Your strongest run is 26d on Drink water.
3 habits are on a roll right now.
- Drink water 26d now → 30d on Oct 24 +4d
- Read 20 pages 12d now → 14d on Oct 22 +2d
- Stretch 9d now → 14d on Oct 25 +5d
The milestones run 7, 14, 30, 60, 100, 180, 365, 500 and 1,000 days. A run shorter than 3 days isn’t listed.
Before any habit is scheduled, Insights says “Nothing to show yet.”
Advanced settings, for the habits that need them
Most habits never need this sheet. “Advanced settings”, at the foot of a habit’s edit sheet, opens with a plain-English summary of the habit, then groups everything else.
Session target · Target rule
What counts as done
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At leastDrink water · 8 or more
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At mostCoffee · 2 cups or fewer
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RangeSleep · 7 to 9 hours
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ExactTake vitamins · exactly 3
For something you want to do less of, turn on “Inverse habit”: lower is better, and the day counts while you stay at or under the target.
The rest of the sheet
- WHEN
- “Calendar schedule” is the usual one. The others: “After completion” (again a set time after it was last done), “Rolling window” (so many times in any run of days), “After habit” (triggered by another habit) and “Random in period”.
- TIMING
- “Completion window”, the hours in which a check-in is on time.
- COMPLETION
- “Allow catch-up sessions”, and what happens “When completed”.
- RECOVERY
- “Grace misses per month”.
- DEPENDENCIES
- “Unlocked by”: another habit that comes first.
- DATA SOURCE
- “Apple Health”, to complete the habit from a Health metric such as steps. The values it reads stay on your iPhone.
- DISPLAY
- “Allow backdating”, and “Paused” to hide the habit from Today while you are away.
- MEDICATION
- “This is a medication”, for a course with an end date and a dose to confirm.
Tips
- Grouping by time of day ("Morning", "Anytime" …) is how the page is laid out. Paused habits sit under "PAUSED" at the end, and archived ones open from "Archived" in the ⋯ menu.
- Pause a habit while you are away with "Paused" under DISPLAY in its Advanced Settings.
- With "Allow catch-up sessions" on, the habit's ⋯ menu offers "Catch up N missed", which fills in the most recent missed days.
- Set "Grace misses per month" under RECOVERY so an occasional slip doesn't reset a habit with set days.
- Archive habits you have finished with rather than deleting them. "Delete" removes the habit and all its data.
- In Settings, "Group by time of day" splits the habits on Today into morning, afternoon and evening, and "Show streak" adds the current streak to each row.
Questions
About Habits day to day.
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Does missing one day break my streak?
By default, yes. Set "Grace misses per month" in Advanced Settings so a habit with set days keeps its streak through an occasional slip, or log its minimum version on a hard day, which keeps the streak.
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If I haven't done it yet today, is my streak gone?
No. Until today is done, the streak counts back from yesterday. It only breaks once a scheduled day passes undone.
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Can I track something I want to do less of?
Yes. Turn on "Inverse habit" in Advanced Settings, or set the target rule to "At most", and the day counts when you stay at or under the target.
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I forgot to log yesterday. Can I fix it?
Turn on "Allow catch-up sessions", then use "Catch up N missed" in the habit's ⋯ menu, which fills in the most recent missed days. "Allow backdating" lets you log a past date yourself.
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What does the Insights percentage mean?
It is the share of scheduled habit-days you completed. Each bar is one week, twelve in all, and the headline compares the last four weeks with the twelve-week average.
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Can Apple Health fill in a habit?
Yes. Under DATA SOURCE in Advanced Settings, turn on Apple Health and choose a Health metric. The values it reads stay on your iPhone.
Works with
Where Habits hands off to the rest of HourLife.
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Today
Today shows your habits as rings or rows, so you can log them without opening Habits.
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Goals
"Link To" ties a habit to a goal, and a goal can take its progress from the habit's days.
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Sobriety
In a habit's edit sheet, "Replacement Behavior For" links it to a Sobriety goal, which then lists it as a replacement behavior.
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Checklists
A "Checklist" habit can take its steps from a saved checklist template.
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Highlights
Long-press a habit on the Habits page and choose "Add to Highlights" to record it as a highlight.
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Focus
A habit linked to "Start a timer" checks itself off when the session finishes.
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Wisdom
Wisdom entries linked to a habit appear on that habit's page.
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Intentions
Link a habit to an intention, and each day you check it off joins that intention’s thread.
Read and try
Books from the library that Habits puts into practice, and something to try on paper or in the browser.
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Atomic Habits James Clear Clear on small changes, easy starts and habits as votes for who you are. Habits keeps the tally.
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Tiny Habits BJ Fogg Fogg on starting so small you cannot fail, the idea behind a habit's minimum version for hard days.
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The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg Duhigg's cue, routine and reward, worth knowing before you choose a habit's schedule and reminder.
Already have HourLife?
Habits is under Productivity in the module list. Today shows your habits too, and the ⋯ menu on the Habits page holds "Insights", "View as List", "Archived" and "Settings".
Habits is in the Library, under Productivity. If it isn’t there, turn it on in Settings → Look & Feel → Modules.
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