User Guide

"Everything you need to build lasting habits, one day at a time."

Welcome

What is Hey Habit Tracker?

Hey Habit Tracker is your personal habit companion. It helps you build good habits and break bad ones through simple, visual tracking.

Whether you want to drink more water, exercise regularly, read more books, or cut back on coffee — this app makes it easy to see your progress and stay motivated.

What Makes It Different?

🎙️

Voice-First

On iPhone, log habits just by talking. Say “8 glasses of water” and you’re done.

Simple & Beautiful

No complicated features. Just clear progress rings that show exactly how you’re doing.

🔒

Your Data Stays Yours

Everything is stored on your device. We don’t collect, sync, or share your habit data.

Who Is This For?

Hey Habit Tracker is perfect if you:

  • Want to build positive daily routines
  • Prefer visual progress over complicated spreadsheets
  • Value your privacy
  • Like the idea of hands-free voice logging (iPhone users)
  • Want something simple that actually works

Getting Started

Download & Installation

Hey Habit Tracker is available on the App Store for iPhone.

📱

iPhone

App Store

Just search for “Hey Habit Tracker” and download it for free.

Your First Launch

When you open the app for the first time, you’ll see a friendly welcome that walks you through:

  1. 1
    “You just took the hardest step” — A reminder that deciding to change is the biggest hurdle
  2. 2
    “Who will you become?” — Think about the person you want to be
  3. 3
    “Effortless Accountability” — No streak pressure, no perfection required
  4. 4
    “Privacy by Design” — Your habits, your business — data stays on your device
  5. 5
    Subscription options — Choose your plan (free or premium)
  6. 6
    “How Hey Habit Tracker Works” — A quick overview, then tap Get Started!

Swipe through these screens or tap the buttons to continue.

Creating Your First Habit

After the welcome screens, you’ll land on the home screen. Here’s how to create your first habit:

  1. 1Tap “Get Started” or the + button
  2. 2Enter a name (like “Water” or “Exercise”)
  3. 3Choose whether this is something you want to build (do more of) or break (do less of)
  4. 4Set your target and unit (like “64 ounces” or “30 minutes”)
  5. 5Pick a fun icon and color
  6. 6Tap Save

That’s it! Your first habit is ready to track.

Helpful hints: The first time you create a habit, you’ll see helpful tooltips explaining each option. These only appear once, but you can see them again by going to Settings and tapping “Re-run Onboarding.”

Core Concepts

What is a “Habit” in This App?

A habit is anything you want to track regularly. It could be:

  • Something you do (exercise, meditation, reading)
  • Something you consume (water, coffee, calories)
  • Something you avoid (smoking, screen time, junk food)

Each habit has a target — the amount you’re aiming for each day, week, or month.

Build Habits vs. Break Habits

📈 Build Habits

Things you want to do MORE of. Your goal is to reach or exceed your target.

📉 Break Habits

Things you want to do LESS of. Your goal is to stay under your limit.

The app shows your progress differently for each type, so you always know if you’re on track.

Understanding Your Progress

Your progress is shown as a percentage:

  • 100% = You hit your target!
  • Over 100% = You exceeded your goal (great for build habits!)
  • Under 100% = You still have room to go
Example: If your water target is 8 glasses and you’ve had 6: Progress = 6 ÷ 8 = 75%. The progress ring fills to 75%.

Daily Tracking Flow

A typical day looks like this:

  1. 1
    Morning — Open the app and see yesterday’s results
  2. 2
    Throughout the day — Log entries as you go (voice or manual)
  3. 3
    Evening — Check your progress and see if you hit your targets
  4. 4
    Repeat — Build momentum day by day

No pressure to be perfect. Just show up and track honestly.

Creating Habits

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Open the habit creator

From the home screen, tap + in the Quick Actions area, or go to Settings → My Habits → Add New

2
Name your habit

Type something short and clear: “Water”, “Exercise”, “Reading”. The app will suggest an icon based on the name.

3
Choose your habit type

Build: Things you want to do more of. Break: Things you want to limit.

4
Set your target

Enter the number you’re aiming for. For build habits, this is your goal to reach. For break habits, this is your maximum limit.

5
Set a default value (optional)

A quick-log amount for one-tap logging. Example: Set “1” for water so each tap logs 1 glass.

6
Choose your unit

What are you measuring? Glasses, minutes, steps, pages, cups — type any unit that makes sense to you. Note: on the Home screen only the first 3 letters of the unit will be displayed.

7
Pick your timeframe

Daily: Resets every day at midnight. Weekly: Sunday to Saturday. Monthly: Calendar month.

8
Choose a color and icon

Pick a color that feels right and choose an emoji icon (or keep the suggested one).

9
Save!

Tap Save and your habit is ready to track.

Common Targets

Here are some common targets to get you started:

Habit Good Target Unit
Water64ounces
Exercise30minutes
Reading20minutes
Meditation10minutes
Coffee (break)3cups
Screen time (break)2hours
Zone 2 workout2times (per week)

Start with targets that feel achievable. You can always adjust later!

Examples of Good Habits to Track

Health & Fitness

  • • Water intake
  • • Exercise minutes
  • • Steps walked
  • • Hours of sleep
  • • Fruits & vegetables eaten

Personal Growth

  • • Pages read
  • • Minutes of meditation
  • • Journal entries
  • • Learning time

Productivity

  • • Deep work hours
  • • Tasks completed
  • • Meetings attended

Things to Limit

  • • Coffee cups
  • • Alcoholic drinks
  • • Cigarettes
  • • Vaping
  • • Social media minutes
  • • Snacks eaten

Tracking Your Progress

Logging with Voice (iPhone Only)

This is the magic of Hey Habit Tracker on iPhone! Instead of typing, just talk.

How it works:

You don’t even need to have the app open —

  1. 1Just say “Hey Siri, log habit in Hey Habit Tracker”
  2. 2Siri will respond: “What would you like to log?”
  3. 3Then say the amount and habit name. For example: “10 grams of protein”
  4. 4Siri will confirm by saying “Logged 10 grams of protein”

That’s it — two steps, completely hands-free.

Other supported phrases to engage Siri:

  • “Hey Siri, track habit in Hey Habit Tracker”
  • “Hey Siri, record habit in Hey Habit Tracker”
  • “Hey Siri, add habit in Hey Habit Tracker”
Setup: Siri Shortcuts are registered automatically when you create habits. No extra setup needed. You can find more details in the app under Settings → Siri Help.

Tips for voice logging:

  • Speak clearly and naturally
  • If Siri doesn’t understand, it will ask you to repeat
  • You can always switch to manual entry (see below)

Manual Entry (All Platforms)

When you prefer typing:

  1. 1Tap the Log tab or tap the habit’s button under Quick Actions on the Home Page
  2. 2Select your habit from the dropdown if your navigation path was through Log
  3. 3Enter the amount
  4. 4Add a note if you want (optional)
  5. 5Adjust the date/time if needed
  6. 6Tap Save

Quick Actions from Home Screen

The fastest way to log habits:

  1. 1Look at the Quick Actions section on the home screen
  2. 2Each habit has its own button
  3. 3Tap once to log your default value

Example: If your Water habit has a default of 1, each tap logs 1 glass.

Set up default values when creating habits to make this super quick!

Viewing Your Progress

Home Screen

Your home screen is command central. Here’s what you’ll see:

🎯

Progress Visualization

Concentric progress rings showing all your habits at once. Each ring fills based on your percentage toward the target.

Quick Actions

Buttons for your habits. Tap to log with your default value. The + button adds new habits.

📋

Recent Activity

Your last 5 logged entries. Shows what, when, and how much. Tap “See All” for the full history.

Progress Tab

Tap the Progress tab for deeper insights.

Overview Mode: Summary cards showing Goals Met, Needs Work, and Average Progress, plus your progress visualization and actual vs. target numbers.

Time Periods:

  • Today — Just today’s progress
  • Week — Last 7 days
  • Month — This month so far
  • All — Your complete history

Charts

Tap “Charts” in the Progress tab to see trends:

Bar Chart

Daily totals as vertical bars with a target line. Scroll left to see past days.

Line Chart

Your progress as a flowing line. Great for spotting trends over time.

Heatmap

A calendar-style grid. Darker colors = better performance. Shows all habits at once.

Understanding the Heatmap: The heatmap uses color intensity to show your daily performance at a glance. Darker cells mean you were closer to (or exceeded) your target. Lighter cells mean you fell short. This makes it easy to spot patterns — your best days of the week, consistent stretches, and days you missed.

Managing Habits

Editing Existing Habits

Made a mistake or want to change your target?

  1. 1Go to Settings → My Habits
  2. 2Find the habit you want to change
  3. 3Tap the Edit button
  4. 4Make your changes
  5. 5Tap Save

You can change anything: name, target, icon, color, habit type.

Archiving vs. Deleting

Archive

Hides a habit but keeps all your history. Great for seasonal habits. You can restore it anytime.

Edit the habit → Tap “Archive” in the Danger Zone section → Confirm

Delete

Removes the habit completely. All history for that habit is gone. Use only if you’re sure.

To restore archived: Settings → My Habits → Archived Habits → Restore

Editing & Deleting Entries

Made a logging mistake? No problem.

To edit an entry: Go to the Data tab → Find the entry → Tap Edit → Change the amount, date, time, or notes → Tap Save

To delete an entry: Go to the Data tab → Find the entry → Tap Delete → Confirm deletion

Undo! After deleting, you have 5 seconds to tap “Undo” and get it back.

Settings & Preferences

Appearance

Auto — Follows your phone’s setting
Light — Always light mode
Dark — Always dark mode

Reminders

Set a daily reminder notification to log your habits. Choose your preferred time. Great for building the tracking habit itself!

Data Management

View Storage

See how much space your data uses and check when you last backed up.

Export Options

Download Database: Full backup file. Generate Test Data: Create sample data to explore features.

Danger Zone

Clear All Data: Permanently delete everything. Requires double confirmation. Cannot be undone!

Tips for Success

1

Start Small

Research shows that more than 7 habits is too difficult for most people to track, so Hey Habit Tracker has a 7 habit limit. Track just 2–3 habits at first. Pick your top priorities and nail those first. You can always add more later.

2

Use Default Values

Set up default values for one-tap logging: Water = 1 glass, Exercise = 15 minutes, Reading = 10 pages. Makes logging so fast you’ll actually do it.

3

Don’t Chase Perfection

Missing a day doesn’t erase your progress. The app shows averages and trends, not just streaks. A few missed days in a great month is still a great month!

4

Review Weekly

Take 5 minutes each week to check the Week view, celebrate what went well, notice patterns, and adjust targets if needed.

5

Make It Visible

Keep the app on your phone’s home screen. The more you see it, the more you’ll use it.

6

Pair Habits with Triggers

Attach habits to things you already do: “After my morning coffee, I’ll log my water goal.” “Before bed, I’ll review my day.”

7

Be Honest

Log what actually happened, not what you wish happened. The data is for YOU. Honest tracking leads to real insights.

Troubleshooting

Privacy & Your Data

🔒 Your data stays on your device. Period.

Your habit data is stored locally on your phone, tablet, or computer. It never leaves your device unless YOU choose to export it.

Crash Reporting & Analytics

To improve app stability, we use Sentry for crash reporting. This collects:

  • Anonymous session data (app opens, crashes)
  • Error reports with device platform info
  • No habit data, names, or logged entries are ever sent

Emails and IP addresses are stripped before any data is transmitted.

What We Don’t Collect

  • We don’t track what habits you create
  • We don’t collect personal information (name, email, location)
  • We don’t have accounts or logins
  • We don’t sync your habit data to any cloud servers

Exporting Your Data

Want a backup or to analyze your data elsewhere?

JSON Export

Full backup. Contains everything: habits, entries, settings. Can be imported back.

CSV Export

Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers. Perfect for custom charts.

Database Export

Raw SQLite .db file. For advanced users or full backups.

How to export: Go to the Data tab → Tap the export button → Choose your format → Share or save the file.

Deleting Your Data

  • Delete individual entries: Data tab → Find entry → Delete
  • Delete a habit and its history: Settings → My Habits → Edit → Delete
  • Delete EVERYTHING: Settings → Clear All Data (requires confirmation, cannot be undone)

FAQ

General Questions

Habits & Tracking

Data & Privacy

Troubleshooting

You’ve Got This!

Building habits isn’t about being perfect. It’s about showing up, tracking honestly, and making small improvements over time.

Hey Habit Tracker is here to support you on that journey. One day at a time, one log at a time.

Now go track something!