Show HN: Streaks, a todo list that helps you form good habits
streaksapp.com
streaksapp.com
Edit:
For those interested, this is my first app written in Swift, and also my first app using HealthKit.
I think HealthKit is pretty awesome and over the next few years, there will be a ton of apps using it in interesting ways.
This seems like a good balance of todos. Why 6 instead of 4,5, or 7?
You can have less, but it encourages you to keep adding until you have six tasks.
It came from my own needs where there's a few set tasks I need to do every day in my own business. It's not that I forget, but sometimes I'm lazy, and this motivates me to ensure they all get done, each day.
Speaking of, I have Streaks on the toddler's phone with daily habits of things like reading, brushing teeth, helping clean up, listening well, etc. Very useful so far.
I use it for walking more, working smarter, reading more, etc. I find it very motivating. While on holiday, I changed "Work on side project" to "Choose the healthy option".
No other to-do app has stuck with me. I feel like this one works because it tackles a subset of the broader to-do landscape. Not one-offs, or dependent tasks but just regular things we all want to do more of or less of.
In any case, what does this satisfy that something like Habit RPG doesn't? I'll give you the "well, its simple" use case. Anything else?
I'm not familiar with Habit RPG, but yes, the simplicity I think is important.
That is something I haven't seen. I feel like such an old fogey.
My wife and I have a couple 'educational' games on our phones so we can hand them to our daughter on car rides, etc. When I upgraded my phone, we suddenly realized that our two year old was now the de facto owner of a Galaxy S4.
It's bordering on disquieting to watch a two year old navigate a smartphone as adeptly as someone 10 times their age...
In any case, congratulations on shipping code!
We really tried to pull back the features as much as possible. We storyboarded complex stats charts, reports, being able to add in data for missed days, etc... but all that adds to complexity and technical debt
It looks to me both apps target the same mindset, but with slightly different execution.
Streaks limits the number of tasks and adds pretty icons, plus HealthKit integration, while it looks like HabitList puts a bigger focus on the reporting side of things.
If you could move the App Store button to the top so it's clear it's limited to iOS that would be helpful to some of us I'm sure.
[0] http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/23/kantar-smartphone-sales-and...
1) I'm the sole developer, so it takes a long time to develop (this was about 3-4 months)
2) I really wanted to integrate health data. The step/distance tracking on iPhone and the Health app is perfect for this.
3) The price point lends itself moreso to iPhone users than Android users.
This feedback only matters if you are focused on making money long term on this. Essentially: what is your competitive advantage that you can actually sustain?
Edit: I'm asking a legitimate question, you can stop down voting.
In actual fact, Apple have just shown their hand with this with the Apple Watch daily goals. It's somewhat similar, yet I think both can co-exist easily.
In fact, I use both. Streaks doesn't rely on the Health app, but once the prototype was up and running it was clear the app was superior with HealthKit integration so it became a bigger part of the app.
Apple are investing heavily in the health-related aspects of iOS. Your argument could be applied to any app that integrates with the Health app.
(Side note: I also make public transport apps for iOS, so I'm well aware of how things can go, with all the rumours circling about transit announcements at WWDC)
The technical challenging thing that I remember was to make a horizontal and vertical scrolling view with fixed headers on top and fixed labels on right, where the headers and labels would scroll along with the content.
Not much useful to say otherwise except... come back in a bit and update us on how your app is doing on the app store and such? Considering 60% of apps never get downloaded, I'm at least curious where your app falls in; if it proves to have been worth the effort or not when everything is hindsight.
"Unfortunately, too many well-intentioned products fail because they feel like “haftas,” things people are obligated to do, as opposed to things they “wanna” do. Schell points to neuroscience research showing “there are different channels in the brain for seeking positive consequences and avoiding negative consequences.”
"When faced with “haftas,” our brains register them as punishments so we take shortcuts, cheat, skip-out, or in the case of many apps or websites, uninstall them or click away in order to escape the discomfort of feeling controlled."
[1] http://www.nirandfar.com/2013/07/why-behavior-change-apps-fa...
A good keyword for finding these "Don't break the chain" [2] apps on Android is "Seinfeld". [3]
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=se.lixi.mychai...
[2] http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se...
[3] https://play.google.com/store/search?q=seinfeld%20chain|habi...
I have 2 questions:
1. How is your app different than the dozens of habit forming apps out there?
2. What scientific research did you base your app on?
1a. I find "Regular" todo apps get overwhelming after a point. I know this because I have about 10 different todo lists that currently aren't being completed
1b. The other apps like Streaks I personally don't think are simple enough. Either they show too much information or they don't compel me to complete tasks enough. There is a real feeling of satisfaction in Streaks simply by having to press-hold for half a second to complete a task.
2. I'm not going to profess to any scientific studies. Simply put, this is what works for me. I've been using it in prototype form since early February to scratch my own itch in relation to the daily tasks I need to complete
Tangential criticism: the icon is visually unsatisfying. As in, it is graphically and logically correct, but visually it is like a song with the final note missing. Did you consider using a version with the circle closed? I think I understand the reasoning behind the unclosed circle, but I don't think it is worth the visual dissonance.
We played with another variation for quite some time but it didn't indicate anything related to tasks/completing something.
I really like what Apple has done with the icon for iOS "Activity" app that accompanies the Apple Watch. That the conveys a similar message to what we're doing.
(I do confess: I've tap-held our app icon from Springboard a few icons, which enables the app wiggle for rearranging apps)
You should think about offering a "lite" version that tracks your streaks for 2 weeks or so, then if someone wants to track them longer they'd have to upgrade.
That said, I love the idea.
Their example says "Get fit", whereas in Streaks you would have a task "Walk 5,000 Steps"