Streaks is one of the most polished habit trackers on the iPhone, and it won an Apple Design Award for good reason. You pick a handful of daily tasks, tick them off, and a chain grows behind each one. The longer you keep going, the longer that chain, and watching the number climb is the whole hook. For a lot of people it works.
The trouble is what happens on day 41.
Miss a day and the chain snaps back to zero. For some people that reset is a clean slate to chase again. For plenty of others it's the moment they delete the app. You had a run of forty days, one bad day got in the way, and now the thing that was meant to keep you going is a little monument to the streak you broke. That all-or-nothing feeling is built into how streaks work, and it's the most common reason people come looking for an alternative.
None of this means Streaks is a bad app. It's fast, it's beautiful, it lives on your Apple Watch and your home screen, it pulls steps and workouts straight from Apple Health, and the one-time price with no subscription is a rare and welcome thing. If the chain is what keeps you honest, keep it. This piece is for the other kind of person, the one who wants the habit to survive a missed Tuesday.
Below are eight apps like Streaks, sorted so you can see at a glance what runs on your phone and what it costs. Some are free. A few are paid or freemium. Each entry says which, and I've flagged who it suits and who should scroll on. App prices move around, so treat any figure as a rough guide and check before you buy.
One thing up front. Little and Often is run by the Meadow team, so our own app leads the list. It earns the spot for the exact reader this article is written for, the person tired of breaking streaks, and I'm honest below about who it's not for. If it isn't your thing, read straight past it, because most of what follows is good and several of them cost nothing.
1. Meadow: progress you grow, with nothing to break
If the part of Streaks you liked was seeing proof that you'd shown up, but the part you dreaded was the reset, Meadow keeps the first and drops the second. Each day you log some movement you enjoy, a walk, a stretch, a bit of dancing, or tick off a small habit like drinking water or getting outside, a new wildflower blooms in a meadow that's yours alone. Over weeks it fills in. Rare flowers turn up now and then, and little animal visitors wander in as it grows, so the reward you're watching is a real thing you've built, not a counter that can drop to zero.
That's the whole difference. There are no streaks in Meadow. Miss a day, a week or a month and nothing resets, nothing wilts, and no number shames you when you open it. Your meadow is exactly as you left it, and you pick up whenever you're ready. You can also note your mood and energy, write down one good thing each day, and start with a short affirmation. There's a built-in breathwork feature too, so you can practise your breathing next to the meadow you've grown, which is a calmer way back in after a stretch of missed days.
Two honest caveats. Meadow is iPhone-only, so Android users are out for now. And it's a paid app, which is worth knowing if you're only after free ones. Made by Wildcard Wellness, Meadow is built around consistency instead of intensity, which is the reason a missed day costs you nothing.
Best for: anyone who quit Streaks over a broken chain and wants visible progress that can't be wiped. Not for you if: you're on Android, or you need a free tool.
2. Way of Life: mark a day as skipped and keep your run
Way of Life is the closest thing here to Streaks that still forgives you. It tracks habits as chains, like Streaks does, but it gives you a third option most trackers don't. Any day you can tap "did it", "didn't", or "skip", and a skipped day doesn't break the chain. Away on holiday, off sick, or the habit didn't apply that day? Mark it skipped and your run carries on. Each habit gets its own journal, so you can add a note about what happened, and you can see trends over time.
It runs on iPhone and Android. The free version lets you track a small number of habits, commonly cited as around three, and a premium subscription lifts the cap and adds the fuller feature set. If you like the chain but hate that a normal life breaks it, this is the gentlest way to keep it.
Best for: Streaks fans who want the chain to survive the odd day off. Not for you if: you want to track a dozen habits without paying, or you'd rather leave chains behind entirely.
3. Loop Habit Tracker: a strength score instead of a raw streak
Loop Habit Tracker rethinks the whole idea of counting days. Instead of a streak that lives or dies on a perfect record, Loop gives each habit a "score" that measures how strong it is over time. Do the habit and the score climbs. Miss a day and it dips a little, then recovers as you get back to it. One slip doesn.t erase your progress, it nudges the line down, a far kinder picture of how habits form.
It's free, open source, and ad-free, with no in-app purchases and no account to sign up for. It works offline, keeps your data on your device, handles flexible schedules like three times a week, and shows detailed graphs. The catch is platform: Loop is Android-only, so iPhone users can't use it. For Android owners who want something free that treats a bad day as a wobble, not a failure, it's hard to beat.
Best for: Android users who want a free, private tracker that scores strength over time. Not for you if: you're on an iPhone, or you want reminders and polish over raw function.
4. Habitify: the numbers person's tracker, on every device
Habitify is the one to reach for if you want data, and you want it everywhere. It runs on iPhone, Android, web, Mac and Apple Watch, and it syncs across the lot, which makes it a natural fit for Streaks-leavers who also live on a laptop. You get daily, weekly and custom schedules, completion history, notes and mood logging, and it can log some habits automatically by pulling from Apple Health, Fitbit and Strava.
It's freemium. The free tier covers basic tracking, and a paid Plus or Pro subscription lifts the habit limit and opens up the analytics and integrations. Habitify still shows streaks, so it isn't a full escape from the chain, but the emphasis sits on the graphs and the long view, and a missed day is one data point among many, not a game over.
Best for: people who want cross-platform sync and proper analytics. Not for you if: you find charts stressful, or you want everything free.
5. Finch: look after yourself and a small bird grows
Finch swaps the chain for a pet. You raise a little bird by doing small acts of self-care, a short walk, a glass of water, a breathing exercise, and the bird gains energy and heads off on tiny adventures. It's warm, it's soft, and it wraps habit-building in mood check-ins, journaling and guided breathing, with no stark daily grid. Millions of people love it.
It's free to download on iPhone and Android, with an optional Finch Plus subscription for extras. Two things to weigh. The bird's notifications can start to feel like another person to let down, which is its own kind of pressure, and some find the tone a touch cute. But there's no streak to shatter, and if the reason you left Streaks was that a broken chain felt like a telling-off, a cheerful bird is a softer companion.
Best for: people who want gentle self-care wrapped around their habits. Not for you if: a needy notification would nag at you as much as a lost streak did.
6. HabitNow: routines and timers for Android, pay once
HabitNow is the most capable option on this list for Android, and it earns a place because it charges the way Streaks does. You track daily, weekly and monthly habits, add one-off tasks, run timers, set reminders, and group habits into morning and evening routine blocks. The stats are detailed without being overwhelming.
The free tier lets you track up to seven habits, which is plenty for most people, and Premium is a one-time payment rather than a subscription, with cloud backups thrown in. It's Android-only, with no web version. HabitNow does count streaks, so it won't hide them from you, but the routine-building focus and the honest one-off price make it a strong pick for Android owners who want depth without a monthly bill.
Best for: Android users who want routines and timers and prefer a single payment. Not for you if: you're on an iPhone, or a visible streak is the thing you're trying to escape.
7. Productive: reminders and challenges to keep you going
Productive is a clean, popular tracker that leans on structure to keep you showing up. You set habits against flexible schedules, get time-specific and location-based reminders, and can join community challenges where a group builds the same habit together, which spreads the motivation beyond a number on your screen. There's a journal and detailed stats too.
It's on iPhone and Android and runs on a freemium model, with a subscription unlocking unlimited habits and most of the useful features. The free tier is on the thin side, so try it before you commit. Productive still shows streaks, but the challenges and the coaching-style nudges give you reasons to return that don't hinge on a spotless record.
Best for: people who like reminders, milestones and a bit of group momentum. Not for you if: you want a full free app, or challenges feel like more pressure, not less.
8. TickTick: one app for your habits, tasks and calendar
TickTick is the pick if you'd rather not run a separate habit app at all. It's a to-do list, calendar and habit tracker in one, with a Pomodoro timer bolted on, and it works on nearly everything: iPhone, Android, web, Windows, Mac and browser extensions, all in sync. The habit tracker sits quietly alongside your tasks, so ticking off "meditate" happens in the same place as your shopping list and your meetings.
The free plan is generous and covers habits, tasks, reminders and the calendar, with soft ceilings on how many lists and tasks you can hold. Premium adds deeper habit stats, custom themes and higher limits. Because habits are one feature among many here, a missed day feels like a small thing, not a headline, which suits people who want their whole life in one tidy app.
Best for: people who want habits folded into a proper task and calendar app. Not for you if: you want a focused, single-purpose habit tracker, or the deeper habit stats behind the paywall put you off.
Free or paid, at a glance
If your search was "an app like Streaks but free", here's where each one stands at the time of writing.
- Loop Habit Tracker is fully free and open source, with no in-app purchases. Android only.
- TickTick has a very usable free plan, with premium for the extras.
- Way of Life, Habitify, Finch and Productive are freemium: free to start, with a subscription for the fuller version.
- HabitNow is freemium with a one-time premium purchase instead of a subscription. Android only.
- Streaks itself is a one-time purchase, no subscription, iPhone and the wider Apple range.
And the paid pick, said plainly so nothing surprises you: Meadow is a paid app, iPhone-only, and it's here because a missed day resets nothing at all.
How to choose the one that sticks
Start with why you're leaving Streaks, then match it.
- You liked the chain but not the reset. Way of Life lets you skip a day without breaking it, and Meadow drops chains for a meadow that only ever grows.
- You want free. Loop Habit Tracker on Android, or TickTick on any platform.
- You want data everywhere. Habitify.
- You want warmth and self-care. Finch.
- You want routines and depth on Android. HabitNow.
- You want habits inside one big organiser. TickTick.
Then be honest with yourself about how you react to a slip. If a broken streak makes you want to bin the whole thing, steer clear of anything that puts a countable run front and centre, and pick a tool that treats an off week as ordinary. That one reaction is the reason most of these apps get uninstalled, so it's worth knowing about yourself before you commit.
Whatever you pick, set it up with one small thing to do tomorrow and give it a fortnight. If you want to think through what to track first, our habit tracker guide is a good starting point, how to be consistent digs into why some habits stick when others don't, and if you're staying on iPhone we compare a few options in our guide to the best habit tracker app for iOS.
The streak was never the point. The walk was the point, the water, the minute of breathing. Pick the app that lets a missed day stay small, and the habit has a chance to outlast the chain.
AUTHOR
Co-founder of Meadow.
Ash is co-founder of Meadow, a habit and movement tracking app that turns small acts of self-care into a growing wildflower meadow.
Little and often, with Meadow
Consistency, not intensity.
Meadow turns the movement you enjoy and the habits that help you feel good into a meadow of wildflowers. No streaks to break, and your flowers never wilt.
Download Meadow
