The Best Apps for New Year's Resolutions

Why apps help resolutions stick (and which kind)

Most New Year's resolutions die by February for one reason: "get fit" or "be more productive" is a wish with no next action. The apps that actually help are the ones that turn a vague goal into a concrete, trackable behavior — and remind you of it until it's a habit. There are three flavors: goal trackers (log progress toward a target), habit builders (daily consistency), and coaches (that plan the behavior for you). Here are the best in each, so you can match the app to the resolution.

1. Strides — best for goals with a number and a deadline

If your resolution has a target ("run 500 miles," "read 24 books," "save $5,000"), Strides is built for it. Its four tracker types — Target, Habit, Average, and Project — cover goals, daily habits, running averages, and milestone projects, so you can track almost anything with a number attached. It's iOS-focused with a free tier and an optional subscription. The pick for measurable, ambitious goals.

2. Fabulous — best for beginners who want to be guided

Fabulous, born out of Duke University's Behavioral Economics Lab, takes a coaching approach: instead of dropping you into a blank tracker, it walks you through building morning, afternoon, and evening routines using behavioral-science principles. That structure makes it excellent if you don't yet know how to build the habit — and less ideal if you already know exactly what you want to track. Available on iOS and Android.

3. Habitica — best for gamified motivation

Habitica turns your resolutions into a role-playing game: complete them to earn XP, gold, and gear; miss them and your character takes damage. Every core feature is free (the subscription is purely cosmetic), and its party system adds real accountability. If "boring" is why your past resolutions failed, the game layer genuinely helps. See our habit tracker comparison for how it stacks up.

Turn your resolutions into a daily plan with Mo, the AI coach in Productivity Genie — free to start.

4. Streaks — best clean habit tracker (Apple)

For resolutions that are really daily habits ("meditate," "floss," "walk"), Streaks is the most polished option on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch: one-tap check-ins, a beautiful "don't break the chain" interface, and Apple Health integration to auto-complete some habits. A one-time purchase, no subscription — but Apple-only. On Android, Loop Habit Tracker is the best free equivalent.

5. Productivity Genie — best for turning a big goal into daily steps

The hardest part of most resolutions is the gap between the goal and today's action. Productivity Genie closes it: you tell the AI coach, Mo, what you want to achieve, and it breaks the goal into concrete steps, plans them into your days, and checks in with you — with habit tracking, a focus timer, and a short review in the same app. Free to start on iOS and Android. To be straight: it's brand new and mobile-only, and it's a general productivity system, not a dedicated goal tracker like Strides. But its whole philosophy — "systems over motivation" — is exactly the antidote to resolutions that rely on willpower alone.

6. The free, no-app option: a printable tracker

You don't need an app to start. Our free New Year's resolution tracker lets you write each goal with its reason and first step, then check off every month on a 12-month grid — printable or savable as a PDF, no sign-up. It's the fastest way to turn a resolution into a system today, and you can graduate to an app once you know it'll stick.

How to choose

• Numeric goal with a deadline: Strides.
• You want to be guided step by step: Fabulous.
• You need motivation to be fun: Habitica.
• Simple daily habit (Apple): Streaks.
• Turn a big goal into daily steps: Productivity Genie.
• Start free, no app: the printable resolution tracker.

Whichever you pick, the app is only half of it — the system is what lasts. Our guides to building habits that stick and the science of habit streaks cover how to keep a resolution alive well past February.