I was recently searching for an app that I could enter daily to-dos that would automatically rollover each day to help build some daily habits. I received all sorts of recommendations, but one really stuck out – Habitica. The recommender said it was perfect for someone that likes social games and the idea of gamification. What that means is you earn points and build onto a character for every completed to-do! You also lose health when you don’t complete your to-dos. I downloaded Habitica from the Google Play store, but it is also available in the App Store. When logging in for the first time, it will ask if you are using the app for health and wellness or education or business and provide you sample habits and tasks. You can also fully customize the app with items that you want to accomplish.
Habitica is broken up into 4 sections:
- Habits
- Dailies
- To-Dos
- Rewards
Habits
You can set up both Good Habits (things you should do multiple times per day like eat vegetables) and Bad Habits (nail biting). Completing a Good Habit earns you gold and experience, while completing a Bad Habit subtracts health.
Dailies
Dailies are tasks that you have to do every day, like brushing your teeth or checking your email. You can adjust the days that a Daily is due by clicking the pencil item to edit it. If you skip a Daily that is due, your avatar will take damage overnight. I’ve been trying to implement a daily workout routine, so added my individual workouts as Dailies. I also have Dailies for different social media tasks that I want to complete each day, like post on Instagram, my business page, and Twitter. You can earn experience points and coins when completing your Dailies to upgrade your character.
To-Dos
I haven’t used the To-Dos section yet, but this is a place to add one-time items. You can add due dates to your To-Dos and you earn experience points and coins for completing your To-Dos.
Rewards
This section allows you to spend your coins on new weapons and accessories for your character.
Social
There is also a social aspect to the game with Parties, Guilds, Challenges and the Tavern. These features allow you to chat with other users and join challenges with the your friends or strangers based on similar goals.
Conclusion
I highly recommend Habitica! It has a great layout and is easy to use. I like that it breaks out habits that can be completing throughout the day (like drinking water) versus daily habits (10 squats, for example). I’m also motivated to complete my Dailies so I don’t lose Health points. Whenever you lose all your health points, you drop down a level and lose your experience points as well.
