The first step towards achieving something is to set a goal. You cannot achieve anything unless and until you define the outcome. Goal setting is very important, but, at the end of the day, it is only a small part of the puzzle. A part, where most of us seem to give up. We give up because achieving a goal is not as simple as moving from point A to point B. It is more like going from A to Z, with every other letter in between representing a hurdle. If you want to reach point Z, you need something which will hold you accountable throughout the entire process, while at the same time, showing you the progress you have made, so that you don’t get disheartened. That’s where goal settings apps come to our help.
They keep us accountable, track our progress, and help us in forming the habits that are needed to achieve our goals. So, if you have a goal that you want to attain, don’t wait for the new years to begin it. Begin now, and let these 6 best goal settings apps for Android and iPhones to help you achieve them.
Note: These apps are in no particular order. Choose the one which best suits your needs and requirements.
Best Goal Setting and Goal Tracker Apps
1. Habitica: Gamify Your Tasks
I would like to start the list of the best goal settings app with one of my favourite apps, Habitica. If you were ever a fan of RPG games, you will enjoy using this app. The app takes the game elements from RPGs and combines it with your tasks. In the app, you will create an avatar, get gears and goods, and level up just like in the RPG games. However, you don’t fight opponents to earn experience and gold, you earn them by completing your tasks. There are three types of tasks: Dailies, Habits, and To-Dos. The Dailies and To-Dos are self-explanatory. Whenever you complete them, you earn reward points.
The third type of task is called Habits and it’s where the app helps you build new habits. The habits can be either positive or negative. The positive habit is something which you want to integrate into your daily life like exercising, while the negative habit is just the opposite of that. It is something you want to quit, for example, smoking. The app keeps track of everything and rewards and punishes you on the basis of your tasks. If you don’t complete your tasks on time, the app will punish you by decreasing your health and experience.The punishment part is what makes this app rise above the others for me. It keeps me on track by rewarding my achievements and punishing my mistakes.
Habitica has helped me a lot by wooing to the gamer inside me. If you also love RPG games, then this app will be the best goa setting app for you. However, there’s one big feature missing in this app, which I sorely miss. The app doesn’t allow you to graphically track your progress over time. Of course, you know you are making progress, when you earn and level up. But, a graphical representation is necessary, if you want to see your progress over time. If that feature was included, I would have recommended this app to everyone. But the lack of this specific feature makes this app a little niche, and hard to recommend to everyone.
Install: Android, iOS, (free with in-app purchases)
2. Strides: Habit Tracker for Daily & Life Goals
Strides is probably the best and the most feature packed goal setting app on the list. While most of the apps focus more on the personal goal side of things, Strides strikes a clear balance between the personal and the professional goals. When you are adding a goal, the app asks you if the goal is a Habit, Number or Project. The Habit option simply lets you choose a habit you want to build. All you need to do, is to assign the time and repetitions for the tasks, and it will keep track of your progress. The Numbers option is pretty self-explanatory. It basically allows you to set numerical goals such as savings, debt reductions, hours of reading etc.
The project option is where you can create your professional goals. You can create projects and also set multiple milestones inside a project. Each milestone can be assigned its own specific time period. Once you complete the milestone, the progress is reflected in the app. The app sends you notifications whenever a task is due, ensuring that you never forget complete your task. I also like the status bar feature. The bar fills up and shows you the progress just at a glance. The bars are also colour coded. Green bars means you are on track while the red one means that you are behind your time schedule.
All in all, the app keeps up with you whether you want to track a personal or a professional goal. However, many features are locked behind the premium version which is a bit costly. You can use the free version to try the app out and purchase the full version when you are satisfied with its performance.
Install: iOS (free, $4.99/month)
3. HabitHub – Habit and Goal Tracker
HabitHub follows the principle of simplicity and streaks. Sometimes people don’t want something as complex as Habitica and only need something which helps them track their habits and daily progress without adding any bling. For them, HabitHub can work out well. Simply put, the app lets you add goals, tracks your overtime progress and shows it in a very easy to understand streak graphs. You can add actions inside the goals and assign the time when you want to do them. The app then tracks all the data and shows you in a graphical form.
I also like the reward system in the app. You can customise the rewards as per your liking to keep yourself motivated every day. For example, you can add “Watch Game Of Thrones – 1 Episode” for every 7-day streak. So, you know that if you want to watch the newest GoT episode as soon as it is released, you will have to complete the task. Although nothing is stopping you from watching the episode, this type of reward system brings accountability. Also, the more you use the system, the more you will start growing accustomed to it.
HabitHub is a very nice app which assists you in achieving your goals. The app is free to use with a premium version to unlock extra feature. The free version restricts you to only 5 goals or habits. The premium version removes these restrictions and adds some extra features such as online syncing and theme support. The app is currently available only for Android, with the iOS version set to release in the near future.
Install: Android, coming soon on iOS (free, $4.99)
4. Fabulous: Motivate Me!
If you are someone who doesn’t need just a goal setting app but something which also acts as a coach to guide you on the right path, Fabulous is your best bet. It’s best for someone who wants to bring a positive change in his/her personal life but doesn’t know where to start. The app guides you with small audio and written lectures which are both motivating and informative at the same time. Staying true to its description, the app takes you on a journey of self-change by instilling healthy habits. What’s best is that the app not only deals with the physical but also with the mental well being.
By now you must have understood that this app is not for people who want to track their work-related goals, but, rather for them, who want to lead a healthy life. One good thing about the app is that it starts with something really small (as small as drinking water in the morning when you wake up) and then builds the habit as you progress. The app uses the concept of instant gratification for the benefits of its users. If you are looking to lead a healthy life, but you don’t know where to start, you should start with Fabulous.
Install: Android, iOS (Beta); (free with in-app purchases)
5. Productive – Habit Tracker & Goals Reminder
If you are using an iPhone, Productive, in my opinion, is one of the best goal setting / habit forming apps you can get right now. The app has a sleek dark themed interface which is easy to navigate and move around. You can use gestures to control most of actions inside the app. You can add your habits or goals and then track your daily progress. The app allows you to add reminders for tasks so that you never forget to do them. The app already comes with a few preset tasks such as Health, Fitness, Hobbies etc. You can choose from them or you can create your own goals. I also like the feature where the app allows me to add different icons for different tasks.
The app is free to use, but just like HabitHub, it restricts the number of goals you can create and track. Once you upgrade to the premium version you can add an unlimited number of goals. Also, only the premium users can see the progress for individual goals, the free members can only see the overall progress. Also, the premium members get the ability to see their progress week over week. They also get the ability to lock the app with a passcode. The free version of the Productive app is good, but the premium version really adds a ton of benefits over the free version. If you are serious about your goal tracking, I would definitely recommend that you use the premium version of this app.
Install: iOS (free with in-app purchases)
6. Loop – Habit Tracker
The top five goal setting apps mentioned on this list will help most of you to track your goals. However, all of the apps mentioned above are paid apps. You can use their free version, but that restricts the number of goals you can track at one time. If you are looking for a free app, which does not have any restrictions, Loop for Android is a great option. The app follows a minimalistic design language with an inbuilt dark mode. You can add your goals and set the work repetition. All your goals are present on the home-screen allowing you to mark your progress quickly. If you want to see your progress for an individual goal, just tap on it. I love the way Loop displays your overall progress. You can see the progress on a graph or on a monthly calendar.
The app also has a cool widget which you can place on your home screen to get instant access to your goal tracking data.I have to admit that for an app which is free, Loop is infinitely better than my expectations.However, it does come with certain drawbacks which held me back from putting it higher up on the list. The biggest disadvantage of using Loop is that there is no online backup and sync support. This means that if you break or lose your device, you will lose all your data. You do get the ability to manually export your data to keep as a backup, but that will be a hassle, as the data will change on a daily basis. Still, for a free app, Loop gets the most of the things right. If you were looking for a free app, there’s no better option out there.
Install: Android (free)
SEE ALSO: 8 Cool Motivational Apps For Android and iPhone
Set Goals and Achieve Them Through The Best Goal Setting Apps
You need to have a plan if you want to achieve any goal in your life. It doesn’t matter if your goals are personal or professional, the only way to achieve them are by forming a habit of working regularly towards achieving them. The goal setting apps mentioned on this list will help you do just that. So, choose the best goal setting app which suits your needs. Also, let you know your thoughts on the concept of goal setting. Have you ever set your goals and I don’t mean just in your thoughts.If yes, have you ever used a goal setting app before? If you have, let us know your favourite ones in the comment section below and if not, try one of these out, they might be able to help you in more ways than you can think of.
