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Tend Habit tracker

Creating and Managing Habits

Learn how to create effective habits, configure schedules, and manage your habit tracking workflow.

Creating a New Habit

Basic Steps

  1. Tap the + button on the main screen
  2. Fill in the habit details
  3. Configure the schedule
  4. Set reminders (optional)
  5. Tap Save

Create Habit Screen

Habit Details

Name

Give your habit a clear, action-oriented name:

  • Good: “Drink 8 glasses of water”, “Exercise for 30 minutes”, “Read 10 pages”
  • Avoid: “Water”, “Gym”, “Book”

The name appears in your daily list, so make it specific and motivating.

Icon

Choose an icon that represents your habit:

  • Browse through categories (Health, Productivity, Learning, etc.)
  • Select an icon that’s visually distinct
  • Icons help you quickly identify habits at a glance

Color

Pick a color for your habit:

  • Use different colors for different categories
  • Make frequently-used habits stand out
  • Colors appear in the calendar and statistics views

Scheduling Your Habit

Recurrence Type

Choose how often the habit repeats:

Daily

  • Habit appears every day
  • Best for: Morning routines, health habits, daily practices
  • Example: “Take vitamins”, “Meditate 10 minutes”

Weekly

  • Select specific days of the week
  • Best for: Gym schedules, weekly tasks, recurring meetings
  • Example: “Gym (Mon/Wed/Fri)”, “Meal prep (Sunday)”

Monthly

  • Choose a specific day of the month
  • Best for: Monthly tasks, bills, reviews
  • Example: “Pay rent (1st)”, “Monthly budget review (last day)”

Yearly

  • Set a specific date each year
  • Best for: Annual events, checkups, celebrations
  • Example: “Annual physical (March 15)”, “Review goals (January 1)”

Biweekly

  • Repeats every two weeks
  • Best for: Alternating schedules, periodic tasks
  • Example: “Deep clean house”, “Team retrospective”

Week Days (for Weekly habits)

Select which days the habit should appear:

  • Tap days to toggle them on/off
  • Choose consecutive days (Mon-Fri) or scattered days
  • Days respect your week start preference (Settings)

Start and End Dates

Control when the habit is active:

Start Date

  • When the habit begins appearing
  • Useful for future goals or seasonal habits
  • Leave blank to start immediately

End Date

  • When the habit stops appearing
  • Great for time-limited challenges
  • Leave blank for ongoing habits

Examples:

  • “Summer swimming” - Start: June 1, End: August 31
  • “30-day challenge” - Start: Today, End: 30 days from now
  • “Ongoing meditation” - Start: Today, End: (blank)

Advanced Features

Multiple Repetitions

Track habits you do multiple times per day:

  • Set “Repetitions” to 2 or more
  • Each completion fills one segment
  • Perfect for “Drink water 8 times” or “Take medication 3 times”

How it works:

  • Tap the habit once for each completion
  • Progress bar shows how many you’ve done
  • All repetitions must be completed to mark the day as done

Accumulating Habits

Enable catch-up mode for habits with missed days:

  • Toggle “Accumulating Habit” on
  • If you miss days, they accumulate
  • Complete on current day to catch up
  • Great for “Read 30 minutes daily” where you can make up time

Example:

  • Habit: “Read 30 minutes” (daily, accumulating)
  • Monday: Completed ✓
  • Tuesday: Missed ✗
  • Wednesday: Missed ✗
  • Thursday: Shows 3 segments (today + 2 missed)
  • Complete all 3 to catch up

Notifications

Set reminders to help you remember:

Adding Notifications:

  1. In the habit form, tap “Add Notification”
  2. Choose a time
  3. Add multiple notifications if needed
  4. Each notification can have a different time

Best Practices:

  • Set reminders when you can actually do the habit
  • Morning habits: Remind after waking up
  • Evening habits: Remind before bed
  • Multiple reminders: Space them out (e.g., 8 AM, 12 PM, 6 PM)

Managing Notifications:

  • Tap a notification to edit the time
  • Swipe or tap X to remove
  • Notifications work even if the app is closed

Editing Habits

How to Edit

  1. Long-press on any habit in your list
  2. Select Edit Habit
  3. Make your changes
  4. Tap Save

What You Can Change

Always Safe to Edit:

  • Name
  • Icon
  • Color
  • Notifications

Edit with Caution:

  • Recurrence type (may affect which days it appears)
  • Week days (changes when it’s active)
  • Start/End dates (may hide/show the habit)
  • Repetitions (changes completion requirements)

Note: Editing a habit doesn’t change your historical data. Past completions remain unchanged.

When to Edit vs. Create New

Edit when:

  • Fixing a typo
  • Changing the icon or color
  • Adjusting notification times
  • Tweaking the schedule slightly

Create new when:

  • Completely changing the habit’s purpose
  • Starting a new challenge or goal
  • You want to preserve the old habit’s history separately

Managing Habits

Archive Habit

Remove from active list while keeping history:

  1. Long-press on the habit
  2. Select Archive Habit
  3. Confirm

When to archive:

  • Completed a time-limited goal
  • Taking a break from the habit
  • Seasonal habits (archive in off-season)
  • Want to declutter active list

Restoring archived habits:

  1. Go to Settings > Archive
  2. Tap the archived habit
  3. Select Unarchive

Archive Screen

Delete Habit

Permanently remove the habit and all its data:

  1. Long-press on the habit
  2. Select Delete Habit
  3. Confirm the deletion

Warning: This cannot be undone! All completion history will be lost.

When to delete:

  • Habit was created by mistake
  • You’ll never need the data again
  • Cleaning up test habits

Alternative: Consider archiving instead to preserve history.

Clear Data

Remove all completion marks while keeping the habit:

  1. Long-press on the habit
  2. Select Clear Data
  3. Confirm

What happens:

  • All completion marks are deleted
  • Habit configuration remains unchanged
  • Notifications stay configured
  • Habit stays in your active list

When to use:

  • Starting the habit fresh after a long break
  • Resetting for a new challenge
  • Removing test completions
  • Correcting tracking mistakes

Habit Organization Tips

Color Coding

Use colors strategically:

  • Health habits - Green or blue
  • Work/Productivity - Orange or yellow
  • Learning - Purple or pink
  • Personal care - Light blue or teal

Icon Selection

Choose icons that are:

  • Distinctive - Easy to tell apart at a glance
  • Relevant - Clearly represent the habit
  • Consistent - Use similar icons for related habits

Naming Conventions

Keep names:

  • Action-oriented - Start with a verb
  • Specific - Include quantity or duration
  • Concise - Short enough to read quickly
  • Motivating - Phrase positively

Examples:

  • ✓ “Exercise 30 min”
  • ✓ “Read 10 pages”
  • ✓ “Drink 8 glasses water”
  • ✗ “Gym”
  • ✗ “Books”
  • ✗ “Hydration”

Limiting Active Habits

Recommended:

  • Beginners: 2-3 habits
  • Intermediate: 5-7 habits
  • Advanced: 10-12 habits

Why limit?

  • Prevents overwhelm
  • Increases success rate
  • Maintains focus on what matters
  • Easier to track consistently

Common Habit Patterns

Morning Routine

Create a sequence of morning habits:

  1. “Wake up at 6 AM” - Daily
  2. “Drink water” - Daily
  3. “Exercise 20 min” - Daily
  4. “Meditate 10 min” - Daily
  5. “Healthy breakfast” - Daily

Tip: Use sequential notifications (6:00, 6:15, 6:35, 6:55, 7:15)

Workout Schedule

Set up a weekly gym routine:

  1. “Upper body workout” - Weekly (Mon/Thu)
  2. “Lower body workout” - Weekly (Tue/Fri)
  3. “Cardio session” - Weekly (Wed/Sat)
  4. “Rest day stretch” - Weekly (Sun)

Tip: Use different colors for different workout types

Learning Goals

Track study and learning:

  1. “Spanish practice 30 min” - Daily
  2. “Read professional book 20 min” - Daily
  3. “Online course lesson” - Weekly (Tue/Thu)
  4. “Practice coding” - Daily

Tip: Use accumulating habits for flexible learning time

Health Tracking

Monitor health habits:

  1. “Take vitamins” - Daily, 3 repetitions
  2. “Drink water” - Daily, 8 repetitions
  3. “Walk 10,000 steps” - Daily
  4. “Sleep by 10 PM” - Daily

Tip: Set reminders throughout the day for multi-repetition habits

Troubleshooting

Habit Not Appearing on Expected Day

Check:

  • Recurrence settings match your expectation
  • Start date hasn’t been set to future
  • End date hasn’t passed
  • For weekly habits, correct days are selected
  • Week start preference (Settings) is correct

Can’t Complete All Repetitions

Verify:

  • You’re tapping the habit enough times
  • The habit isn’t already fully completed
  • You’re on the correct date
  • The app hasn’t frozen (try restarting)

Notifications Not Firing

Ensure:

  • Notification times are set in the habit
  • Device notifications are enabled for Tend
  • Device isn’t in Do Not Disturb mode
  • Notification permission is granted
  • Times are in the future (not past)

Habit Disappeared After Edit

Check:

  • Settings > Archive (might have been archived accidentally)
  • The date you’re viewing (schedule might have changed)
  • Start/End dates weren’t modified to exclude today

Best Practices

Start Simple

Begin with basic daily habits before adding complex schedules.

Review Weekly

Every week, assess which habits are working and adjust accordingly.

Use Reminders Wisely

Don’t over-notify. One or two reminders per habit is usually enough.

Archive Regularly

Keep your active list focused by archiving completed or paused habits.

Backup Before Major Changes

Export your data before deleting or clearing multiple habits.

Be Patient

Habit formation takes time. Don’t give up after a few missed days.

Master habit creation and you’ll master your routines! Take time to set up your habits thoughtfully, and they’ll serve you well.