10 Behavior Change Apps to Help You Create Lasting Habits

Self-realization is an important aspect of the human psyche. It pushes us to become better versions of ourselves so that we can live better, more fulfilling lives. Sometimes, however, it can be difficult to make the necessary changes on our own, and we need a little help.

Technology can be a powerful tool when it comes to making positive changes to our daily habits and behaviors. For example, apps can:

• Provide motivation and a sense of accomplishment by showing your progress.
• Provide a feedback loop that confirms whether you're on track to achieving your goals.
• Provide guidance and direction.
• Provide nudges and prompts to help you stay on track and keep your priorities in order.

The capabilities of technology are vast, and the huge variety of apps available today makes it easy for us to get started on our journey of self-improvement—all we need is a little time and motivation.

Whether you're wanting to lose weight, graduate, learn to drive, reduce alcohol consumption, or just improve your general physical and mental health, apps are a great tool for promoting behavior change and paving the way for future development.

In this article, we'll take a look at 10 behavior change apps that are useful and effective for achieving long-term success. Many of these are quite precise in terms of what they are useful for, but some, like Conjure, can be used to set up and reach just about any goal you can think of, from changing small daily habits to overhauling your entire life.

There's an app for that—10 excellent behavior change apps on the market today

There are so many apps out there these days that can help you with almost anything, and it can be difficult to sort through them and find one that does what you need it to do.

Whether you want to improve your physical health, boost your mental health, or simply change some of the basic things you do each day, this list will give you an idea of some of the top apps that can help you set and achieve your goals.

1. Conjure

Conjure is an all-in-one solution for behavior change and habit formation that goes beyond the app features offered by the other apps in this article. It's an excellent choice if you’re looking to create lasting change in your life.

Unlike many of these apps, Conjure focuses on all aspects of habit and behavior change, allowing users to track not only their daily habits but also their time, goals, and long-term objectives.

It also allows users to combine the above into convenient groupings. For example, if your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight, you can make that an objective. You can then create daily or weekly tasks and goals that will help you move toward that objective.

You can track the steps you walk each day, the calories you eat, the water you drink, the workouts you complete, and the weight you lose each day or week. Each of these can tie in with your main objective and show as progress toward that goal.

Conjure has many useful integrations with apps like Apple Health, Withings, MyFitnessPal, Zapier, TimingApp, Calm, and many more, so you can easily track all aspects of your life that you want to keep an eye on.

It is available in a full version on desktop, as well as a mobile version on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Conjure offers 3 distinct pricing plans. The first is free and allows you to track up to 5 habits and 100 measurements per month. The second costs $8.99 per month and gives you unlimited use of the platform.

The third option allows you to give free access to someone who can't afford one of the paid plans but wants to use the platform fully. For the price of $14.99, it also gives you some special icons and supports Conjure's improvement and growth.

2. Headspace

Headspace is a popular desktop and mobile phone app that provides users with science-backed guided meditation sessions and mindfulness exercises to help them with stress and mental health, among other issues.

Paired with helpful advice and plenty of resources on topics like nutrition, sleep hygiene, stress management, and more, the app helps users focus on developing healthier habits over time and makes it easier for them to stick to their goals and practice mindful behaviors.

The app claims to be able to relax the mind in just a few minutes, reduce stress levels by 14% in the first 10 days, and improve focus and sleep over the long term—all helpful in improving mental health and making lasting changes.

Headspace is part of Headspace Health, a mental health care provider whose core concern is with making mental health care available to everyone worldwide. Enhancing public mental health is their goal.

There are a number of plans available for people wanting to use the Headspace app, including annual or monthly payments and student or family discounts. It is also free to use for teens between 13 and 18 years old in the US.

3. Noom

Most people who have heard of Noom immediately think of weight loss, and that is fair because that is what the platform's main focus has always been.

However, Noom is fast becoming one of the best-known well-being apps since it has begun to branch out into helping people who are suffering from illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, and mental illness.

This makes it a great platform for people who are working toward better health through diet and exercise, along with other health behaviors.

Noom aims to encourage positive behavior change by helping people develop better eating habits. It does this by helping them track calorie intake with an interactive food journal feature.

It also provides personalized coaching services with a team of experts, as well as a series of goal-setting tools to help users keep track of their progress toward their health objectives.

The cost of using the platform is based on a series of questions you'll be asked when you sign up, but it ranges from $70 for the auto-renewing monthly plan to $209 for an auto-renewing year.

4. Streaks

Streaks is essentially a to-do list that allows users to set short-term goals with reminders that let them know when tasks need completing. The idea is to eventually form lasting habits that the user will no longer need to be reminded of.

The app features a convenient dashboard that shows the user's progress and success rates for each goal that they have set. It also allows a user to set specific days on which goals must be completed so that the Streak is not broken when that goal is not completed.

For example, if your goal is to exercise 5 days a week, you won't want the app to think you are breaking your Streak by missing the other 2 days, so you can specify in the app which 5 days you intend to work out on.

An important note is that this app is only available from Apple App Store on Apple devices, so Android or desktop users should consider one of the other apps on this list, such as Conjure or Productive.

The app is priced at $4.99 per month for each user.

5. Habitica

Habitica is the most fun-to-use app on this list, allowing you to turn your life into an RPG-style game with rewards and badges for completing goals and tasks. This is a great app for those who need extra motivation or are looking for an interactive way to track their behavior changes.

Habitica encourages users to stick to their goals by turning them into a game in which each of the tasks they set is represented by a little monster that must be conquered. The task list is fully customizable, so you can use it to track any habits or goals you can think of.

You can also form teams with friends, engage in battles, and earn experience points and rewards when you complete your tasks. The game allows you to unlock all sorts of fun features, like magic skills, pets, armor, and new quests when you complete your tasks.

The creators of this app encourage positive behavior change by offering the use of this app completely free with no limits, but you can support the app developers by making in-app purchases should you wish to.

6. Habitify

Habitify is a great app for those just getting started with habit tracking. It’s easy to use and provides users with helpful reminders, statistics, and progress for each goal they set. The app also tracks performance across multiple categories, like sleep, work productivity, exercise, and more.

The creators of this app believe in a holistic approach to self-improvement, and they have designed the app to help you create this. Habitify has a built-in memo pad where you can keep notes about your progress, and it allows you to track your moods so you can see how they affect your headway.

There is also a built-in timer, so you don't have to go out of the app to track things like workouts or hours, and you can divide your day into sections, like morning, noon, and night.

Habitify offers a range of packages that start at $4.99 for the monthly option.

7. Exist.io

Exist.io is a comprehensive habit-tracking platform that combines the data it receives from connected devices and services with that which you enter yourself. By looking at the data it receives, it can tell you which of your habits go together (or correlate) to either improve or lower your quality of life.

To find the relevant data, the app integrates with just about any other services, from fitness trackers to calendars and even weather apps. From this data, the app will put together daily insights about your progress, along with a number of other helpful types of information.

All of this will help you gain deeper insights into your behavior patterns over time by allowing you to see the correlations between your different habits and activities and how they can influence your overall health goals.

After a 30-day free trial, Exist will cost you $6.99 per month with a 25% discount if you pay for the year in advance.

8. Beeminder

Beeminder is a unique app that combines goal-setting with an interesting form of motivation to encourage behavior change. It includes an automated “commitment contract” feature that helps users stay motivated by setting up a financial commitment to complete their tasks or goals on time. Essentially, they make their money from users' failures!

To use this app, you set your goal and aim to keep your measurements below a bright red line. Should your measurements rise above the red line, you will pay a previously agreed-upon sum for failing at your task. This means that money is the motivation for avoiding failure.

Due to the nature of Beeminder, it can only be used to track quantifiable goals. For example, you couldn't use it for something vague, like drinking water every day, but you could use it to reach a goal of increasing your water intake by a certain amount on a daily basis until you are drinking the right amount every day.

The platform is free to use as long as you don't fail at your goals, and the first failure is free. After that, the price increases with every failure up to amounts that would make anyone motivated to succeed.

9. Lunatask

Lunatask is another of the best well-being apps on the market. It is a great app for those looking to turn their day-to-day tasks into achievable goals. It provides users with detailed statistics and progress reports, as well as helpful tips and reminders to keep them on track.

The platform is intended as a combination of a to-do list, mood tracker, and journal that allows you to keep track of your mental well-being while you ensure that all your necessary tasks are taken care of.

The to-do list will prioritize your tasks for you and allow you to streamline your workflow with the use of a number of proven time-management techniques.

Lunatask will connect to your calendars to keep all your tasks and commitments in one place, and you can even join calls in Zoom or Google Meet from the app.

The platform is currently available on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and the Android and iOS app is in the Beta stage of development.

Pricing options range from forever free to paid lifetime subscriptions, and teachers and students qualify for a 50% discount.

10. Productive

Productive is designed to help users focus better and be more (as the name suggests) productive in their daily lives. The app features an intuitive user interface with easy access to information about what tasks need to be done, when they should be completed, and how much progress has been made so far.

Productive offers a large library of habit templates that can be customized to suit your needs, so there's no need to reinvent the wheel. It has a state-of-the-art habit-tracking feature that allows you to keep an eye on your progress with the help of visualizations and analytics.

You can track your progress and rejoice in your successes with milestones, and increase your productivity and mental health with a series of challenges that allow you to measure yourself up against others.

Productive is available for free, but you can make in-app purchases to boost your experience. You can also upgrade your subscription for $3.99 or buy an annual subscription for $23.99.

Frequently asked questions

Do behavior change apps really work?

Studies have found that these types of behavior change apps are effective self-monitoring strategies that can help people stick with their goals and make lasting changes.

A 2019 study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Mental Health found that using well-being apps like these led to increased engagement with specific health-related goals, and that users who used the apps were more likely to stick with their goals.

Another study published in 2021 found that around 88% (1327 out of 1495) of the participants in the study benefited from mobile phone apps when used to alter lifestyle behaviors. It’s important to note that the findings were less impressive when it came to health behaviors.

These studies show that behavior change apps can be effective tools for promoting lasting change in people's lives. When combined with expert advice and personalized insights, these apps can help people stay motivated and achieve their goals over the long term.

Which behavior change app is best?

We have suggested a wide variety of apps in this article, and many of them have something unique to offer. We believe you should try various apps, which is easy since many of them offer free trials, and find the one that suits you best in terms of focus, design, experience, and simplicity or complexity.

The right app will help set you up for success, and it'll be worth the time invested in finding the right one.

However, given that this is Conjure’s blog, we are naturally biased. We believe Conjure is a worthy choice of app for most people, because it combines the features of many of the other apps on this list. This makes it an ideal solution for helping people improve their lives and make lasting changes to their daily habits and behaviors.

It also offers a good combination of features that is matched by none of the other apps, like the ability to track time, habits, objectives, and measurements, and link them all together to record how they affect one another and how daily habits lead to the completion of long-term objectives.

Overall, Conjure is a great all-round app for creating behavior change. It offers users an extensive range of features that can be tailored to fit their individual goals, providing them with the tools they need to make changes in their lives and achieve lasting results.

Conclusion

Behavior change apps are a great way for people to improve their lives and make positive changes to their habits. Whether you're trying to reduce alcohol consumption or increase your mental well-being, there will be an app on this list that can help you.

Among the 10 great behavior change apps reviewed here, Conjure stands out as an excellent all-round solution that combines a multitude of features, making it an excellent choice for promoting lasting behavior change.

However, if you're looking for something entirely unique and different, why not try out Habitica's monster-conquering game experience or Beeminder's commitment contracts that sting when you fail?

Finding the right app that fits your individual needs could be the path to lasting behavior change, so be sure to do some research before downloading anything!

Good luck on your journey toward achieving your desired goals and making lasting changes in your life.

About Conjure

Conjure is the ultimate behavior management and habit tracking tool designed to help you effortlessly track time, develop positive habits, and transform your productivity game.

Seamlessly organize your habits, track your time, see your progress, and stay on top of your goals with Conjure.

Join Conjure today and take back control of your routine!