Habit Tracker Apps With a Pet: What Happens When You Miss a Day
Before you give a cute pet a name, find out what it does on your worst day.
You get in late, kick your shoes off by the door, and remember the little round creature living in your phone. You haven't opened the app since breakfast, and tonight you're not ticking anything off.
Every habit tracker app with a pet handles that night differently. Finch lets you repair the day count, and Habbie's pet leaves you a small mess. Habitica takes health from your hero, and Habit-chi's pet can run away if you keep skipping. Otto doesn't say. If guilt makes you quit apps, start with Finch or Habbie.
We make MirrorMii, a cozy game with a character who lives her own life. We care about the difference between enjoying a character and feeling responsible for one. Its unreleased next version, 2.0, has its own section below.
What does the pet actually do when you skip a day?
It helps to know how little one skipped day matters to the habit itself. In a study published in 2009, Phillippa Lally and her team at University College London followed nearly a hundred people building one new daily habit for twelve weeks. Missing a single day didn't materially change how the habit formed. One bad Tuesday doesn't undo a month.
So the pet's reaction is about how the app makes you feel, and that's worth choosing on purpose. These are the rules the apps describe. Otto's silence leaves a question open; it doesn't establish a gentler consequence.
| App | After a missed day | Built-in break | What you do each day | |-|-|-|-| | Finch | The day count breaks, and you can repair it | Pause Mode freezes the count | Short self-care check-ins | | Habbie | Your pet leaves a mess to clean up | Rest Mode | Timers, counters or checklists | | Otto | Its store page doesn't describe one | None described | A planner and to-do list | | Habitica | Your hero loses health | Pause Damage | Habits, Dailies and To Do's | | Habit-chi | Your pet gets sad, then may run away | None described | Check in on each habit |
Which pet apps go easy on you after a bad day?
Finch gives you a way to repair its day count. You raise a small bird by opening the app and doing gentle goals, and a quick check-in counts as showing up. Miss a day and the count breaks, but you can mend it with Rainbow Stones, the app's currency, or with a free repair you earn every three adventures. You can hold two at once. Going away for a week? Switch on Pause Mode first and the count freezes while your goals hide.
The idea of leaving room for a missed day has been studied separately from these apps. In a 2017 paper in the Journal of Marketing Research, Marissa Sharif and Suzanne Shu, at Wharton and UCLA, found that goals with a small emergency reserve kept people going longer than goals with no give. People worked hard to avoid spending the reserve. The study didn't test Finch or show whether its repairs change habits.
Habbie is cheekier. Hit your goal and your pet leaves you a gift to open. Miss it and there's a mess waiting, the kind nobody wants to clean up. It's a nudge you can laugh at. On sick days, Rest Mode lets your Habbie take a break with you, and No Habit Mode lets you just feed it and love it with no goals at all.
If a bad week usually ends with you deleting the app, one of these two is your pick.
Which ones make a missed day sting?
Habitica turns your to-do list into an old-school role-playing game, with gold, gear and a party that fights bosses when everyone finishes real tasks. The pets here are collectibles. The hit lands on you. Skip your Dailies and your hero loses health, and if it runs out you lose a level, your Gold and a piece of gear you can buy back.
There's an off switch. Turn on Pause Damage before a trip, and warn your party if you're mid quest, because their missed Dailies can still hurt you.
Habit-chi puts the pet's feelings on the line. It's made for people who, by its own description, tend to give up after a few days. Skip a day and your little pixel creature gets sad. Keep skipping and it may run away. Stick with it and it evolves, and there are more than twenty to collect. You set how often each habit is due, so be generous there.
Some people need a small risk to get off the sofa. If a sad pet would make you avoid the app for a week, skip these two.
What about Otto?
Otto is a planner and to-do list with a cheerful otter attached. Finish a task and Otto grows, and you dress it in new outfits and accessories as you hit goals.
What it doesn't tell you is what happens on a day you finish nothing. Its store page is silent on that, and it runs on a subscription after a free trial. That makes Otto harder to compare on this article's main question. An outfit screenshot doesn't tell you what happens to the otter after an unfinished day.
Where does MirrorMii fit?
If what you love is seeing a character live in a tiny world, MirrorMii takes that feeling in a different direction. It's a cozy game, and its next version, 2.0, is not out yet.
In 2.0, Miia is your digital twin, a reflection of you who lives her own life. She has her own friends and her own drama. You influence her surroundings and read her diary; you don't choose what she writes.
Your real day supplies the pieces in 2.0. Genii, the island's fairy-godmother host, receives what you find. Snap a moment, hand it to her, and decide where to use your fragments. The Bank keeps your unspent fragments safe while you're away, and a finished quest stays finished.
In 2.0, you choose Miia's outfit, then see what she does in it. Her story gives you something to be curious about when you return.
FAQ
Is there a habit tracker pet that can't leave you?
Of these five, Habit-chi is the only one that says its pet can run away. Habitica's pets are collectibles, and the damage lands on your hero. Finch and Habbie build rest into the app instead, with Pause Mode and Rest Mode. Otto doesn't describe what a missed day does.
Are habit tracker apps with a pet free?
All five are free to download. Habitica says you can enjoy all of it for free and sells an optional subscription. The others sell upgrades too: Habbie Plus is $34.99 a year and Finch Plus is $69.99 a year. Otto runs on a subscription after its free trial, so check its terms first.
Do pet habit apps actually help you keep habits?
Nobody can promise that for you. The pet is one possible reason to open the app. Habit research studies repetition in a consistent context, such as an action after breakfast; it doesn't establish that any pet app will work for you. The missed-day rules above tell you what the app asks of you when repetition breaks.
Already missed a few days? A calm guide to picking your habits back up, whichever app you use. Read how to get back on track