Want to stick to your resolutions this time – there's an app to help with that

Making resolutions is a great way to start the new year. But how many times have you made a resolution and then not followed through? 

Well, you’re not alone. According to one US study, 88% of people fail to follow through on their resolutions in a meaningful way. So what can you do to ensure your good intentions translate into actual change? 

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The key is establishing habits, experts say. Good habits are the vital building blocks you need if you want to see real change. And these days there are plenty of tech solutions to help you create new habits and stick to them. 

Whether you want to be healthier, more productive or deal with stress better, there’s a variety of apps that can help you achieve your goals. They can help you get started by clarifying your objectives, breaking them down and helping you keep track of your progress. 

Check out these apps and get geared up for a healthier, happier year ahead!

Why it's useful What makes this app a winner is the huge variety of meditations and how easy it is to navigate. There are guided sessions for beginners and less-structured ones for pros. Users say the app makes it easy to commit to a steady practice. 

Meditations are themed according to the solution you’re looking for – reducing anxiety, improving your patience, dealing with grief, and boosting self-esteem, for example. There are also short, one-­session meditations for specific situations, such as easing pre-interview ­anxiety or providing a quick, quiet break. 

What it costs There are free trials and limited free features on iOS and ­Android. For full access you need to upgrade to Headspace Plus for about R225 a month (with a free seven-day trial) or R1 215 a year (with 14-day free trial). Student and family plans are available. 

Why it’s useful This app is simple to use and offers options to track habits of any kind, with the idea being that you build and maintain a streak. 

Streaks enables you to track daily, weekly and monthly habits, and once you’re set up tracking takes two taps: one to open the app, then a long tap on a habit to mark it as done.

But your iPhone might even check it off for you – it integrates with Apple’s Health Kit. This means some habits are automatically ticked as data is collected by your ­iPhone or Apple Watch, such as walking a certain number of steps, sleeping a set number of hours or working out for at least an hour a day. 

What it costs A one-off payment of R79,99.

Why it’s useful The free plan allows you to track up to seven habits, which is more than enough for most people. If you want to track more, premium requires a one-off payment of about R170. 

You can track daily, weekly and monthly habits as well as use it as a to-do list to which you can add recurring tasks and single tasks. The to-do-list function is basic, but it’s useful for adding reminders of things related to your habit-building goals, such as adding healthy foods to your shopping list. 

It offers great stats – you can see your ­current streak, completion rate and achievements over the past week. You can also get a more detailed rundown of how you’ve done over a longer period.  

What it costs The free version allows you to track up to seven habits. For the premium version, which allows unlimited habit tracking and more features, you need to make a one-off payment of about R172.  

BEAT YOUR SCREEN ADDICTION 

Why it’s useful Addicted to your phone? Can’t stay off social media? Then Focus Lock on iOS might be what you need. It allows you to lock certain apps for a set period – and once you do so there’s no going back. It can’t be disabled by ­restarting your phone, so this is a real commitment but if you’re serious about getting a handle on distractions, it’s worth it. Focus Lock allows you to take a digital detox without having to delete any apps. 

What it costs You get five free sessions during the trial period, then you’ll need to subscribe to the premium version, which is R172 a month or R600 a year with additional timers and features.

The app is available on Android as Flipd: Focus & Study Timer, which also has productivity and time-tracking features. The premium version costs R39,99 a month or R399,99 a year.

Why it’s useful This popular app for tracking food intake and exercise gives you a daily kilojoule count to stick to if you want to reach your weight-­loss goal within a certain time.

After recording your body measurements and answering a few questions about your lifestyle and weight-loss goals, you’ll log your meals, snacks, water intake and exercise daily. 

It tells you how many kilojoules you have left for the day as you go, and takes into account how active you are, adjusting your kilojoules accordingly.

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For example, if you’re allowed 5 500kJ a day, but you do a workout or take a long walk, the app takes this energy expenditure into account and ups your kilojoule allowance. It can also be synced with third-party apps such as Fitbit.

You can even scan barcodes of food products or enter a meal by taking a pic with your phone’s camera. 

What it costs The free version of the app – available on Android and iOS – offers all the above.

You can opt to pay R149 a month for the premium version, which is ad-free and gives you access to meal plans as well as diving ­further into food analysis and your macronutrient intake.

BE MORE PRODUCTIVE 

There are apps that help with productivity by allowing you to record and group tasks together. (PHOTO: Getty Images/Gallo Images)

TODOIST 

Why it’s useful The app allows you to record and group tasks together based on projects. Users describe it as an upgraded version of the traditional to-do list. In addition to organising your own tasks, you can use the app to collaborate with other people and create shared projects – be they personal or work – and delegate tasks from the app.

The app can be linked to your calendar in Outlook, Gmail or other programs. Searching a task in your to-do list is as easy as typing in keywords such as “for tomorrow”. 

What it costs The basic version on iOS and Android is free and allows for five ­active projects, five collaborators per project, 5MB file uploads and a one-week search history. The premium version costs R87 a month or R837 annually, and you get 300 active projects, reminders and unlimited activity history.

Why it’s useful This app turns staying off your phone into a game. Each day you plant seeds that grow when you’re not looking at your phone. If you stare at your screen for too long you get warnings that you’re endangering your trees. 

Users say using their phone less and less because they want to see their trees grow helped them break the habit of picking up their phone constantly.

Doing well also earns in-app coins, which you can donate to plant real trees.  

What it costs A once-off payment of R64,99 on Android and iOS.

SOURCES: MYFITNESSPAL.COM, FORBES.COM, WIRED.COM, MEDIUM.COM