Should I Build It Should I Build It
16 May 2025
Productivity Health & Fitness

An app to help users to quit their bad habits

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Competitive Terrain

While there's clear interest in your idea, the market is saturated with similar offerings. To succeed, your product needs to stand out by offering something unique that competitors aren't providing. The challenge here isn’t whether there’s demand, but how you can capture attention and keep it.

Should You Build It?

Not before thinking deeply about differentiation.

Your are here

The idea of building an app to help users quit bad habits falls into a competitive landscape. There are already numerous habit trackers and addiction-breaking apps available, suggesting that while there's interest in such tools, the market isn't necessarily underserved. With 11 similar products identified, expect stiff competition. The average engagement, gauged by the number of comments on similar product launches, is medium, implying a moderate level of user interaction and feedback. The fact that we have signals around buy intent is amazing, with unusually high signals to pay for a product like this. Given this competitive terrain, success hinges on figuring out how to stand out in a crowded field. Differentiation is paramount before investing significant time and resources.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with comprehensive market research. Delve into existing habit-quitting apps, identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Focus on user reviews and feedback (like those provided from similar products) to pinpoint unmet needs or areas where competitors fall short. What are users explicitly complaining about? Understanding this competitive landscape is critical before moving forward.
  2. Define your unique selling proposition (USP). What specific problem will your app solve better than anyone else? Will it offer a novel approach to habit tracking, personalized support, or integration with other health and wellness platforms? Find 2-3 key differentiators that will make your app stand out and resonate with a specific target audience, such as the app 'Discipline.io' which had external accountability.
  3. Consider specializing in a niche market. Instead of targeting everyone, focus on a specific demographic or type of bad habit. For example, an app tailored to help young adults quit vaping, or one designed for professionals seeking to break procrastination habits. This targeted approach can make your marketing more effective and attract a loyal user base.
  4. Prioritize user experience (UX) and design. In a crowded market, a seamless and intuitive user interface can be a major differentiator. Invest in creating a visually appealing and easy-to-navigate app that makes the process of quitting bad habits as enjoyable as possible. User's appreciated the 'Habitive' app's UI.
  5. Develop a robust content strategy. Create valuable and engaging content related to habit formation, addiction recovery, and mental wellness. This could include blog posts, articles, videos, and in-app tips. Sharing insightful content can attract potential users and establish your app as a trusted resource. It can also provide valuable insights into where you need to differentiate most.
  6. Implement a freemium business model. Offer a basic version of your app for free, with optional premium features available through a subscription. This allows users to try before they buy and provides a recurring revenue stream. Focus on offering enough value in the free version to entice users to upgrade.
  7. Build a strong community around your app. Encourage users to connect with each other, share their experiences, and offer support. This can be achieved through in-app forums, social media groups, or virtual events. A supportive community can significantly increase user engagement and retention.
  8. Gather user feedback and iterate continuously. Regularly solicit feedback from your users and use it to improve your app. Pay close attention to user reviews and comments, and be responsive to their needs and suggestions. The app 'I made a 21st century habit tracker to fight mindless scrolling' had comments of users with suggestions to improve the app.

Questions

  1. Given the existing solutions, what is a completely new approach or feature that your app can offer to genuinely disrupt the habit-quitting space and avoid just being another tracker?
  2. How will you leverage the unusual buy signals in this product category to design your monetization strategy, ensuring you provide enough initial value to convert users into paying customers?
  3. Considering the criticisms of similar apps regarding penalizing attempts and potentially exacerbating negative self-talk, how will you design your app to be supportive and encouraging, avoiding these pitfalls?

Your are here

The idea of building an app to help users quit bad habits falls into a competitive landscape. There are already numerous habit trackers and addiction-breaking apps available, suggesting that while there's interest in such tools, the market isn't necessarily underserved. With 11 similar products identified, expect stiff competition. The average engagement, gauged by the number of comments on similar product launches, is medium, implying a moderate level of user interaction and feedback. The fact that we have signals around buy intent is amazing, with unusually high signals to pay for a product like this. Given this competitive terrain, success hinges on figuring out how to stand out in a crowded field. Differentiation is paramount before investing significant time and resources.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with comprehensive market research. Delve into existing habit-quitting apps, identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Focus on user reviews and feedback (like those provided from similar products) to pinpoint unmet needs or areas where competitors fall short. What are users explicitly complaining about? Understanding this competitive landscape is critical before moving forward.
  2. Define your unique selling proposition (USP). What specific problem will your app solve better than anyone else? Will it offer a novel approach to habit tracking, personalized support, or integration with other health and wellness platforms? Find 2-3 key differentiators that will make your app stand out and resonate with a specific target audience, such as the app 'Discipline.io' which had external accountability.
  3. Consider specializing in a niche market. Instead of targeting everyone, focus on a specific demographic or type of bad habit. For example, an app tailored to help young adults quit vaping, or one designed for professionals seeking to break procrastination habits. This targeted approach can make your marketing more effective and attract a loyal user base.
  4. Prioritize user experience (UX) and design. In a crowded market, a seamless and intuitive user interface can be a major differentiator. Invest in creating a visually appealing and easy-to-navigate app that makes the process of quitting bad habits as enjoyable as possible. User's appreciated the 'Habitive' app's UI.
  5. Develop a robust content strategy. Create valuable and engaging content related to habit formation, addiction recovery, and mental wellness. This could include blog posts, articles, videos, and in-app tips. Sharing insightful content can attract potential users and establish your app as a trusted resource. It can also provide valuable insights into where you need to differentiate most.
  6. Implement a freemium business model. Offer a basic version of your app for free, with optional premium features available through a subscription. This allows users to try before they buy and provides a recurring revenue stream. Focus on offering enough value in the free version to entice users to upgrade.
  7. Build a strong community around your app. Encourage users to connect with each other, share their experiences, and offer support. This can be achieved through in-app forums, social media groups, or virtual events. A supportive community can significantly increase user engagement and retention.
  8. Gather user feedback and iterate continuously. Regularly solicit feedback from your users and use it to improve your app. Pay close attention to user reviews and comments, and be responsive to their needs and suggestions. The app 'I made a 21st century habit tracker to fight mindless scrolling' had comments of users with suggestions to improve the app.

Questions

  1. Given the existing solutions, what is a completely new approach or feature that your app can offer to genuinely disrupt the habit-quitting space and avoid just being another tracker?
  2. How will you leverage the unusual buy signals in this product category to design your monetization strategy, ensuring you provide enough initial value to convert users into paying customers?
  3. Considering the criticisms of similar apps regarding penalizing attempts and potentially exacerbating negative self-talk, how will you design your app to be supportive and encouraging, avoiding these pitfalls?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 11
  • Engagement: Medium
    • Average number of comments: 4
  • Net use signal: 8.7%
    • Positive use signal: 14.2%
    • Negative use signal: 5.5%
  • Net buy signal: 1.1%
    • Positive buy signal: 1.1%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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