Should I Build It Should I Build It
23 Apr 2025
Health Productivity Health & Fitness

A habit tracker, but concentrated on fighting unhealthy habits instead ...

...of building positive ones.

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

The idea of a habit tracker focused on breaking unhealthy habits places you in a crowded space, where many similar products have already launched. Our analysis shows 4 similar products, which means that you will face moderate competition. The engagement with these existing solutions is low, with an average of 0 comments per product, indicating a potential lack of user enthusiasm or unmet needs. There were no positive or negative signals to extract from the comments, so we don't have any extra signal from the market. Given this landscape, it's crucial to understand why current habit trackers haven't fully addressed the needs of users looking to ditch bad habits, and what you can do to differentiate your offering. You should be extremely cautious about proceeding further.

Recommendations

  1. First, thoroughly investigate why existing habit trackers haven't resonated with users looking to break bad habits. Explore user reviews, identify pain points, and understand what's missing in the current solutions. The similar products analysis shows concerns about missing back buttons, incomplete task lists and slow loading screens - directly address these shortcomings from day one.
  2. If you decide to move forward, identify a very specific niche or user group whose needs are particularly underserved by current habit trackers. Perhaps focus on a specific type of unhealthy habit (e.g., excessive social media use, compulsive eating) or a demographic group (e.g., students, busy professionals). A specific use case can help you find a profitable angle.
  3. Explore the possibility of creating tools or features that integrate with existing habit trackers, rather than building a completely new app from scratch. You could develop a module specifically designed for breaking bad habits that users can add to their current tracking app. Maybe even partner with existing providers. This reduces the complexity of a complete product.
  4. Consider exploring adjacent problems related to habit formation and behavior change. Perhaps there's a greater opportunity in helping users understand the underlying causes of their bad habits or providing personalized support and coaching. You might even explore new spaces in the market that are much more profitable.
  5. Before investing significant time and resources, carefully weigh the potential risks and rewards of this idea. It might be wiser to redirect your energy and passion toward a different opportunity that aligns better with market needs and has a higher chance of success. It's important to recognize when an idea might not be the best use of your time.
  6. Based on the analysis of similar products, users appreciate simplicity. Ensure that your habit tracker has a clean and intuitive interface, avoiding unnecessary complexity that could deter users.
  7. Address concerns about missing features. Prioritize the inclusion of essential functionalities such as a back button, complete task lists, and quick loading screens to enhance user experience.
  8. If you proceed with building a full product, focus on a highly engaging user experience from day one. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, explore gamification, community features, or personalized feedback to keep users motivated.

Questions

  1. What specific, unmet needs of users trying to break unhealthy habits can your habit tracker uniquely address, and how will you validate these needs before building the product?
  2. Given the existing solutions and low engagement, what innovative features or approaches will you incorporate to create a truly compelling and sticky habit-breaking experience?
  3. How can you leverage the insights from the similar product's criticism (missing features, slow loading) to build a superior product and gain a competitive advantage in the habit tracker market?

Your are here

The idea of a habit tracker focused on breaking unhealthy habits places you in a crowded space, where many similar products have already launched. Our analysis shows 4 similar products, which means that you will face moderate competition. The engagement with these existing solutions is low, with an average of 0 comments per product, indicating a potential lack of user enthusiasm or unmet needs. There were no positive or negative signals to extract from the comments, so we don't have any extra signal from the market. Given this landscape, it's crucial to understand why current habit trackers haven't fully addressed the needs of users looking to ditch bad habits, and what you can do to differentiate your offering. You should be extremely cautious about proceeding further.

Recommendations

  1. First, thoroughly investigate why existing habit trackers haven't resonated with users looking to break bad habits. Explore user reviews, identify pain points, and understand what's missing in the current solutions. The similar products analysis shows concerns about missing back buttons, incomplete task lists and slow loading screens - directly address these shortcomings from day one.
  2. If you decide to move forward, identify a very specific niche or user group whose needs are particularly underserved by current habit trackers. Perhaps focus on a specific type of unhealthy habit (e.g., excessive social media use, compulsive eating) or a demographic group (e.g., students, busy professionals). A specific use case can help you find a profitable angle.
  3. Explore the possibility of creating tools or features that integrate with existing habit trackers, rather than building a completely new app from scratch. You could develop a module specifically designed for breaking bad habits that users can add to their current tracking app. Maybe even partner with existing providers. This reduces the complexity of a complete product.
  4. Consider exploring adjacent problems related to habit formation and behavior change. Perhaps there's a greater opportunity in helping users understand the underlying causes of their bad habits or providing personalized support and coaching. You might even explore new spaces in the market that are much more profitable.
  5. Before investing significant time and resources, carefully weigh the potential risks and rewards of this idea. It might be wiser to redirect your energy and passion toward a different opportunity that aligns better with market needs and has a higher chance of success. It's important to recognize when an idea might not be the best use of your time.
  6. Based on the analysis of similar products, users appreciate simplicity. Ensure that your habit tracker has a clean and intuitive interface, avoiding unnecessary complexity that could deter users.
  7. Address concerns about missing features. Prioritize the inclusion of essential functionalities such as a back button, complete task lists, and quick loading screens to enhance user experience.
  8. If you proceed with building a full product, focus on a highly engaging user experience from day one. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, explore gamification, community features, or personalized feedback to keep users motivated.

Questions

  1. What specific, unmet needs of users trying to break unhealthy habits can your habit tracker uniquely address, and how will you validate these needs before building the product?
  2. Given the existing solutions and low engagement, what innovative features or approaches will you incorporate to create a truly compelling and sticky habit-breaking experience?
  3. How can you leverage the insights from the similar product's criticism (missing features, slow loading) to build a superior product and gain a competitive advantage in the habit tracker market?

  • Confidence: Medium
    • Number of similar products: 4
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 0
  • Net use signal: 0.0%
    • Positive use signal: 0.0%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • 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.

Similar products

Relevance

I made a 21st century habit tracker to fight mindless scrolling

31 May 2024 Android Productivity

Hey HN, I'm Marko.Isn't it crazy how social media apps keep us hooked for hours at a time?It got me thinking, what if we utilized their techniques to become addicted to good things?That's why I created HabitScroll, a habit tracker in which you scroll through tasks and routines.How does it work?1. Create a routine and set up daily habits2. Scroll through them and watch your brain companion fill up3. Set a daily reminder to keep showing upI hope it will work for you as well as it does for me and other users.If you have any feedback, either good or bad, please share! It would be awesome and much appreciated.Thanks!

Users appreciate the simplicity of the product and suggest improvements for tasks, loading screen, and routines. The product, HabitScroll, is a habit tracker that uses social media techniques.

Users criticized the lack of a back button, an incomplete task list feature, slow loading screens, absence of shared routines, and difficulty in adding tasks.

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