## Creating and tracking habits

[Roblen1959]

    ## Creating and tracking habits

How can I track bad habits I want to break?

Loop currently only supports tracking positive habits. Instead of tracking bad habits, an alternative is to rephrase your habit in a positive way. For example, instead of having the bad habit "Did you smoke today?" you could have the good habit "Did you have a smoke-free day today?". Another example, instead of "Did you eat junk food today?" you could have "Did you eat healthy today?".

How can I specify that a habit should be performed on certain days of the week?

You don't need to specify this. The app will figure it out by itself. You just need to specify how many times would you like to repeat the habit in a certain interval of time. For example, if you want to repeat a certain habit every Monday and Friday, simply specify that you want to repeat the habit 2 times per week, and then start practicing your habit. If, during your first week, you indeed perform your habit on Monday and Friday, the app will automatically add a checkmark on the following Saturday and Sunday. As long as you keep your routine, the checkmarks should appear automatically on the correct days.

When I am creating a new habit, what am I supposed to write on the "question" field?

The question field is a place where you can specify more clearly the requirements for the habit. For example, while the title of your habit might say "Meditate", the question might ask "Did you meditate for at least 10 minutes this morning?". This question appears on the reminders.

How can I put checkmarks in past days?

Open the statistics page for a certain habit, scroll down to the "Calendar" section and press the button "Edit" located under the calendar. Then, tap on the days to check or uncheck. You can also scroll sideways to change days further back in time.

How can I see the statistics page for a certain habit?

Just tap on the name of the habit.

How can I reorder the habits?

First, press-and-hold the name of a habit for a second. Then, when it becomes selected, just drag it to the desired place, without lifting your finger.

How can I disable the vibration every time I put a checkmark?

Loop follows your phone's settings to decide whether it should vibrate on touch or not. To disable the vibration, open your phone's settings, tap "Sounds" and disable "Vibrate on touch".

What are unfilled checkmarks and why do they keep appearing?

Unfilled checkmarks are checkmarks that have been added automatically by the app, and not manually by the user. This happens with non-daily habits. For example, if you have a habit that should be repeated only one time every week, and you perform it on a certain Monday, the app will automatically add unfilled checkmarks on Tuesday, Wednesday an so on. To stop unfilled checkmarks from appearing, please change the frequency of the habit.

How can I delete a habit?

On the main screen, press-and-hold the name of the habit for a second. When it becomes selected, tap the overflow icon on the menu bar (it looks like three vertical dots), then select delete.

How is the score calculated?

To compute the score of a habit, the app uses a statistical method known as exponential smoothing. Basically, it computes a weighted average that takes into consideration every repetition of the habit, from the very first day you started your habit until today. Recent repetitions, however, are considered more important than older ones, and have a larger impact on the score. This method has many nice features, including:

1. Every repetition counts, even way back in the past. This is not true for other simpler formulas, such as counting how many times have you performed the habit in the last week/month/year and then dividing by the number of days in that interval.
2. If you have a poor habit score, then a few repetitions can bring your score up very quickly. As your score improves, however, the reward for each repetition gets smaller and smaller, so you have to keep at it if you want to see further increases.
3. If you have a high score for a very long time and you take a short break, it's quite easy to restore your score back to what it was. If you start taking frequent breaks, however, then your score will suffer.

How long will it take to reach the highest score?

If you perform a daily habit perfectly, the score reaches 80% after one month, 96% after two months and 99% after three months. For non-daily habits, it takes longer to reach the same percentages. If your habit is repeated every other day, for example, then it takes two months to reach 80%, and if you habit is weekly, then it takes seven months.

Importing and exporting data

If I uninstall the app, will I lose all my data?

Yes, uninstalling the app will delete all your data! All files inside the folder Android » data » org.isoron.uhabits on the SD card will also be deleted. This is the way Android was designed, and there is nothing Loop can do to prevent it.

If my phone gets damaged or factory reset, will I lose all my data?

Loop supports Android's native backup service: if you have backups activated in your phone settings (Settings » Backup & Restore » Back up my data), it should periodically save a copy of your data in the cloud automatically. The data will be restored in case you factory-reset your phone or activate a new device. Note however that uninstalling the app will delete all your data, in addition to all the backups stored in the cloud. Furthermore, this backup system can be unreliable at times. Therefore, if you want to make sure that your data is safely backed up, it is still recommended that you use a specialized backup utility, such as Titanium Backup. Alternatively, you can export a full backup of your data manually. For more details, see the answer for the next question.

How can I export a full backup of my data?

Select the option "Export full backup" on the settings screen. A file will be generated, and you will be asked to choose an app to share it to. If you select an email application, you will be able to send the file as an attachment to yourself. If you select Google Drive, Dropbox or similar apps, you will be able to upload it. A copy of the generated file is also automatically saved on the SD card, inside the folder Android » data » org.isoron.uhabits » files. Be aware that this folder will be deleted when the app is uninstalled. If you would like to keep the backups on the SD card after the app is uninstalled, you should move them to another folder.

How can I restore a full backup?

First, go to the settings screen and tap "Import data". A file browser should appear. Tap the menu icon (the one with three vertical lines) and select the app where your backup is stored, such as Google Drive.

If your backup file is located in your SD card, after tapping "Import data", tap the icon with three dots on the top right corner of the screen and select "Show internal storage". Then, tap the menu icon (the one with three vertical lines) and select your SD card.

How can I export my data as CSV?

Open the settings screen, scroll down to the section "Database" and select the option "Export as CSV". The data will be exported as a ZIP archive containing individual comma-separated files for each habit, which can be opened with any modern spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc.

Troubleshooting

I have installed the iOS version of the app, but it refuses to import my backup file.

There is currently no iOS version of Loop Habit Tracker. You have probably installed an unauthorized copycat version of our app. Please contact us at dev@loophabits.org and let us know the application name, so that we can contact Apple to remove the copycat app from the App Store. Note that copycat versions of Loop are typically not open source and there is no guarantee that they will keep your data private. Please do not post links to copycat versions of Loop in our discussion forum or issue tracker. These posts will be deleted without warning, since they serve as advertisements to copycats.

When I add a checkmark, the app deletes my habit!

You have probably accidentally enabled the "Hide completed habits" option. To disable it, open the main screen, tap the filter icon (the one with three horizontal lines), then tap "Hide completed".

Why are the reminders not working?

There are many reasons why the reminders may not appear:

• Loop will only show you a reminder if the task has not been already completed that day. For example, if your reminder is scheduled to show up at 8am, but you already added a checkmark manually (on the main app) at 7am, then the reminder will not appear. The same is true for non-daily habits. If you have a weekly habit, and you complete it on a certain Monday, the reminder will only appear on the following Monday.
• When you create a habit, you can also choose what days are the reminder allowed to appear. If you create a weekly habit, but set the reminders to appear only on the weekends, for example, then they will never appear Monday to Friday, regardless of you having completed the habit during the weekend or not.
• If you are sure that the reminders should appear, but they don't, please, make sure that your phone has no task killers or RAM boosters installed. These apps are known to disable Loop's reminders. If your phone has an aggressive power saving mode, such as Samsung's Ultra Power Saving mode or Sony's Stamina Mode, please make sure that Loop is whitelisted.

I can't find Loop's widgets on the list. How can I add them?

• Some phones don't display the name of the app the widgets belong to. In that case, the widgets will be called simply "Checkmark", "Frequency", "Habit Strength", "History" and "Streaks".
• If you still can't find the widgets, make sure that Loop is not installed on the SD card. Moving apps to the SD card disables many features, including widgets.

Other questions

How can I donate to the project?

Loop currently does not accept any monetary donations. There are many other ways you can contribute to the project, however, even if you are not a software developer, such as providing feedback, finding bugs, sharing the app with your friends, rating and writing a review on Google Play Store, or translating the app into your language. Please, see our main webpage at GitHub for more details.

My question was not answered in this FAQ. What should I do?

Please feel free to ask your question in our discussion forum. You may need to create a new GitHub account to participate in the discussions.

Originally posted by @iSoron in #689