Loop vs Streaks is an easy comparison if everyone in your home uses the same kind of phone. Loop Habit Tracker is a open source tracker for Android. Streaks is a paid app for Apple devices. Both are well made. The catch for a mixed household is that Loop has no iPhone version listed on its website and Streaks has no Android version, so an iPhone user and an Android user can't both use the same one.
This guide covers what each app does well, what that means if your home has both kinds of phone, and what to check if you want one tracker for everybody.
Loop Habit Tracker, briefly
Loop is one of the most respected habit trackers on Android. It is included, open source under the GPLv3 license, shows no ads, needs no account and keeps your habit data on your phone. It is distributed through Google Play and F-Droid.
- A habit score. Every repetition makes a habit stronger and every miss makes it a little weaker, so a few missed days after a long run don't wipe out your progress.
- Flexible schedules. Three times a week, every other day, or once every other week.
- Widgets and reminders. Check off a habit from the home screen or from its notification.
- Export. Your data goes to a spreadsheet or a database file whenever you like.
If you're on Android and want a no-cost list of habits, Loop is hard to argue with.
Streaks, briefly
Streaks won an Apple Design Award and the App Store lists it as an Editors' Choice. You pay once, $5.99 on the US App Store when we last checked, and that covers the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro versions, synced through iCloud.
- A focused list. Up to 24 daily tasks, with hundreds of icons and color themes.
- Health integration. It can complete tasks like steps from the Health app.
- Scheduling. Tasks can be set for certain days so the others don't break your streak.
- A strong watch app, plus widgets, negative tasks, timed tasks and shared tasks.
As the name says, a missed scheduled day resets the streak to zero. Plenty of people find that motivating. For someone who uses only Apple devices, it's excellent value.
The mixed household problem
Say one partner has a Pixel and the other has an iPhone. Or a parent is on Android and a teenager is on iPhone. You'd like to use the same app, so you can talk about it, help each other set it up, and maybe check in on the same goal.
With these two, you'll end up with two apps. The Android user can run Loop and the iPhone user can run Streaks, and each will work well. They just won't match. The habit score and the streak count measure different things, the screens look nothing alike, and nothing passes between them.
That's fine for many families. Two people with separate habits don't need the same app. It matters more when:
- You're working on a shared goal, like a family savings target or a joint fitness plan.
- One of you is about to switch phones and wants to keep their history.
- You want to help someone set up the app by showing them your own screen.
- Someone also wants the tracker on a Mac or a Windows PC.
If someone is switching phones
Loop lets you export your data to a spreadsheet or a database file, so an Android user moving to an iPhone can keep a record of their history. Streaks syncs through iCloud, which keeps an iPhone, iPad and Mac in step. Neither carries history to the other side, so if someone in your home is switching, export or note what you want to keep before you wipe the old phone.
What to look for in a tracker for both
- Native apps on both stores. Check the App Store and Google Play both list it.
- The same idea on both phones. Same screens, same rules for a missed day.
- A widget on both. The home screen is where a habit gets noticed.
- Sync if you need it. Separate data is fine for separate goals. Moving between phones needs a way to carry history across.
- One purchase. If there's a paid tier, check it works across stores.
Where Reveal the Dream fits
Reveal the Dream runs on iPhone and Android, plus iPad, Mac and Windows. It follows one goal as a photo. You pick a picture of what you're working toward, choose 7 or 30 days, and it starts covered in one piece per day. Each check-in uncovers a piece. Like Loop's habit score, a miss doesn't erase what you've done: that day's piece stays covered and everything already uncovered stays.
Both phones get the same app and a home screen widget. On Classic each device backs up its own journeys, through iCloud on an iPhone and through Google on Android. Premium syncs journeys between Apple, Android, Windows and Linux, which helps when someone switches phones, and it adds several journeys at once, rest days and custom lengths. The cross-platform page explains how that sync works.
It's a different kind of tracker from either one. If your household wants a long list of habits, Loop on the Android phones and Streaks on the iPhones is a perfectly good answer. If you'd like one app on both phones, check the list above before you choose.