Habit Tracker with Reminders & Widgets: The Complete Setup Guide
A habit tracker only works if it interrupts you at the right moment and stays visible the rest of the time. That's why the two features that matter most aren't the checkboxes — they're reminders and widgets. Here's how to set both up so your habits stop depending on memory.
First: separate the schedule from the goal
Most trackers blur two different questions: when do I do this habit, and how much counts as done? Awakee treats them separately. The schedule says which days the habit appears — every day, three times a week, every other week, or specific dates each month. The goal says what completion means — 20 minutes of reading, 2 liters of water, 50 push-ups. Getting this right up front is what makes your progress stats honest later.
Setting up reminders you'll actually act on
The research on implementation intentions is clear: "read at 9 PM after dinner" succeeds far more often than "read more." Your reminder is that intention, delivered. Three rules:
- Tie the time to an existing anchor — after breakfast, after your commute, after dinner. Not a random hour.
- One reminder per habit. Five daily notifications train you to swipe them all away.
- Act from the notification. In Awakee you can mark a habit complete, or jump straight into its focus timer, directly from the reminder — no app-opening friction between intention and action.
Widgets: make the streak ambient
You check your home screen dozens of times a day. Put your habits there and the tracker keeps working between notifications:
- Home screen widget — today's habits and routine at a glance, with deep links that open exactly the right screen.
- Lock screen widget — your progress visible before you even unlock.
- Streak widget — your current chain, always in view. Nothing protects a 30-day streak like having to look at it every time you pick up your phone.
To add them: long-press your home or lock screen, tap the add/customize button, and search for Awakee.
Let the routine do the tracking for you
Here's the trick most habit apps miss: if your habits live inside a morning routine, you don't need to track them one by one. Link a habit to a routine step in Awakee and completing the step during the guided timer checks off the habit automatically. One routine, five habits tracked, zero extra taps.
Review weekly, adjust monthly
Once a week, glance at your progress charts: which habits hit their goal, where the streak wobbled, what consistently gets skipped. A habit that fails three weeks running isn't a discipline problem — it's scheduled at the wrong time or sized too big. Shrink it or move it.
Build your routine in under two minutes and let the guided timer run it with you tomorrow morning. Download Awakee on the App Store →