How to track habits on Apple Watch

011. Install the Watch app

1. Install the habit tracker on your iPhone first. The examples here use Habbles, whose Watch app is free.
2. If Automatic App Install is on, it appears on your watch by itself. If not, open the Watch app on iPhone, scroll to Available Apps and tap Install.
3. Open the app on iPhone once and add a habit. The watch shows the same list.

022. Log a habit from your wrist

Open the app on the watch and tap a habit. In Habbles a tap marks a yes-or-no habit as done, or adds one step to a counted habit (one glass of water, five minutes). The change is sent to your iPhone and shows up in the app and widgets there.

033. Put it on your watch face

1. Touch and hold the watch face, then tap Edit.
2. Swipe left to Complications and tap a slot.
3. Scroll to the app and choose a complication. Habbles offers three: Momentum (how steady you've been), Streak, and Next habit.
4. Press the Digital Crown to finish.

04If it doesn't sync

• Open the iPhone app. The watch gets its list from the phone, so a change made on the phone arrives once the app has run.
• Keep the phone nearby the first time. Later taps are queued and delivered when the two reconnect.
• Restart both devices if a complication stays blank after installing.

05What Apple Health can fill in for you

Some habits don't need a tap at all. If you allow it, a habit in Habbles can read steps, sleep, mindful minutes, exercise minutes, active energy or water from Apple Health and tick itself when you reach the target.

06Why the Activity rings aren't a habit tracker

The rings are excellent at what they measure: movement, exercise minutes and standing. They can't track anything else. Reading, taking medication, calling a friend, not vaping: none of these is something a sensor can detect.

The two work well together. Let the rings handle movement, and let a habit tracker handle the rest.

07Which watch faces work best

Any face with complication slots works. A few are especially good for habits:

• Modular and Modular Duo: a large slot fits the “next habit” complication with its name.
• Infograph: corner slots suit the momentum ring and the streak.
• X-Large: one complication, very big. Good if you want a single number to glance at.
• Smart Stack: turn the Digital Crown up from the watch face to see widgets; the app's widget appears there too.

08Let Apple Health tick habits for you

The best habit is one you don't have to log. If your watch already measures it, a habit can read the number from Health and complete itself. In Habbles, edit a habit, open More, and choose a Health source:

Health data is read on your device. It is never written back and never leaves your iPhone. You can still log by hand on a day you forgot to wear the watch.

09Log by voice

Raise your wrist and say “Log a habit in Habbles”, then name the habit. The same phrase works on iPhone, HomePod and CarPlay. Siri only adds progress; it never undoes a habit you've already finished.

10Battery and sync, briefly

• Battery: complications refresh a few times an hour at most, and the Watch app only runs while you're looking at it.
• Sync: the watch gets today's list from your iPhone. Logs you make on the watch are sent back straight away if the phone is in range, and queued if it isn't.
• Without the phone: you can still log. The watch delivers the taps when it next reaches the phone.

11Troubleshooting

• The app doesn't appear on the watch. Open the Watch app on iPhone › Available Apps › Install. Automatic App Install may be off.
• The list is empty or out of date. Open the iPhone app once so it can send today's list.
• A complication is blank. Remove it from the face and add it again, then open the Watch app once.
• A tap didn't reach the phone. It is queued and arrives when the two reconnect; open the iPhone app to speed that up.

12How we made this

We build Habbles and wrote this from our own Watch app on watchOS 26. The steps for installing apps and editing faces are Apple's; details that are specific to Habbles are marked as such.

13Questions