Loop Habit Tracker: an offline Android habit app you can build from source

What Loop Habit Tracker solves, and for whom

Most habit apps assume a network. They want an account, they sync to a server, and the streak lives somewhere you do not control. Loop Habit Tracker takes the opposite position: the README states that the app does not require an Internet connection or online account registration, and that habit data is never sent to anyone. That single design decision defines the audience. It is for Android users who want a local record of daily or near-daily behaviour, and who care more about the record being theirs than about cross-device sync.

The second audience is developers and tinkerers. The repository is Kotlin with a Gradle build (build.gradle.kts, gradlew, settings.gradle.kts) and splits into uhabits-android and uhabits-core, so the scoring and scheduling logic sits in a separate module from the UI. If you want to read how a habit score is computed rather than trust a description of it, that split is where you start. The README also notes that checkmarks can be added through other apps, such as Tasker, which turns the app into a target for automation rather than a closed box.

How the habit score and schedules actually work

The README describes the mechanism at a high level: every repetition makes a habit stronger and every missed day makes it weaker, but a few missed days after a long streak will not completely destroy progress, unlike don't-break-the-chain apps. That is the whole point of the score. A binary streak resets to zero on one bad day; Loop's formula decays instead. The README does not publish the formula itself, so if the exact decay curve matters to you, read uhabits-core rather than the marketing copy.

Schedules are the other half. Daily habits are the default case, but the README states the app supports habits with more complex schedules, such as three times per week or every other day. That matters because a three-times-per-week habit cannot be scored the same way as a daily one; the app has to know which days count as opportunities. Reminders are per habit, at a chosen time of day, and the notification itself can be used to check or dismiss the habit without opening the app. Widgets put the same actions on the home screen. None of this requires a server round trip, which is why the app works on older phones according to the README's claim about optimisation.

Installing Loop Habit Tracker on Android

The README gives three install routes. The easiest is Google Play or F-Droid. Both are normal store installs and both keep the app updated. The third route is the releases page, where you download and install the APK directly; the README warns that in that case the app will not be updated automatically. Pick the store route unless you have a reason not to.

There is no command line install step in the README, because this is a phone app. The only shell work is if you build from source, which the README points to in docs/BUILD.md. The repository ships a build.sh and a Gradle wrapper, and the README only says to see the build instructions for the exact commands, so the details live in docs/BUILD.md rather than here.

After installing, the first real use is to create one habit and give it a schedule. The README's screenshots show the main screen, the edit-habit screen and the habit-history view, so the flow is: add a habit, set how often it should happen, optionally set a reminder time, then check it off from the main screen, a widget or the notification. The score and graphs fill in as entries accumulate. Export is under the app's data controls: the README says data can be exported to CSV for spreadsheets or to a SQLite database file.

Where Loop is the wrong tool

Loop is an Android app. The README offers no iOS build, no web client and no desktop application, and the related searches for Mac, Windows, PC and iOS have nothing in this repository behind them. If your phone is an iPhone, this project does not solve your problem at all, and no amount of source reading changes that.

The second limitation is sync. Local-only storage is the feature, but it is also the constraint. There is no account, so there is no automatic way to move your history to a new device beyond exporting and re-importing, and the README does not document a sync or restore workflow. The export formats are CSV and SQLite, which are readable but not a managed backup service. If you lose the phone, you are relying on whatever backup your Android setup provides, not on Loop.

The third case is anyone who wants social pressure. There are no shared habits, no accountability partners and no leaderboards in the README's feature list. Loop is a private ledger. Someone who needs another person to see the streak will find the app too quiet. Finally, the APK route carries a maintenance cost the README states plainly: install it that way and it will not update itself, so every release becomes a manual download.

Loop Habit Tracker compared with Habitify and HabitNow

Habitify and HabitNow are the names that come up alongside Loop in search, and the difference is architectural rather than cosmetic. Loop's README makes three commitments that define it: completely ad-free and open source under GPLv3, no in-app purchases, and no Internet connection required. A habit tracker that syncs across platforms is usually built around an account and a backend, because that is how the data reaches the second device. Loop has neither, which is exactly why it stays on one phone.

The practical trade is portability against privacy. If you switch between an Android phone and an iPad, or you want your habit history in a web dashboard, Loop's export files are the bridge, and you have to build the rest yourself. If you stay on Android and want the record to stay on the device, Loop's approach removes an entire class of concerns: no account to be locked out of, no server to shut down, no subscription to lapse. That is the comparison worth making, and it is a comparison about data custody, not about which interface looks nicer.

Maintenance, releases and the GPL-3.0 licence

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-07-21, so the project is still receiving commits. Releases are infrequent rather than continuous: v2.3.1 on 2025-08-14, v2.3.0 on 2025-06-25, and v2.2.0 back on 2024-01-31. That cadence is worth knowing before you build a workflow around it. Store installs absorb the gap; APK installs do not, since the README says a sideloaded copy will not update automatically. If you track the dev branch, expect the code to move ahead of the tagged release.

The licence is GPL-3.0, and the README carries the standard notice that the program comes with no warranty. For personal use on your own phone this changes nothing. It matters if you plan to redistribute the app, ship a modified build, or embed it in a product: GPL-3.0 is a copyleft licence, so derivative distributions carry source and licensing obligations. The repository also includes NOTICE.md and translator credit files (translators-classic.csv, translators-crowdin.csv), which is the kind of thing you need to preserve if you fork. This is not legal advice; read LICENSE.txt and NOTICE.md before distributing anything.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt Loop if you want an Android habit tracker with no account, no ads and an export path, and if you are willing to install from Google Play or F-Droid and accept that the APK from the releases page will not update itself. Do not adopt it if you need iOS, a desktop client or a browser-based version; the README offers none of those, and the related searches for Mac, Windows, PC and iOS have no matching product here. Before committing, verify the current release on the releases page, confirm the GPL-3.0 terms against your own distribution plans, and check whether the habit score formula matches how you want missed days treated.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. iSoron/uhabits on GitHub
2. Issues
3. License: GPL-3.0
4. README
5. Releases