The Best Smartphone Apps for Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions
New Year, new goals! Whether you’re aiming to run a marathon, master a new language, or finally get your finances in order, a reliable smartphone is your best partner. The biggest challenge with any resolution is consistency, and the right app can provide the tracking, reminders, and motivation you need to turn a goal into a habit. Here are the best apps across the three most common resolution categories to help you succeed this year.
Category 1: Fitness and Wellness (The Body & Mind)
These apps help you track physical activity, manage nutrition, and improve mental health—all crucial for long-term well-being:
- Strava: Known as the 'social network for athletes,' Strava tracks runs, rides, and hikes, adding a competitive edge by letting you compare your times with other users on local 'segments'. This sense of community and friendly competition is fantastic for boosting motivation and accountability.
- MyFitnessPal: This is the go-to app for the classic 'eat healthier' resolution. It boasts an immense database of foods and a simple interface for tracking calories, macros, and nutrients, making nutritional transparency incredibly easy.
- Headspace or Calm: If your goal is to reduce stress or improve sleep, these apps are essential. They offer guided meditations, breathing exercises, and 'sleep stories' to help you prioritise mental well-being and build a consistent routine for relaxation.
Category 2: Finance and Organisation (The Wallet & Time)
Saving money and managing time are perennial goals. These apps use smart technology to keep you on track without feeling restrictive:
- YNAB (You Need A Budget): This app follows a zero-based budgeting system, ensuring every pound has a job. It helps you change your mindset from reacting to spending to proactively planning, which is critical for achieving significant savings goals.
- Todoist or TickTick: These are top-tier task managers that go beyond simple to-do lists. They allow you to break down large resolutions (like 'learn a new skill') into small, actionable steps, and their powerful reminder systems ensure you never miss a chance to work on your daily goals.
Category 3: Habit Building and Consistency
The secret to keeping a resolution is turning it into a habit. Dedicated habit trackers provide the visual cues and data needed to maintain streaks:
- Productive – Habit Tracker: This app focuses on building positive habits and breaking negative ones. It offers smart scheduling, motivational streaks, and clear visualisations of your progress, making it ideal for the 'don’t break the chain' mentality.
- Habitica: This is perfect if you struggle with motivation. Habitica turns self-improvement into a game (a 'gamified' approach). Completing tasks and habits earns you in-game gold and experience points, while failing loses you health, providing fun, high-stakes external motivation.
Start Smart: Your Tech Upgrade
Many of these apps require decent battery life and performance to run smoothly throughout the day. If your current phone is struggling to keep up with your new, highly productive life, consider an upgrade. You can find high-quality, fully tested devices that are guaranteed to support your goals when you buy a quality refurbished smartphone from Envirofone. And don't forget to trade in your old model! Selling your unused handset to Envirofone provides cash instantly, which is a great way to fund your new fitness gear or language subscription as you sell your old device.
