Keeping your personal development on track

Mobile devices are a great tool to keep track of your personal development.

"What gets measured gets managed.” Peter Drucker

There are a number of mobile apps that can tap into your phone's hardware for sensing capabilities to bring you great insights. I personally use an android phone as it allows developers to better fully utilize the phone's capabilities. Most of my app recommendations below are for Android, but some have an iOS counterpart which I've linked. The main areas I track are Habits, Productivity, Fitness, Nutrition, Sleep, Finance, Reading, and Meditation.

Habits & Productivity

Habit Bull

Habit Bull is a habit tracker that focuses on habit consistency. You create a habit, which has it's own calendar view and you can specify how frequently you want to track the habit as well as set flexible reminders to do the habit.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Habit Bull for Android Tracks: _Habits [   I manage around 20-25 Habits in Habit Bull. It took me a while before I could scale my habits up to that number but this app has been crucial in managing it all with the help of reminders and allowing me to see everything in one view. My focus should be on consistency and the process which is the main focus on this app and the results will come as a result of getting the habits done over time.

Pomotodo

Pomotodo is a user-friendly pomodoro application that is supported on all major devices and allows you to pair tasks with your pomodoro as well as tag those tasks to see data of how you spend your pomodoros.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Pomotodo for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""]Pomotodo for iOS   Tracks: _Pomodoros, Todos [

Exist

Exist turns your data into insights. They collect data from your various services and find trends and correlations in the results.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Exist for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] Exist for iOS Tracks: _Mood

[(OFFTIME)

( OFFTIME ) helps you to unplug better, thanks to app blocking, communications filter and insights into your smartphone usage.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixed_class=""] ( OFFTIME ) for Android Tracks: Device Usage [duration, sessions, contacts, app usage] [

RescueTime

Rescuetime is a personal analytics service that shows you how you spend your time and provides tools to help you be more productive.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] RescueTime for Android Tracks: _Categorizes apps and browsing usage [ Rescuetime can also track your mobile activity.

AppDetox

AppDetox helps you to calm down your mobile app usage, and take a digital detox. You are able to set your own rules for your apps to detox from some heavy usage and stop procrastinating. Every time you violate one of your own rules, AppDetox will remind you to take a break and stop your heavy app usage.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixed_class=""] AppDetox for Android Tracks: App Usage, App Launches [

Fitness & Nutrition

Jefit

Jefit is a data-driven workout app that helps you track your training data, analyze it, and plan routines.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Jefit for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] Jefit for iOS Tracks: _Workout Data [Sets, Reps, Rest Time, Exercise, Wasted Time] [ .

MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is a free smartphone app and website that tracks diet and exercise to determine optimal nutrients and caloric intake for the users' goals. They recently came out with a premium version that gives you more insights to your data.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] MyFitnessPal for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] MyFitnessPal for iOS Tracks: _Calories and Macro(Fats, Protein, Carbs)  [ MyFitnessPal has been great for helping me reach my caloric goals which are around 3, 000-4, 000 per day. With a higher calorie goal it's important to make sure my macronutrient proportions are balanced to ensure that I can maintain lean weight.

Withings

With the Withings Smart Body Scale you can get high-accuracy weight and body fat measurements, as well as your Body Mass Index. The scale automatically uploads your measurements through WiFi and or Bluetooth.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Withings for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] Withings for iOS Tracks: _Weight (I only track weight), Sleep, Steps, Blood Pressure [

It just takes about 3 seconds for the scale to do all it's measurements, so I use it every morning and all the metrics are uploaded to the cloud.

Water Your Body

Water Your Body is a simple and clean app to track and remind you to drink a sufficient amount of water based on your weight.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Water Your Body for Android Tracks: _Water Intake [ I'm not afraid to admit that I forgot to drink enough water sometimes. With Water Your Body I can track and improve the amount of water I drink. The app also has custom reminders and reports.

Endomondo

Endomondo can track numerous fitness attributes such as running routes, distance, duration, and calories. The software can help analyze ones performance and recommend improvements.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Endomondo for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] Endomondo for iOS   Tracks: _Running Distance, Duration and Calories burned [

Sleep

Sleep is one of the areas I have been tracking very aggressively as it was a particularly bad habit of mine in the past. I've since made major improvements with my sleep and it is one of my most consistent areas now.

Sleep as Android

Sleep as Android is a smart alarm clock with sleep cycle tracking. It wakes you gently in optimal moment using your phone's motion detector.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Sleep as Android for Android Tracks: _Sleep Duration, Deep Sleep (Motion), Noise  [

Sense

Sense is a simple system that tracks your sleep, monitors the environment in your bedroom and reinvents the alarm, so you can sleep better.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Sense for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] Sense for iOS Tracks: _Sleep Duration, Room Temperature, Room Humidity, Noise, Light [

SleepyTime

SleepyTime calculates when to wake up, when to go to sleep, and when to wake up if you sleep now. You can then set up an alarm to wake up at the right time. SleepyTime helps to keep things in balance if your schedule leads to an inconsistent bedtime.SleepyTime for Android Tracks: Syncs REM Sleep cycle

Reading

Goodreads

Goodreads is one of the largest sites for readers and book recommendations.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Goodreads for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] Goodreads for iOS Tracks: _Books Read, Currently Reading, Categories  [ .

Finance

Level Money

Level Money automatically updates spendable cash as you make purchases each day, providing a simple, real-time picture with a daily, weekly and monthly spendable budget.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Level Money for Android [icon name="apple" class="" unprefixed_class=""] Level Money for iOS Tracks: _Transactions, Daily, Weekly and Monthly spending  amounts [ .

Buddhist Meditation Trainer

Buddhist Meditation Trainer is your personal trainer for relaxing and enlightening meditation. It features 10 levels of enlightenment with deeper quotes to meditate on in every level. All with a simple to use meditation timer.[icon name="android" class="" unprefixedclass=""] Buddhist Meditation Trainer Tracks: _Meditation minutes  [   The great feature about this app is that you start out meditating at 2 minutes and have to work your way up each day. After about 5-8 meditation sessions you level up and it increases your meditation time by a minute. I like the no frills nature and simplicity of the app, although I do admit it is in need of a makeover; all I need is the timer and I can focus on my breathing, no guided meditation necessary.

I'm always on the lookout for new apps to make more informed and data-driven decisions to improve my life, if you've got an app suggestion comment down below! Share if you enjoyed.

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