How to track habits on your Windows PC
Short answer
Windows has no habit tracker built in, so most people use a paper chart, a spreadsheet or a phone app. A desktop tracker is easier to keep up because it sits where you already work. AppRig's Habit Tracker logs yes/no habits, counts, measurements and meals from a panel on your PC, shows streaks and charts, and can remind you each day, with no account.
The manual way
Windows has no habit tracker of its own, so the classic approaches still win: a paper chart on the wall, a spreadsheet with dates down the side and a column per habit, or a phone app.
Each has a catch. Paper is easy to ignore once it is behind you. A spreadsheet works (mark each day with a 1, total with COUNTIF, colour the gaps with conditional formatting) but you have to open it on purpose. Phone apps are the most polished, yet they live on a different device from the one you spend the day on, often want an account, and many keep streak history or charts behind a subscription.
If you want to track food, the same applies to a food and symptom diary: it only helps if you fill it in at every meal.
The faster way with AppRig
AppRig’s Habit Tracker sits in a panel on your desktop. Add a tracker as a yes/no habit, a count (with a +1 button), a measurement such as weight or hours slept, or a Food tracker, then click its card to log today. A flame marks a habit you have done, the card fills with its colour, and hovering shows your streak. Set targets like “at most 3 per week”, pick which weekdays a habit applies, and set a daily reminder for the habits still to log. The analysis window charts each tracker’s history with current and best streaks and completion stats, and lets you log a day you missed.
The Food tracker logs meals with ingredients, a “how did it make you feel” rating, symptom tags, and optional calories and protein. Its analysis view, which flags suspect ingredients and charts calories and protein against your targets, is part of AppRig Pro.
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See the full AppRig how-to in the docs →
Common questions
How do I make a simple habit tracker in Excel?
Put the dates down column A and one habit per column across the top. Mark each day with a 1 or an x when you did it, then use COUNTIF on each column to total the days done, and conditional formatting to colour the filled cells so gaps stand out. It works, but you have to open the file every day, and working out streaks needs extra formulas.
Why do I keep forgetting to log my habits?
Usually because logging lives somewhere you do not look. A phone app competes with every other notification, and a spreadsheet has to be opened on purpose. Logging sticks when it takes one click in a place you see every day, paired with a single daily reminder at a fixed time, such as just before you finish work.
Can I track what I eat and how it makes me feel?
Yes, and a food and symptom diary is the usual way to spot foods that disagree with you. For each meal, note what you ate, the main ingredients, and later how you felt and any symptoms. After a few weeks, look for ingredients that keep turning up before bad days. Share the diary with a doctor or dietitian rather than self-diagnosing.
Do I need an account or subscription for a habit tracker?
No. Many phone habit apps ask you to sign up and put streak history or charts behind a monthly subscription, but a paper chart or spreadsheet needs neither. AppRig needs no account, keeps your habit history on your own PC, and makes no network connections.
Related questions
AppRig does this and more, all in one local-first Windows app. See what AppRig does →