You may have heard that setting specific goals is a great way to reach success. Unfortunately, many people are intimidated by goal setting, afraid they may make mistakes from the get-go.
Their aversion is based on fear—fear of failure, rejection, or even success itself. In addition, people often think that it’s too much work to constantly keep track of goals to see if they’ve achieved what they intended.
Recently, productivity tools have made goal setting and tracking more convenient. You set the goals, and these tools, such as apps and software, keep you accountable for the things you said you want to achieve.
Many apps are accessible through smartphones, tablets, and computers. You are probably using a couple of apps right now to manage specific areas of your life. In the same way, goal setting and tracking can be as convenient as a swipe or a click.
If you’re looking for the best goal setting app that will help propel you to greater success, today’s post is your guide in making an informed decision about which app works best for your goal setting needs.
But first, let’s briefly discuss how to choose the right app for goal setting.
How to Choose the Right Goal Setting & Tracking App
The following questions will guide you to the app that’s perfect for your needs:
Now, let’s check out the best apps available today.
Best Goal Setting & Tracking Apps
1. Goals on Track
Check out our more in-depth Goals on Track review here.
Goals on Track has been designed with one purpose in mind: to help you become more productive. It does that through all the useful features it comes with.
A Goal Dashboard allows you to view all your target goals at a glance. Each goal is displayed with a progress bar, showing the percentage of completion of each one. Moreover, Tasks for the Day allows you to keep track of your to-do’s for the day. You’ll be managing your time more efficiently in no time.
The SMART Goal feature ensures that you’re making smart, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals for increased productivity. Furthermore, this app has a feature for sub-goal creation. These Sub-Goals are the tasks you need to complete in support of the main goal you’re going after.
This app also comes with a Journal feature so you can write down your thoughts, ideas, and insights about the goals you’ve set for yourself. If you’re curious about how you’re doing in meeting all of your goals, this app provides Reports that include statistics on the following:
Finally, what sets this app apart from others is its Vision Board feature. This manifestation tool harnesses the Law of Attraction and serves as a visual representation of what you want to achieve. For more on this, you might want to check out this post on the best online vision board apps and websites.
Goals on Track is a free service. However, an upgrade to premium is necessary in order to access more features.
2. Way of Life App
If your goal involves building better habits that promote a healthier you, then the Way of Life App is worth a try. Chosen as Healthline’s Best Motivation App of 2019, Way of Life has several useful features that earned it a spot on our list.
First off, the app allows you to create a list of habits that you want to either develop or get rid of. Every day, the app asks you if you were able to do the habit (if your goal is creating a habit) or if you avoided it (if you’re breaking the habit).
Its interface has a simple color coding scheme. Accomplishing your goal for the day is indicated in green, while failure to do so is indicated in a glaring red. This way, you have a strong visual representation of your daily progress, helping you to effectively track your goals.
You can group your habits with the app’s customizable tagging feature. Moreover, you can record important notes and ideas through the note-taking feature.
The app also has a built-in reminder system. If you haven’t checked in at the appointed hour to report whether you’ve accomplished your daily goals, it will send a reminder so you can fill out the checklist. And checking in only takes a few minutes.
To check the overall status of your goals, the app provides charts showing your streaks, trends, and tendencies over a specific period of time. The app is free, with an option to subscribe to premium-to-access features, such as cloud storage access.
3. Strides
Achieve your goals easily with Strides. If you have several goals that you want to accomplish, Strides can accommodate them. The app ensures that you have a higher chance of getting thing on your list done.
This app’s main draw is its flexibility as a goal setter and tracker. There are four main goal tracking options users can choose from. These are:
The app also supports habit stacking. It allows you to tag your habits and group them for a specific goal you are targeting.
Strides is available for iOS. It is a free app, with an option to upgrade to premium. The subscription rate starts at $4.99 a month.
4. LifeRPG
According to studies, such as this one published in Computers in Human Behavior, gamified design elements such as those found in mobile apps can raise motivation among users. If this resonates with you, then this app’s gamified approach might be what you need to reach your goals.
In LifeRPG, your goals are known as “missions.” How important the missions are is determined by three parameters, namely:
The user is required to enter the values of these parameters, and can rate a mission’s difficulty, urgency, and fear levels on a scale of 0–100.
If you are building a habit stack, you can assign sub-missions to a parent mission, with their corresponding deadlines, reminders, and repetitions, as well as location, duration, and reward points (which you determine) once your mission is completed.
If you’ve set them, the app will provide reminders for you to do your missions. Once you indicate that you’ve completed a mission, you’ll get reward points.
The learning curve for this app is a bit steep. However, once you get the hang of it, it makes goal setting and tracking a bit more interesting and fun.
The app is currently only available for Android for free, with in-app purchases.
5. Dreamfora
If you think goal setting seems like too much work, Dreamfora aims to change your mind. The main goal of Dreamfora’s developer is to provide an app that requires minimal effort in helping you set and keep track of your goals.
This app’s developers worked with goal-setting experts in order to give users the best goal setting and tracking experience with minimal effort.
It has a one-tap Planning Wizard so that you can set goals at the tap of a single button. The app also provides a goal achievement plan consisting of actionable steps you can follow in order to reach your goals.
There are several features that support your goal achievement plan. These include:
Curious about how you’re doing in your goal setting? The app provides statistical reports of your progress, represented by graphs and charts.
Lastly, the app has curated quotes and motivational tips to give you that extra push to achieve your goals.
Currently, the app is available for free for Android devices.
6. Repeat Habit Tracker
If you want to focus on achieving your goals, this app can help you with that. It works on the principle that it takes 70 days to form a habit. Its features encourage you to repeat certain daily tasks until you achieve your objectives.
Reminders help you keep track of your daily goals or pending tasks for the day. Rather than just having the app send you a notification, you can opt to receive the reminders through a voice assistant.
At the end of the day, you log whether you were able to accomplish your daily goals or not. You’ll be able to see how you’re doing in reaching your goals through a progress interface. A calendar shows which days you’ve done your tasks, and also provides a graph indicating the percentage of completion of every task/goal.
Need some motivation? Quotes from famous and successful people give you encouragement as you work toward your targets.
The app is free, and users can choose to disable or enable ads.
7. Lifetick
Need a way to accomplish your long-term goals? Whether your plan is to finish your MBA, lose weight, or buy a house, the Lifetick app contains features that can help you do so in a systematic way.
When you add a goal, Lifetick provides a set of guide questions to ensure you have a higher chance of achieving it. The app lets you establish your personal core values to anchor you in your goal setting.
A journal helps keep track of your thoughts about the goals you are targeting. A tracker feature allows you to develop the positive habits that help you succeed in your objectives. Furthermore, a progress chart lets you know how on track you are with the goals you’re pursuing.
Lifetick lets you collaborate with family members, friends, and work colleagues on group goals. This feature provides extra support and the feeling of accountability when it comes to working towards what you want to accomplish.
The app is free, which allows users to track up to four goals. A paid subscription is necessary in order to unlock more features. Subscription rates begin at $5 per month for an individual account and $10 for a team account.
8. Coach.me
If your main goal is to develop good habits, Coach.me is the perfect fit. It has a pre-set list of habits you can choose from, including habits that you want to develop or break. Examples of habits include meditating at a certain time of day, flossing every day, and learning a new skill.
Once you’ve chosen a habit that’s part of your main goal, you can set how often you want to do or avoid doing the habit. The app then reminds you to check in (e.g., to meditate, floss, or stop smoking). It also syncs with different devices to effectively track your activities.
The app has a community feature that lets you celebrate with others whenever you accomplish a goal. Furthermore, coaches are available in case you need help in accomplishing tasks that lead you closer to your objectives.
The app is free to use, but there is a charge when you avail yourself of the coaching service. Different coaching services have their own corresponding rates. For example, group coaching starts at $20 per month.
9. Fabulous
Fabulous focuses on providing support when you are developing healthy habits that enrich your life and promote well-being. It was developed in the Behavioral Economics Lab of Duke University, so the app incorporates science-backed features that support success in goal setting.
In this app, goals are called “journeys.” There are preset journeys (e.g., the health-focused journey). The first step in the health-focused journey helps you develop the habit of hydrating yourself more. Then the app recommends other habits you can establish, creating a chain.
Users can also set customized journeys. They can assign smaller tasks that support them in arriving at a larger goal.
Users can also select reminder times for their habits. There is a timer beside each routine/habit, which users need to set. This is helpful, since we often lose track of the time when we’re immersed in a task. The timer ensures that only the allocated time is spent working on a particular routine.
The app is offered for free. In-app purchases are available, and start at $14.99 for the monthly service.
Final Words on the Best Goal Setting App for You
When it comes to setting and tracking your goals, the right tools make all the difference. When you use the right app, goal setting and tracking become easier and more efficient.
We hope that you’ve found the best app to help you achieved your long- and short-term goals.
If you’re interested in other resources related to productivity, success, and the realization of your dreams, you might want to visit the following posts:
Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.
