What to Look for in a Private Habit Tracker: A 7-Point Checklist

A criteria list you can apply to any habit tracker before installing it — seven checks covering where the data lives, what the build asks for, and whether you can leave with your history.

Every habit tracker now claims to be private, and the claim tells you nothing: it is a sentence in a listing, written by whoever wrote the listing. What tells you something is what the installed app requests, where the bytes go when you tap done, and whether your history can leave the phone with you. The seven checks below need only a phone, the settings app and the privacy policy.

1. Where the data actually lives

Read the storage section of the policy. A concrete answer names the mechanism — a database on the device. A vague one describes safeguards instead of locations.
Check the store listing's data safety section for anything marked as transmitted or backed up automatically.
Run the aeroplane mode test: a day with no connection should change nothing about check-ins, notes or statistics.

A good answer is a local database you could point to, plus an app that loses no function offline.

2. Whether an account is required to start

Count the screens before your first check-in. Each field is asked for before the app has given you anything.
Look for email verification. If a habit cannot be logged until a link is clicked, your address has become part of the product.
Check whether account deletion exists in the settings or the policy. It is worth confirming — and it confirms that a server-side profile exists.

A good answer is a usable home screen before anything is requested: no email, no password, no verification.

3. Which analytics and ad SDKs are bundled

Open the third-party and advertising sections of the policy. Named partners can be checked; general reassurance cannot.
Compare what you read with the store listing's data shared disclosure.
Consider the business model. An advertising-funded free tier has an interest in keeping you opening the app; one funded by an optional paid upgrade does not.
Treat "anonymous analytics" as a third-party SDK sending usage data. Anonymous describes the data, not the absence of a channel.

A good answer is no third-party analytics or advertising SDKs in the build at all.

4. Which permissions the build actually requests

On Android, open Settings, Apps, the app, Permissions. This lists everything the build declares, whether or not you have granted it.
Map each permission to a feature you can name. Reminders need notification access; automatic step or sleep logging needs a health data source.
Anything you cannot map deserves a question. A permission requested before its feature is shown is usually a preference, not a requirement.

A good answer is a short list you could explain in one sentence each.

5. Data portability

Find the export screen now, while you have time to read it.
Check the formats. CSV and JSON open anywhere and outlive the app; a proprietary archive needs the app forever.
Check whether export is free, and whether it covers your full history rather than a recent window.
For backups, find out who holds the key. A backup only you can open is a backup you own.

A good answer is open formats for export, and encrypted backups whose key stays with you.

6. What happens on uninstall

Read the deletion section of the policy: what is removed, and what is retained.
Understand the local-only trade: if nothing was ever uploaded, removing the app removes the database with it. Export first.
If there is an account, check whether deleting it deletes server data too, and when.
Check where backups live. A copy you moved to a computer is yours; one that never left the phone protects privacy, not recovery.

A good answer is no server-side copy at all, plus an export you have already made.

7. Streak and notes design that does not punish you

Look for a freeze or grace mechanism, and check whether it is limited. A limit keeps it a decision rather than a way of never tracking anything.
Check whether you can log a past day. Most missed days are noticed late.
Check what happens to the numbers when a habit is archived. Preserved history and deleted history are different products.
Look at how a missed day is drawn: a gap in a heatmap is information, a broken chain a verdict.

A good answer records a missed day as a data point and keeps the history when a habit ends.

The checklist in five minutes

Count the screens before your first email field.
Read Settings, Apps, Permissions against the features you plan to use.
Turn on aeroplane mode, then complete a check-in, a note and a count.
Find the storage, third-party and deletion sections of the policy.
Export something before you trust anything.

How Steady Ember answers each criterion

Criterion	What you check	What you find in Steady Ember
Where data lives	Policy wording, aeroplane mode test	Local SQLite database; no internet permission in the release build
Account required	Screens before the first check-in	Opens straight into habits — no sign-up, no email, no password
Analytics and ad SDKs	Policy third-party section, data safety	No analytics or advertising SDKs — no Firebase, no Mixpanel
Permissions requested	Settings, Apps, Permissions	Notifications for reminder channels; Health Connect only if you enable step, hydration or sleep sync
Data portability	Export screen, formats, who holds the key	CSV and JSON export; AES-256-GCM encrypted backups with your own key token
Uninstall	Deletion section of the policy	Nothing held on a server — export or back up before removing the app
Streak design	Freeze, backfill and archive behaviour	Finite streak freezes, a retroactive recovery window, archiving that keeps history

The product behind that table is Steady Ember: a 100% offline habit tracker for Android, built with Flutter, with everything in a local SQLite database. Up to 6 habits are free, and archiving a completed habit keeps its history while freeing the slot. Two criteria deserve their own pages: why it has no account, no ads and no cloud sync, and what "privacy-first" means once it can be tested.

What to Look for in a Private Habit Tracker