If you’ve gone looking for a habit tracker that respects your privacy, three names keep coming up: Loop, Streaks, and OfflineHabit. They share a philosophy — your data should stay yours — but they make very different trade-offs on platform, sync, and price. Here’s an honest look at how they compare, including where each one wins and where it falls short.
The short version
| Loop Habit Tracker | Streaks | OfflineHabit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Android only | iOS only | iOS + Android |
| Price | Free (donation) | ~$5 one-time | Free; optional Premium |
| Account required | No | No | No |
| Works fully offline | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cross-device sync | No | No | Optional, free with an account |
| Open source | Yes (GPL) | No | No |
| Export | Yes | Limited | CSV + JSON |
| Streak style | Habit score | Streak | Shame-free streak |
All three are genuinely private and genuinely offline. The decision usually comes down to which phone you carry and whether you need your habits on more than one device.
Loop Habit Tracker — the open-source benchmark
Loop (technically “uHabits”) is the privacy community’s darling, and deservedly so. It’s open source, completely free, fully offline, and famous for a single promise: your data never leaves your phone. There’s no account, no cloud, no ads. It also has a clever habit-score system that softens the all-or-nothing feel of a hard streak reset.
Where it wins: transparency (you can read the code), zero cost, a thoughtful scoring model, and a large, trusting user base.
Where it falls short: it’s Android only — there’s no official iOS version — and because everything is pure-local, there’s no built-in way to sync or back up to another device. Lose or wipe your phone and the history goes with it. The marketing and onboarding are also fairly utilitarian.
If you’re on Android, never switch devices, and want open-source purity, Loop is hard to beat.
Streaks — the polished iOS one-timer
Streaks is the opposite end of the spectrum: a beautifully designed, iOS-only app you buy once (around $5) with no subscription. It stores data locally, integrates nicely with Apple Health, and feels premium.
Where it wins: design polish, a one-time price with no recurring fee, and tight Apple-ecosystem integration.
Where it falls short: iOS only (no Android), and its syncing is limited to Apple’s own ecosystem — there’s no private, cross-platform option, and if you ever move to Android your history doesn’t come with you. It’s also a paid-up-front app, which some people prefer and others don’t.
If you’re all-in on Apple and want a polished one-time purchase, Streaks is a great pick.
OfflineHabit — cross-platform, with optional private sync
OfflineHabit sits in the gap the other two leave open. It’s on both iOS and Android, it’s free to start with no account, and it’s offline-first like the others. The difference is what happens when you do want a backup or a second device: it offers optional cloud sync — free, it just needs an account. Your habits sync to a private space protected by row-level security, so only you can read your own rows — a backup and cross-device history without your data being exposed to other users. It also keeps streaks deliberately shame-free: a missed day resets the number quietly, with no guilt notifications. The free tier covers up to five habits — reminders, stats and CSV/JSON export included; an optional Premium subscription unlocks unlimited habits and the monthly calendar view.
Where it wins: the only one of the three that’s cross-platform and offers private cross-device sync; free core; shame-free design; exports to both CSV and JSON.
Where it falls short: it’s not open source like Loop, and unlocking unlimited habits and the monthly calendar takes a paid Premium plan (everything else — reminders, stats, sync and export — is free). It’s also the newest of the three — out now on both the App Store and Google Play.
If you want one habit tracker that works whether you’re on iPhone or Android, and you’d like the option of a private backup, that’s exactly the niche OfflineHabit was built for.
How to choose
- Android, free, open-source, single device → Loop.
- iPhone, polished, one-time purchase, single device → Streaks.
- Both platforms, free, optional private sync / backup → OfflineHabit.
There’s no universally “best” private habit tracker — only the best one for your phone and your need for a backup. The good news is that all three start from the same respectable place: your habits are yours, and they work offline.
Frequently asked questions
Is Loop Habit Tracker available on iPhone? No. Loop (uHabits) is Android-only and open source; there’s no official iOS version. If you’re on iPhone and want a similarly private tracker, Streaks (iOS-only) or OfflineHabit (iOS + Android) are the closest equivalents.
What’s the most private habit tracker that syncs across devices? Most pure-privacy apps (like Loop) achieve privacy by not syncing at all. The alternative is sync that’s scoped to your own private account — for example, protected by row-level security so only you can read your own rows. OfflineHabit offers this as an optional feature, which makes it well suited to people who want both privacy and a cross-device backup.
Do any of these habit trackers need an account? No — Loop, Streaks, and OfflineHabit all let you start tracking with no account. OfflineHabit only involves an account if you choose to turn on its optional cloud sync, and even then your synced habits stay private to your account, protected by row-level security so only you can read your own rows.
Which habit tracker works on both iPhone and Android? Of these three, only OfflineHabit is cross-platform (iOS and Android). Loop is Android-only and Streaks is iOS-only, so if you switch phones or use both, a cross-platform app keeps your habits and history in one place.