Check habits off automatically
Apple's Shortcuts app can check a habit off for you — when a pill dispenser says a dose was taken, when you tap your phone on a sticker, when your alarm stops. You set it up once, on your iPhone, and it takes about two minutes.
Last updated 24 September 2026
Your link for your habit
Try it now opens Habit Comp and records one go, exactly like pressing the habit's button. Undo it on Today if you only wanted to test.
How it works
Habit Comp adds an action to the Shortcuts app called Check off a habit. You pick the habit from a list, and when the shortcut runs it does the same thing as pressing the habit's button — one go, paid what that go is worth. It works with your iPhone locked and doesn't open the app: the go is recorded at the moment the shortcut ran, and shows on Today the next time you open Habit Comp.
The habits you can pick are the ones listed in the app at Settings → Shortcuts — every habit that can be checked off with one press. Each one also has its own link there, for anything that can open a link instead.
- It never takes a go away. Once a habit is done for the day, opening the link again adds nothing and says so.
- It only works on the iPhone that is signed in to your account.
- A habit that needs a number typed in or a timer started has no link, because a link can't type a number.
Setting one up
Every recipe below follows the same four steps. Only the first one changes.
- Open Apple's Shortcuts app, go to the Automation tab, press + and choose the trigger from the recipe.
- Choose Run Immediately and turn off Notify When Run. A few triggers only offer Run After Confirmation, which means one tap on a prompt each time.
- Press Next, then New Blank Automation. Add an action, search for Habit Comp and choose Check off a habit.
- Tap the word Habit in the action, pick your habit from the list, and press Done.
The action needs iOS 16 or later and an up-to-date Habit Comp. If you can't find it, the link works too: copy it from Settings → Shortcuts and use the Open URLs action instead.
Recipes
iOS 27 or later
When another app tells you it happened
Good for: a smart pill dispenser, a smart scale, a gym check-in app, a meal-delivery app.
Trigger: Notification. Pick the app that sends it, then add a filter on the message so only the right notification counts.
Example: a LiveFine pill dispenser says “You have taken the medicine on time!” Filter the message to contain taken the medicine, so the reminder notifications don't count as doses.
For a habit done several times a day, like four doses, make it a habit with four goes a day. Each notification checks off one, and a fifth adds nothing.
Any recent iPhone
When you tap your phone on a sticker
Good for: taking pills, brushing teeth, feeding the dog, watering plants — anything done in one spot.
Trigger: NFC. Press Scan, hold the top of your iPhone against the sticker, and give it a name.
NFC stickers cost a few dollars for a pack online (look for “NTAG215”). Stick one on the pill bottle or the toothbrush holder, and tapping the phone on it checks the habit off. This one runs without asking on every iPhone from the XS onwards, so it is the most reliable recipe here.
Any recent iPhone
When your alarm stops
Good for: “Wake up on time”, “Out of bed by 7”.
Trigger: Alarm, then Is Stopped. Choose your wake-up alarm rather than any alarm, or a kitchen timer would count too.
Snoozing doesn't count. Only stopping it does.
Any recent iPhone
When a Focus turns off
Good for: “Up by 7” when Sleep ends, “Finished work on time” when Work ends.
Trigger: Focus. Pick the Focus, then When Turning Off.
Apple Watch
When you finish a workout
Good for: “Work out”, “Go for a run”.
Trigger: Apple Watch Workout, then Ends. Pick the kind of workout, or any.
If your workout habit already reads exercise from Apple Health, you don't need this — it checks itself off.
Any recent iPhone
When you arrive somewhere
Good for: “Go to the gym”, “Get to the office by 9”.
Trigger: Arrive. Choose the place, and a time range if the habit only counts at certain hours.
Arriving is a guess from your location, so it can be a few minutes late or fire as you drive past. Shortcuts may also ask before it runs.
Any recent iPhone
A button of its own, or “Hey Siri”
Good for: anything you'd rather check off without finding it in the app.
This works with no setup at all: say “Hey Siri, check off a habit in Habit Comp” and Siri asks which one.
For one habit in particular, make a shortcut rather than an automation. In the Shortcuts app, on the Shortcuts tab, press +, add Check off a habit, pick the habit and name the shortcut — say, “Took my meds”. Then say “Hey Siri, took my meds”, add it to your Home Screen, or set it on the Action Button of an iPhone that has one.
If it doesn't work
Habit Comp opened but nothing was checked off
Look at the message that appeared. “Already done for today” means the habit had every go it could earn. “Needs a number typed” means the habit is measured in amounts and can't be checked off by a link. “Names a habit this account doesn't have” means the habit was archived, or the link came from a different account — copy it again from Settings → Shortcuts.
“That habit isn't in Habit Comp on this iPhone”
The action can only check off habits this iPhone knows about. Open Habit Comp, make sure you're signed in, and pick the habit in the action again. An archived habit disappears from the list.
Nothing happened at all
Open the Shortcuts app, find the automation and check it is switched on. For a notification trigger, check the filter matches the notification's words exactly, and that the other app's notifications are allowed in Settings → Notifications. To check the action itself, run it from the Shortcuts app by hand, then open Habit Comp — the go should be on Today, at the time you ran it.
It asks “Run this automation?” every time
Some triggers can't run on their own; that is Apple's rule, not the app's. One tap on the prompt runs it.