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James Clear’s 2018 bestseller “Atomic Habits” provides insight into how to change your habitual behaviors for the better and has sold more than 15 million copies to date.
In February, Clear launched an interactive extension of its books through the app. atombased on the principles outlined in the book.
“Seeing how this book has helped millions of people establish new habits gave me the idea of leveraging technology to help even more people make small, meaningful improvements. I’m very excited,” Clear said. forbes at that time.
Related: James Clear explains why the 2-minute rule is key to building long-term habits
If billed monthly, the app costs $10 per month (or $120 per year), or $70 for an annual subscription. In contrast, the book’s list price is $27 for a one-time purchase.
James Clear. (2019 Pennsylvania Women’s Conference Photo Credit: Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images)
As an Atomic Habits fan, I was intrigued by the idea of an app that could more easily apply the book. Is the app easy to use? How is it different from the book? Are the features worth the cost?
Here’s what I discovered:
Setup and habit tracking
After downloading the app, I didn’t have to create an account or give my card information to the company. Instead, I was automatically enrolled in a free trial of Atoms Pro. That means you could record up to 6 habits, record up to 6 habits on your Apple Watch, and have access to his daily lessons, daily insights from James Clear, for 28 days.
After the trial period, I could choose to continue as a free user, doing nothing, only tracking one habit, and no daily lessons, or I could choose to subscribe.
The app encouraged you to create a habit with the exact structure outlined in “Atomic Habits” and check in at specific times to complete it.
Habits were written in the following format: “I will (insert action item here), when (insert time here), so that I can be (insert person you want here).”
my habit.Credit: Entrepreneur
My mantra was, “To become a more mindful person, when I eat lunch, I write down one thing I’m grateful for.” You can also change it as your schedule or priorities change.
The app’s home screen now reflects the habits I wrote down. You can also set a time for the app to remind you to check in on your habit, and record your completion of a habit at any time by long-pressing the habit circle on your home screen.
Atoms home screen.Credit: Entrepreneur
Completing the habit was satisfying. A screen appeared that celebrated accomplishments and showed how the day stacked up against other days of the week.
The app’s “Daily Lessons” contain short readings about habit formation and mindfulness that initially intrigued me. I received a new daily lesson notification around 8am.
“Daily Lessons” in the “Mindset” tab.Credit: Entrepreneur
But I quickly realized that these daily lessons were covered in this book.
It would have been nice to be able to interact with the lesson, perhaps by highlighting, underlining, or commenting on individual lines. Plus, I wish I could just read these parts on a larger screen outside of the app.
Only the account holder can share daily lessons. Therefore, during the trial period, the sharing feature was not locked behind a paywall, but additional information was required.
How Atoms apps work
Clear said forbes The same team that helped build apps like Slack and Uber helped design this app.
“There are two questions at the heart of the app experience,” he told the publication. “Can we help people take action? And how can we make this more fun?”
While it’s clear that Atoms is cleanly designed with a clear purpose in mind, the app currently feels narrower than its competitors. And personally, I think the price is too high for the content.
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of habit tracker For example, an app on iOS top 50 The most popular productivity app on the Apple Store. Although the user interface isn’t as streamlined as Atoms’ design, Habit Tracker has more features and automatically tracks habits like exercise and Apple Health steps.
Habit Tracker is a clear competitor to Atoms, with a much lower price point than a lifetime purchase at $9 or $3.49 for an annual subscription.
At a price of up to $120 a year, Atoms looks surprisingly simple by comparison. It was more fun to use than the Habit Tracker, but I was annoyed by the higher price.
Allowing pro users to only record up to six habits sounds like a good idea in theory to avoid too many behavioral changes, but it comes at a high price point with limited functionality. It may also be interpreted as
There’s also not much flexibility in how the app looks. It was not possible to immediately change to dark mode or change the font size for daily lessons.
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We liked that Atoms didn’t lock all features behind a paywall or ask users for card information to access the free trial. This app chose pro accounts not by chance but by design. This means it’s more likely to attract paid users who feel like the app offers value they can’t get anywhere else, rather than paid users who forgot to cancel their free trial.
Still, the app could offer more value if it were more interactive and perhaps more personalized, especially at its current price point.
I envision daily lessons that ask users to answer questions or provide input, or a journaling component that accompanies the app so users can write down the challenges and successes they face along the way.