FAQ

General / About

Habinator is an App that helps you to achieve your goals, change habits, and make a lifestyle change.

It's priority one use case is to function as a support tool for a lifestyle change. It can be used to establish a long-term behavioral change, reach short-term goals, quit negative habits, or build new ones, or take part in a challenge with a group of people. 

Forums are the open groups that you will find from the conversations tab (first right to Home/Dashboard tab). You will be assigned to forums depending on your goal.

A forum is a chatroom where like-minded people can communicate with each other about the difficulties they've encountered while working towards their goals. It is a way to receive or offer help to other members of the community.

No, but when you join any discussion groups, the others can conclude from which category have you chosen your goal or which topics you are interested in.

A Group is a closed chatroom for all people who have been invited. The idea for a group is to help each other to reach a shared goal.

You can create your own group by going to Discussion tab and click the + button. Then you can invite your friends by sharing the Subscription link.

  • ​​​​​​Anyone who wants to make a lifestyle change or change something in their life.
  • Athletes and sport teams whos life is about optimizing the body 24h/7.
  • Companies, teams and other groups by creating a challenge.
  • People who want to quit a negative habit or establish a positive habit.
  • People who want to reach their goals in the short term.

Habit + Terminator = Habinator

We need it for technical reasons so that we can store your username, goals, progress, and other information (to the database server backend) you create while using the service (App) and retrieve the data when need it. Meaning, the information you provide (email and username) binds you to the data. Also if you can't log in anymore (e.g you change your phone or lost your login credentials) you can ask us to send a reset link to your email so you can restore your data.

We do not sell, rent, provide, or share any personal information with third parties, and we do not know your password.

Please read more about what we collect, and how we protect and process your data from our Privacy policy and GDPR descriptions.

Shortly: YES!

Several professionals, experts, and academics from our core team have been involved in the process of creating Habinator. There are three wider themes from the science involved:

  1. Positive psychology
  2. Goal-setting and motivation research 
  3. General research articles (health, productivity, nutrition, lifestyle medicine etc.)

Positive psychology

The App is based on positive psychology which is getting popularity - because it works. As it's core it concentrates on human potential which Habinator is all about.

Goal-setting

There are best practices like what usually works and what does not. There is plenty of research about goal-setting and some articles are listed in the research page to get you started to learn more.

Research articles

This is best seen when creating a goal in the app. When you define a goal, there is information listed with a reference to a research paper (study) that proves the information to be evidence-based. We do this mostly because there is a lot of false information available (especially on the Internet). We have gone through thousands of studies and chosen quality studies that give you the possibility to search further.

We have not listed every article as a reference in the app but tried to look where it might make sense to do that. E.g. When the subject might be controversial, the opinions about the subject are advancing fast, the consensus on the field is changing, or the study has good references to other studies. 

If there is a claim or phrase with a reference number in the app, it means that the study can be found on the Research and books page. The number references a study or several studies. We don't usually list individual studies (if they are not reliable and found to be common knowledge) and we prefer to use meta-analysis.* If the science fact is from a book, the study is listed on the Research and books page. In general, books are used in a broader sense, not as a single scientific fact.

Almost all books are based on science (they include references to studies). Shortly: Researchers are not marketing professionals. Promoting is not their job. :) That is why other people write books and describe the research the way "normal people" can actually understand the results. It's also not exactly the researchers' job to put the results into implementation which we are doing in Habinator. Some of the books were even written by people without any education and/or people who lived during a time where no research knowledge was publicly available. Still, they figured out how people succeed, make friends, motivate people, stay healthy, thrive, and quit addictions and it's no way less significant than scientific proof of it - on the contrary!

For more info, press & questions: Contact

* Every new, current, or old (scientific paradigms, facts, and methods do change!) scientific method or fact may or may NOT work for your benefit! Studies reflect how most people behave.

Please contact us if you want to help to test vulnerabilities and find security issues.

Instructions
  • When your day starts you will get a "Day start" reminder for your goal(s) if it's a positive goal. E.g. "Today will be your 23rd day for your goal, Intermittent Fasting"
  • When your day ends you will get a "Day end" reminder, which asks how you did with your goal. E.g. "How did you do today with Ketogenic diet".

Daily progress

You will get a notification on "Day start", "Day end", or if you set daily extra reminders to a goal.

Day ed notification
Expanded Day end notification.
 

If you expand* the notification of "Day end" or "Extra reminder", you can check the day "Done", "Kind Of" or "Not Today" directly from the notification, so you don't even need to open the app. If you already marked the day from the app, you won't get the "Day end" notification.

* iOS - Hold/Long press the notification. Android - Click ^ or swipe down.

 

Attention!

You can also always address the day by opening the app and click a day from the weekly or monthly calendar! The notifications are meant to make the process easier and faster.

 

Group messages

You will also get notifications from private groups, challenges, or 1-to-1 conversations on default. If you want to set notifications Off or On:

  1. Navigate to the "Community" tab
  2. Click the group/challenge
  3. Click the group info bar
  4. Set notifications On/Off

If the goal is a negative habit you won't get a "Day start" notification because we don't want to remind ourselves about the negative behavior.

This is because one should not concentrate on the negative behavior, but to replace it or do something positive instead, which supports one's goals. 

The 1-to-1 messages are private.

Other messages are visible to all other people in the group.

You can click a message which gives a possibility to

  • Report: Report or "flag" the message to us. We will take action to deal with this message and the user who wrote it.
  • Remove: Removes the message from the conversation.

If you no longer want to receive messages from a user, open the user's profile and you have options to

  • Block user: If you block a user you will no longer get messages from this individual.
  • Remove user: If you are the admin of the group, you can remove the user from the group.

In any case of abuse or objectionable content please notify us immediately!

  1. Click on the goal.
  2. Scroll down (on the General tab).
  3. Choose "Set goal image".

Yes.

  1. Go to Profile tab.
  2. Choose the Achievements tab and find the goal.
  3. Choose: "Start again".
  4. Go to Dashboard and click the goal.
  5. Choose "Delete Goal" (General tab, last option on the bottom).
Goals

Restarting a Goal is a Premium feature and can be done from Me > ACHIEVEMENTS.

1. Choose "Me".

2. Choose "ACHIEVEMENTS" tab.

3. Scroll down and click the Goal you want to start again.

You can choose to carry out your goal only on certain days.

When creating or editing the goal, exclude days by clicking a day.

days off
Active days are Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad habits are usually rephrased as "Replace X" or there is a positive form of that habit or a goal.

E.g. "Quit Sugar" => "Replace Sugar" => "Eat more Vegetables" => "Lose Weight" => "Body Fat to < 12%"

Why? Because bad habits are hard to get rid of. One also needs to find something else to do (=replace) the negative habit. Therefore instead of reminding yourself about the bad habit one should try to define a positively formed goal. Or add another goal to support the new behavior.

Usually, it is very difficult to quit something "cold turkey" or at once. Many times quitting is not even the goal, but moderation. This way you will learn about the addiction/habit more, and quitting is safe for the body (and sometimes also the mind).

If you set an end date to quit completely there is no hurry or pressure on quitting - and you are ready to say "bye-bye" to the negative behavior when the date comes. Before quitting one should try to break the routine as much as possible.

If you want - and can - quit something all at once, go for it! You can always modify (edit) the goal title and all details. Just remember to find something positive to do to replace your old behavior. Also, try to formulate your goal in a positive manner.

Challenges

A challenge can be created after creating a group. All participants try to reach a common goal while motivating each other.

  1. Go to Chat tab.
  2. Create a Group.
  3. See Group details by clicking the Group title.
  4. Click "Create a Challenge" by adding a Goal for the Group.
  5. Invite people to your Challenge Group by sharing the invite link.

The course of a challenge is as follows:

Start

  • The founder of a group challenge creates a goal and starts the challenge.
  • The duration of the challenge is the overall duration of the goal, even if some days are excluded (a day off) from the goal. See: A day off.
  • A person can participate (accept) the challenge whenever they want.

Taking part in a challenge

  • Accepting a challenge the predefined goal by the founder will be created for you.
  • The first day, after accepting the challenge, is only counted if it's a "SUCCESSFUL" day.

The winner

  • The person with the most "SUCCESSFUL" days checked wins.
  • If two persons have an equal amount of "SUCCESSFUL" days, the person who has checked the most "KINDOF" days wins.

Calculation (statistics)

  • "SUCCESSFUL" days are counted even from the excluded days.
  • "KINDOF" days are counted to streaks.
  • Failed and unchecked days are counted as failures if the day is active in the challenge goal.

Notes

  • Progress is tracked exactly the same way as tracking any other goal in Habinator.
  • You can adjust the goal to your needs! Only the duration cannot be changed.

 

The idea of a challenge is to make progress together, but most importantly to have fun!

 

Coaching

A coach is someone who is trained, to advise, support, and consult a client with the aim to reach his/hers/theirs full potential. The client’s desire is to improve or change the direction of their personal or professional life, and the coach support’s to find the resources to realize the aspiration.

The coach can be responsible for an individual, team, or group of people and their success in reaching their goals.

Coaching in itself is primarily professional advisement, support, and consultation done by an expert. The goal of coaching is the further development of learning and performance in processes, health, relationships, or any personal objective. Coaching includes motivation, exercises, and transfer of knowledge to help the client towards the agreed goal.

A life coach can be a person or an app, which helps a client to restructure and organize their life in a positive way.

A life coach helps a person or a couple to achieve their goals by introducing them to techniques developed to promote human behavior. Sometimes the coaching includes first finding a direction in life like a professional desire, passion, or relationship. The coach can help the client to find their own intrinsic motivation for example by asking helpful questions and doing exercises to get to know themselves better.

Life coaching is suitable for everyone who wants to change the direction of their life. Therefore, a life coach supports the client's in re-organizing their thoughts and get to know what their feelings and needs truly are.

In life-coaching, the personal development of a person is the center of attention. The idea is to work person-oriented and through that, support them, so they can reach their full potential and change their lives in a positive manner. Life coaching can be also used to find a direction or meaning in life if a person does not yet know what they want.

A lot in our lives are digitalized and coaches use it as an opportunity to do so as well. Opportunities created by going digital is that a client is able to decide by themselves when and if they are ready to accept coaching and clients have permanent access to their coach. Digital coaching can include a human or a human coach can use a digital tool to support the coaching process.

Other benefits of a digital coach include: 

  • Real-time coaching is made easier and more accessible
  • Benefit and ease of collecting data, analyzing it, and using the data as a knowledge to understand the behavior or for motivational purposes 
  • Real-time communication, tracking, and receiving data fast create new possibilities for improvement. The Habinator app combines both face-to-face interactions as well as tracking important data through the app
  • Some people are more open to digital coaching
  • The client is more intrigued to conform to socially accepted norms
  • Can be cheaper

A performance coach (sometimes high-performance coach) is a professional who collects information regarding their client's achieved performance, determines the starting point and capabilities to specifically working towards enhancing their client’s performance towards their goal(s). They analyze what their client’s performance needs are and develop a plan together with their client to achieve the goals in the most effective way.

The work of a performance coach usually includes time management, energy, and motivation to optimize and direct the resources to a specific objective. Performance coaching is used by CEO's, politicians, and high performing individuals and teams.

There are four main goals:

  1. It is important to help the client to understand and remember the information, which is gathered to achieve their goals.
  2. The client is encouraged to develop and recognize a more useful mindset.
  3. The surrounding is of importance. To create a strong and supporting surrounding, which promote their performance positively, is necessary.
  4. The base of everything is to support the client’s behavior, practices, and skills, which are crucial for them and will lead them toward achieving their goals.

Performance coaching can include health and recovery supporting activities that promote the performance in the long term and avoid negative consequences like burn-out or unhappiness. If the coaching focuses purely on professional performance the general term is executive coaching.

A health coach helps the client to live their lives to the fullest by effectively pointing out one’s health issue and finding a way to manage and improve their health. Health coach guides and prompts people to change their behavior, so they can make better healthcare choices suitable for their situation and needs.

There are overlapping areas regarding what a health coach does compared to a life-coach, which creates the opportunity to get the best results using them both simultaneously. A health coach is much more informed about specific health issues, and that specifies the health coach’s area while the life coach’s domain is much broader. Health coaches are used to providing knowledge, support, and motivation to the client to reach their objective which can include improving energy levels, weight management, prevent and alleviate chronic conditions, or improve stress-related issues. 

Executive coaching in tales a form of coaching which exclusively focuses on improving leadership. It is similar to performance coaching with the difference that it is 100% business-oriented. It helps executives to develop leadership skills through organizational skills required to successfully form and lead a team that is needed to successfully implement the strategy of a company.