Comparison

Patterns vs Habit Star

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Patterns

This app helps you build better habits and achieve your goals through personal analytics and visualization. Track routines, monitor progress with clear visuals, and stay motivated with streak counters to become the person you aspire to be.

Highlights
  • Habit tracking
  • Goal setting
  • Custom data tracking
  • Progress visualization
  • Streak counter
  • Flexible goal targets
Features
Read full description

Patterns is your personal analytics tool to build better habits and achieve your goals. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Join thousands of users who rely on Patterns to improve themselves by getting deep insights into the person you are -- and setting goals to become the person you want to be. Tracking health and fitness goals, keeping up good studying or practice habits, or even remembering special moments, Patterns can help record and keep track of your routines and behaviors. Why Patterns? Flexible Goals: Set specific targets like once a week, three times a month, or every day. Custom Data: Track metrics that matter to you for deeper insights. Progress Visuals: See your habits and achievements come to life with clear visuals. Streak Motivation: Keep your momentum going with a streak counter that counts each time you meet your goal. Actively developed with many new features coming soon. Let us know what you'd want to see! Start analysis today and make excellence your habit!

About

Habit Star

Build lasting habits with flexible tracking, custom reminders, and a rewarding star system. Personalize your experience with themes and sounds to stay motivated and achieve your goals.

Highlights
  • Flexible habit tracking (daily, weekly, specific days)
  • Customizable habit reminders with personalized messages
  • Star reward system for consecutive habit completion
  • Multiple view options (expanded streak focus, compact list)
  • Themable interface with color options
  • Customizable reminder and check-off sounds
  • Streak progress visualization
Features
Read full description

Habit Star helps you keep doing the things you meant to keep doing. Check a habit off and it is done. That is the whole daily loop — one tap, on a screen that shows today and nothing else. Everything below is what the app does with those taps once you have been at it a while. BUILD THE HABIT • Daily, every other day, chosen weekdays, or a number of times a week • Several times a day, if that is the shape of it • Reminders at the times you pick, worded the way you want • Streaks, and a star when you reach a goal you set • Drag habits into the order you actually do them SEE WHAT HAPPENED • The month as a calendar, every day green, amber or red • A timeline where a run of days draws as one unbroken line • Momentum, consistency by week, and the days you tend to skip • Your record and your current run, side by side RECORD MORE THAN A CHECKMARK • Add fields to a habit — minutes, reps, weight, how it felt • Set a target and see how often you hit it • A journal of every note and value you have written, searchable by word or by meaning ON YOUR HOME SCREEN, YOUR WRIST, AND BY VOICE • A widget you can check habits off from without opening the app • A progress ring and your perfect-day run, on the home and lock screens • "Hey Siri, mark meditation done in Habit Star" • An Apple Watch app with today's list, and complications for the watch face APPLE HEALTH • Link a habit to steps, exercise or mindful minutes and let it check itself off • Read-only and opt-in per habit. It only ever adds a completion, never removes one ON NEWER IPHONES • Describe a habit in a sentence and the form fills itself in • Write "ran 5k in 28 min" as a note and the numbers land on the habit's fields • Apple's own model, running on the phone. Nothing is sent anywhere. iOS 26 on iPhone 15 Pro or later YOURS TO KEEP • Everything lives on your device. No account, no sign-up, no server • Export a full backup whenever you like and restore it on a new phone • Thirty-four themes, light and dark — pick one of each and the app follows your phone HABIT STAR PRO A one-time unlock, not a subscription. Trends, the calendar, the timeline, fields and targets, the journal, Apple Health, the Apple Watch app, the on-device suggestions, CSV export, and sixteen more themes with a builder for making your own. Buy it once and it follows your Apple ID to every device. The free app tracks habits properly. Today's screen, streaks, reminders, widgets, Siri, backup and restore are not behind the paywall.

Screenshots

Patterns3 screens
Habit Star4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Habit Star at 5.0 against Patterns's 4.5. Habit Star also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 77%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Habit Star holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 34 and 13 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Patterns's written reviews are positive against 100% of Habit Star's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Patterns ships an update every 6 weeks, Habit Star every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Patterns versus Habit Star: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPatternsHabit Star
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (34 ratings)5.0 (13 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings34 — better13
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB58 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLimit Point SoftwareMatti Salokangas

Customer experience

Patterns

All ratings34 ratings
Positive85.3%
Neutral8.8%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive77.3%
Neutral13.6%
Negative9.1%

Habit Star

All ratings13 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Patterns

No in-app purchases

None

Habit Star

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Patterns free?
Patterns is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Habit Star free?
Habit Star is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Patterns or Habit Star?
Habit Star is rated higher. Patterns averages 4.5 out of 5 from 34 ratings, while Habit Star averages 5.0 from 13 ratings.
Do Patterns or Habit Star have ads?
Neither Patterns nor Habit Star shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Patterns or Habit Star?
Patterns ships an update every 6 weeks, and Habit Star every 2 weeks. Most recently, Patterns was updated on September 12, 2026 and Habit Star on September 18, 2026.

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