Comparison
CardHabit vs Streaks.
Streaks is one of the best-designed checkbox habit apps on iOS. CardHabit answers a different question. Both are premium iOS-first apps with strong design; the difference is whether you want a solitary focus tool or a daily card draw you collect and share with friends.
Updated November 2026
The short version
Choose Streaks if you want a quiet, minimal, well-engineered habit app that respects your focus and rewards consistency. Choose CardHabit if you've tried solo trackers, kept the streak alive, and still didn't change, and want something that surprises you each morning, with friends in the loop. CardHabit is built for people who read Atomic Habits, want a sustainable system, and know they need more than a counter to stick with it.
At a glance
| Feature | CardHabit | Streaks |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | iOS | iOS, watchOS, macOS |
| Core mechanic | Daily 5-card draw + hold-to-complete | Daily checkbox + streak counter |
| Social | Deal a friend in: share a card, finish it together (2.0) | No (solo by design) |
| Gamification | A binder to fill, foil rarity finishes, quiet rank and XP | Streak counts only |
| Habit limit | 5-card daily draw | Up to 24 tasks |
| Price | Free, Pro $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr | $4.99 one-time |
| Watch app | Not at launch | Yes |
Where Streaks wins
Streaks is one purchase, no subscription, and the price has held since 2016. The Apple Watch app is best-in-class for a habit app: tap-to-complete from the wrist. Health-app integration is deep. The design is famously restrained and the app respects your time.
If you want a tool that gets out of your way and just keeps score, Streaks is the answer.
Where CardHabit is different
CardHabit isn't trying to be quiet. The morning hand is dealt to you and it surprises you, you hold a card down to complete it rather than tapping a box, and every card you finish goes into your binder, the collection the app calls the Codex. The three differences below all flow from that.
Fixed tasks vs a dealt hand
Streaks asks you to define up to 24 tasks and repeat them. CardHabit deals a fresh hand of five habit cards each morning (in 2.0, from five suits: Physical, Mind, Nutrition, Recovery, and Connection, plus the Joker), so no two mornings look alike. You commit to what you can handle before the day starts: two cards on the free tier, all five on Pro.
Other players at the table
Streaks is solo by design. In CardHabit 2.0, you can deal a friend in: say your friend Alex is holding a card for a twenty-minute walk. He deals the same card into your hand for today, by share link if you don't have the app yet. If you both finish it, you each get a paired foil card with both names on it in your binders. If one of you doesn't finish, nothing bad happens.
A streak that isn't the whole game
In Streaks, the streak count is the scoreboard. In CardHabit the cards come first. Your streak counts the days you finish what you committed to, and a missed day ends it without pretending the miss didn't happen; a new one starts the next morning. Meanwhile every finished card stays in your binder, rarer cards carry a foil edge or full gold foil, and rank and XP build quietly underneath.
CardHabit treats habits as a deck you collect, with friends you can deal in. Streaks treats them as a personal contract. Different bets on what motivates you.