What kind of New Year’s resolution you make depends on your unique goals—which means you need a way to track your progress that is just as unique. If your resolution is to cut back on social media use and your friend’s is to run a faster mile, you won’t measure success the same way. Even if you swear 2026 is the year you spend less time on your phone (which I’ve sworn every year), tap into the power of handheld tech and use these apps to keep yourself on track.
I like all the best general progress tracking apps, but when it comes to resolutions, you are looking at something time-bound and specific by its very nature, so you should try apps that are tailored more to what you’re doing.
What are the most common New Year’s resolutions?
Per Statista, the top New Year’s resolutions among people who have made one or several for 2026 are as follows:
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To exercise more (48%)
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To save more money (46%)
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To eat healthier (45%)
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To spend more time with family/friends (42%)
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To lose weight (31%)
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To improve job performance (24%)
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To do more for the environment (24%)
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To reduce job stress (22%)
This year’s list was interesting to me when I compared it to last year’s, where “save more money” led the way with a measly 21%. It was followed by eat healthier, exercise more, lose weight, spend time with family/friends, quit smoking, and spend less on living expenses. Obviously, health and fitness continue to rank high, but it’s notable that this year’s least-popular resolution—reduce job stress—outranked even last year’s most popular. It seems, at least according to this source, that 2026 is the year for making resolutions. I’m fresh off a year of actually nailing all my resolutions for the first time ever and I’m looking forward to replicating my success. In addition to a few personal tricks, here are the apps I think you should use.
The best apps to track exercise frequency: Strong and Peloton
Credit: Strong/Lindsey Ellefson
If you want to work out more, it will help you to see your progress with each trip to the gym (or at-home session, or whatever). For that, try Strong, an app that lets you input the exercises you do and creates graphs showing your gradual improvement in weight, sets, body fat percentage, and more. In the past, I’ve only recommended this one, and it’s great on its own, as it includes instructions on how to do a variety of exercises, which is nice if you aren’t really a fitness person (yet) and feeling nervous about trying new moves in front of other people keeps you away from the gym. The free version will save unlimited workouts, but you can only add three custom routines. For everything else, it’s $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year. For my full review, read more here.
Credit: Peloton/Lindsey Ellefson
This year, I have come around to recommending something else: The Peloton app, which I review here (but talk about here and here and here…). I can confidently say that for me, 2025 was the year of Peloton because I got so into working out on my Bike, using the brand’s other class offerings, and even tracking my non-Peloton workouts through the app that I’m now on a 290-day in-app streak. And that’s important, especially when we’re talking about resolutions, because not only does this show you that all-important daily (or weekly or monthly) streak, but it offers so much variety, which will keep you going back.
The best app to eat healthier and/or lose weight: Lifesum
Credit: Lifesum/Lindsey Ellefson
Before, I used to recommend MyFitnessPal, which I used pretty consistently from sophomore year of college well into my 30s, but this year, I found (and reviewed) Lifesum, which changed the game for me. With its brighter colors, simpler interface, and updating “life scores,” it’s an all-around more positive experience than using MFP—plus you don’t have to pay for an upgrade to access nutrient tracking. It just does all that with the regular subscription, which costs $99.99 per year, $29.99 every three months, or $7.49 per month. It has a helpful series of widgets you can put anywhere on your phone, so you’re always reminded to stick with it, and it’s never shame-y, which I think is crucial for actually sticking with a healthier eating plan. It even suggests meals and foods you should consider based on how often you do (well, don’t) eat them and what nutrients you might be lacking.
My favorite part is that it’s so easy to use that I don’t skip it, even on my laziest day. Instead of manually inputting every ingredient into the tracker, I can describe or even photograph my meal and let its AI do the work of figuring out approximately how many calories and grams of protein are in it. It’s not perfect, of course, but I appreciate that, too; when I’ve gotten too gung-ho about tracking every morsel and getting every gram accounted for, I’ve counterbalanced a little too hard and lost all motivation, which kept me swinging back and forth between obsession and complete disinterest. Lifesum turns tracking into a less stressful, more positive experience you can actually stick with.
The best app for prioritizing family and friend time: Cozi
Credit: Cozi/Lindsey Ellefson
If you want to spend more time with your loved ones, try Cozi, a simple organizer that gives you a clear visual representation of your whole family’s schedule. Not only can you see when everyone is free, but you can see how much time you devote (or don’t devote) to the people with whom you share the app—which can motivate you to schedule more time together. It’s also free, which is a plus. Use the money you saved to pay for a nice night out with the people you set a resolution to spend more time with.
I’ve mentioned this app as a meal planner in the past and think it works great for that, too. Use it to loop together a series of your resolutions, from eating better to spending more time with loved ones. While you’re at it, brush up on how important stacking your resolutions and habits is for their longevity.
What do you think so far?
The best app to improve job performance: Flora
Credit: Flora/Lindsey Ellefson
Normally, I’d suggest FocusPomo as the best productivity-boosting app, but I love Flora, too—and this one has the dual function of helping the environment while improving your work, which means it addresses two of the most popular resolutions for 2026.
As I explained in my review earlier this year, Flora is a focus timer that locks down your phone while you work and, if you don’t mess with your device and instead settle into deep work, you grow a virtual tree to display in your virtual forest. Right there, you can see the value prop if you’re trying to track your progress: You can see all the trees you “grow,” which helps you visualize how you’re doing. There’s also an option to bet actual money on your ability to complete focus sessions, which works well for some people. (I am personally a big believer in forcing penalties on myself for failing to carry out a resolution, and though I don’t usually bet money, I see the appeal of having financial stakes involved.)
Wondering what the app uses that money for? Great question! It’s to fund the planting of real trees around the world. Your bet money or subscription fee (should you choose to pay between $2 and $12 per month, though it works fine in its free version) go toward paying for making the environment better, which is a win-win.
Credit: Steppin/Lindsey Ellefson
Here’s another one where I used to recommend a different app (in this case, One Sec) but now firmly recommend another that I’ve gotten more familiar with. To spend less time on social media (or any distracting apps, really) try Steppin, which I’ve reviewed and used for about a year now. Like other app-blocking apps, it locks down whichever applications you blacklist. Unlike those, you can earn time to access your blocklist by walking around in the real world. You can customize your settings so a certain number of steps unlocks a certain amount of minutes. I have mine set to 25 steps to earn a minute right now, which usually leaves me with 19 or so banked hours by the time my time resets at the end of the week. Since using Steppin, I’ve found that not only am I more willing to walk when I might otherwise Uber or take a bus, but I’m less interested in my blocked apps altogether. I just got used to not having unfettered access to them and found I don’t need them as much as I thought I did. Who knew?
Steppin also uses “streaks” so you can see your progress over time, plus shows a graph every day of your walking time vs. your time on the blocked apps. Both of these visual elements are useful in keeping track of where you’re at. You break your streak by resetting your customizations or overriding a Steppin block when you don’t have any minutes banked.
