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Kadō — Product vision

One-line pitch

Kadō: the elegance of Streaks, the algorithm of Loop, and your privacy stays yours.

A native iOS habit tracker, open source, offline-first, with a non-binary habit score algorithm (inspired by Loop Habit Tracker) and first-class Apple Watch/HealthKit integration. No subscription. No telemetry. No lock-in.

Why this project exists

The iOS habit tracking market is dominated either by proprietary subscription apps (Habitify, Productive, Way of Life), or by excellent but closed ones (Streaks — $5.99 one-time, the reference). On the open source side, the worldwide reference is Loop Habit Tracker, but it is exclusively Android/F-Droid. No open source iOS habit tracker exists with a modern, complete execution.

Market signal:

  • On AlternativeTo, the top-rated alternative to almost every commercial habit tracker is Loop Habit Tracker — precisely because it's free, open source, privacy-focused, lightweight.
  • Users regularly voice frustration with subscriptions (average price up 36% year over year) and lack of export.
  • Since 2022, Apple allows developers to raise subscription prices without explicit consent — worsening the sense of lost control.

Kadō fills that gap.

The three reference competitors

Streaks (Crunchy Bagel) — the commercial reference

  • Price: $5.99 one-time, no subscription.
  • Strengths: Apple Design Award. Deep HealthKit (steps, exercise, sleep, mindfulness, medications). Native Apple Watch with complications. Live Activities. Siri Shortcuts. Widgets. No account required.
  • Weaknesses: closed source, 24 habit maximum, no structured export, binary streak algorithm (one missed day = reset).

Loop Habit Tracker (iSoron) — the open source reference

  • License: GPLv3. 9.6k GitHub stars, 1.1k forks, 69 contributors.
  • Strengths: non-binary habit score algorithm (exponential moving average) — the philosophical killer feature that distinguishes "I'm building a long-term habit" from "I must not break my chain." CSV and SQLite export. Widgets. No limits, no IAP, all features free. Fully offline.
  • Weaknesses: Android/F-Droid only. No native iOS. No HealthKit. GPLv3 license incompatible with App Store — so the code itself isn't reusable, only the ideas.

Teymia Habit (amanbayserkeev0377) — the modern iOS stack

  • License: MIT. 12 stars, personal learning project.
  • Strengths: exemplary modern stack (SwiftUI + @Observable + SwiftData + CloudKit + ActivityKit + WidgetKit). Live Activities and Dynamic Island. Concurrent counters + timers. 16 languages. On App Store. It's the architectural skeleton we draw inspiration from.
  • Weaknesses: aggressive freemium model (3 habits on free tier), no HealthKit, no Apple Watch, no habit score, export as Pro only.

The competitive gap table

Feature Streaks Teymia Loop Kadō
Non-binary habit score ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅
Flexible schedules ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Counters + timers ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅
No habit limit ~(24) ❌(3free) ✅ ✅
Home widgets ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Lock screen widgets ✅ ? ❌ ✅
Live Activity / Dyn. Island ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅
Native Apple Watch ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅
HealthKit auto-completion ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅
Siri / App Intents ✅ ~ ❌ ✅
CloudKit sync ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅
Export CSV/JSON (core) ~ 💰Pro ✅ ✅
Import from competitors ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅
Biometrics ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅
Open source ❌ ✅MIT ✅GPL ✅MIT
Price $5.99once Freemium Free Free+Tip

Kadō's differentiators

  1. Loop's habit score on native iOS. Nobody has done it. We import Loop's anti-guilt philosophy into a modern iOS ecosystem.

  2. First-class native Apple Watch. Teymia doesn't have it, Loop doesn't exist on iOS. Streaks has it but is proprietary. The phone/watch/widget trio is the true iOS promise.

  3. HealthKit + continuous habit score. Streaks does auto-completion but feeds a binary streak. Kadō feeds a continuous score — a 3km run on a Tuesday adds strength to the habit without "repairing" a missed day artificially.

  4. Import from Streaks, Loop, generic CSV. Nobody makes competitor migration easy. This is the anti-lock-in statement.

  5. Export in core, not Pro. Teymia puts export in Pro — inconsistent with a privacy-first positioning. In Kadō, you can leave at any time with all your data.

  6. Open source MIT with real maintenance. Teymia sits at 12 stars with one person. We can build a real community.

  7. Native FR localization. Not machine translation, an authentic Québécois/French voice. Rare on the App Store.

Business model

Principle

No subscription. Ever.

Envisioned structure (to validate by v1.0)

  • Kadō (free): all core features. All of them. No disguised "feature gating."
  • Kadō Pro (one-time purchase, ~$5-10) — optional:
    • Advanced themes (not the basics: light/dark/sepia stay free)
    • Enriched custom icons
    • Maybe: unlimited categories, multi-profiles
  • Tip Jar: for those who want to support without needing Pro.

Principles

  • A free user gets a 100% functional app. Pro adds comfort, not fundamentals.
  • No features get taken away from free after the fact.
  • Data belongs to the user, always, regardless of version.

Explicit non-goals

What Kadō will not be:

  • A wellness coach with programs and advice.
  • A social app with followers, likes, community challenges.
  • An all-in-one productivity tool (tasks + habits + calendar).
  • A Habitica clone with RPG gamification.
  • A cross-platform app. iOS/watchOS/iPadOS only, by choice.

Identity

  • Voice: sober, factual, no emotional pressure. We don't shame, we inform. Close to the spirit of Apple Journal, far from Duolingo's.
  • Design: Apple minimalism, adaptive, accessible. No 3D illustrations, no aggressive gradients. Beauty comes from precision.
  • Code name: Kadō (稼働, "in operation"). The final name is to be decided before v1.0.