Punchcard — User Manual
Punchcard keeps each habit on a Monday–Sunday card. Every day you do what you planned, the day gets its punch. This page takes you from your first habit to backups; the questions and answers cover the details.
Free, no ads, no account. Your habits stay on your phone and everything works offline.
Contents
Start in three steps
- Create a habit. Open Habits and tap +. Tap a suggestion to fill in the form, open the Template library, or write your own: a name, a goal and the days it applies. Not sure where to begin? Habits → More → Starter journeys start you with one habit and suggest the next ones.
- Log it. On Home, use the action beside the habit: check it off, Start timer, add minutes or an amount, or Record a slip for a habit you are cutting down on.
- Watch the card fill. Each habit shows this week's days. Tap a day's mark to see its entries, change an amount or a note, or delete a mistake.
Getting around
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Home | Today's habits with this week's card, and your app limits below them. |
| Habits | Every habit and group. More holds reorder, archive, pause modes, starter journeys and screen-time habits. |
| Calendar | The month as a ring per day. Its menu opens the Weekly recap, Analytics and the Activity map. |
| Settings | Language, colours, categories and groups, widgets, focus mode, backups, guides and feedback. |
Kinds of goal
| Goal | A day or week counts when… | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Check off or count | you tap it as often as the day asks. | Take vitamins, once a day |
| Time per day | the timer or your added minutes reach the day's target. Each weekday can have its own. | Read 20 minutes |
| Days per week | you log something on enough days, whichever days they are. | Run 3 days a week |
| Weekly time | the week's minutes reach the total, spread however you like. | Study 300 minutes a week |
| Quantity | the amount you log reaches the target, in a unit you choose. | Drink 2 litres of water |
| Avoid or limit | you stay within the slips you allowed. The day starts kept and is settled when it ends. | No more than 2 coffees |
Changing a goal later asks whether it starts today or next week. Earlier days keep the goal they had, so their results stay as they were.
Reading the card
- Done: a full punch. Partly done and In progress fill part of it.
- Not logged: a planned day that passed without enough.
- Over the limit: an avoid-or-limit day with too many slips.
- Rest day, Skipped and Paused days are excused. They do not count against you and do not break a streak.
Tap What the marks mean on a habit for the full legend. The streak counts days in a row, or whole weeks for weekly goals, and the rate shows the last 30 days.
When life gets in the way
- Skip one day: tap the day's mark and choose Skip this occurrence. A weekly goal drops by one for that week.
- Pause one habit: open it, then More → Pause habit… for a week, two weeks, a month or until you resume it.
- Pause several: Habits → More → Pause modes pauses all habits, a group or the ones you pick, for a vacation, sickness or an injury.
- Put a habit away: Archive hides it and its reminders and keeps its history. Restore it whenever you like.
App limits
An app limit sets a daily maximum for one app, such as 30 minutes of a social app on weekdays. Create one with New habit → Create screen-time habit, or Habits → More → Screen-time habits: choose the app, the minutes and the days.
After you create it, Punchcard asks for Android's usage access so it can measure the time. Your limits then appear under App limits on Home, with today's minutes and the week. A closed day under the limit is Kept; reaching the limit is Limit reached. A day Punchcard could not measure in full is Not measured and counts neither way. Changes to a limit start the next day.
Punchcard measures; it does not block the app. The measurements stay on your phone.
Without opening the app
- Today widget: today's habits, with a tick to check one off.
- Quick log widget and the Track habit tile in Quick Settings: start or log a habit in two taps.
- Reminders: set a time in a habit's editor. The notification can start the timer, log the habit or snooze for 15 minutes. Habits already done and paused habits stay quiet.
Focus mode
Switch on Full-screen timer in a habit's editor, and its timer takes over the screen. In Settings → Focus mode you choose whether a session keeps the screen on, pins the screen, and switches on Do Not Disturb. These make leaving take a deliberate step; Android does not let an app make it impossible.
Keeping your records
- Export data saves habits, history and settings to a file; Import data adds one to what you have or replaces everything.
- Export as CSV saves the history of the habits you pick as a spreadsheet.
- Google Drive sync keeps copies in your own Drive when you tap Sync now.
All three are under Settings → Backup. App limits stay on the phone and are in none of them.
More help
Something not answered here or in the questions and answers? Use Settings → Send feedback, or write to ataalpaltug@gmail.com.