I Kept Quitting Habit Apps — So I Built One That Punishes Me If I Do.

Most habit apps failed me.

Not because they were bad… but because I was inconsistent.

I’d start strong, track everything perfectly for a few days, then miss one day — and that was enough to spiral into quitting entirely.

No real consequences. No accountability. Just another broken streak.

So I decided to experiment with a different idea:

What if failing had a cost?

💡 The Core Idea

Instead of just tracking habits, I built something that adds commitment.

The app is called Covenant.

Here’s how it works:

You stake credits before starting a habit
You complete your task (gym, coding, reading, etc.)
You submit proof (AI-verified photo or synced health/app data)
If you succeed → you get your credits back
If you fail → they’re burned

No second chances. No “I’ll make it up tomorrow”.

🧠 Why This Approach?

Most habit systems rely on motivation.

But motivation is unreliable.

I wanted to explore three things instead:

1. Skin in the Game

When there’s something at risk, your behavior changes. Even a small stake creates pressure to follow through.

1. Accountability

Doing things alone is easy to abandon. Adding squad-based visibility makes inconsistency visible.

1. Friction Against Cheating

Most apps trust self-reporting. I didn’t.

So I added:

AI-based photo verification
Health data syncing
App usage tracking

The goal was to reduce “fake progress” without making the experience painful.

⚙️ How I Built It
Frontend: React Native (Expo)
Backend: Supabase (Auth, Postgres, Realtime)
AI Verification: Groq (Llama Vision) + Gemini
Styling: NativeWind

One of the hardest parts wasn’t building features — it was balancing strictness vs usability.

Too strict → people quit
Too loose → system becomes meaningless

⚠️ Challenges I Ran Into
Designing a system that feels fair even when users fail
Preventing obvious ways to game verification
Avoiding “gambling” mechanics while still having stakes
Keeping onboarding simple despite a complex idea
🚀 What I Learned
People don’t need better reminders — they need better systems
Social pressure is underrated in habit building
Adding consequences changes behavior more than adding rewards
📱 If You Want to Try It

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keepcovenant.app

🤔 Open Questions

I’m still figuring a lot of this out:

Does this build long-term discipline or just short-term compliance?
Is losing your stake motivating… or discouraging?
How much verification is too much?

Would love to hear your thoughts — especially if you’ve tried building or using habit systems before.