Done earned its following by removing everything that isn't essential. No social features, no gamification, no dashboard bloat — just a clean interface for tracking habits with flexible repeat schedules. It's one of the most honest habit tracker designs on iOS.
Buffy approaches the same problem differently. Instead of a dedicated app you check, it sends conversational reminders in Telegram, Slack, or ChatGPT, builds a history of what you've done and skipped, and uses that to nudge you more precisely over time.
Both exist to help you stick to habits. Whether one or the other fits depends on how you prefer your behavior system to work.
What Done is built for
Done is a minimal iOS habit tracker built around simplicity and flexibility.
- Flexible repeat schedules: daily, weekly, x times per period, every N days
- Streak tracking per habit
- Counter-based habits (e.g., "drink 8 glasses of water")
- HealthKit integration for passive tracking
- Siri Shortcuts support
- Clean, distraction-free interface with color-coded habits
- iOS notifications at user-configured times
- iOS and iPadOS only
Done is optimized for people who:
- Want a lightweight, no-fuss habit tracker without extra features
- Prefer opening a dedicated app to log completions
- Track a small, focused set of habits
- Value clean design over feature depth
- Want flexible repeat schedules that don't force daily-only tracking
What Done doesn't do:
- Adaptive reminders based on behavioral patterns
- Skip and snooze logging with accumulated history
- Routines that group multiple habits into sequences
- Reminders via Telegram, Slack, or ChatGPT
- Tasks or one-off items alongside habits
- Memory that shapes how and when you're nudged
What Buffy is built for
Buffy is a behavior agent designed around consistency and adaptation.
- Habits, tasks, and routines tracked as structured activities
- Done / skip / snooze logging with full behavioral history
- Three-layer memory: short-term context, episodic event log, semantic pattern learning
- Conversational reminders in Telegram, Slack, or ChatGPT
- Adaptation: timing and tone adjust as patterns emerge
- Routines that group habits into sequences (morning startup, end-of-day shutdown)
- OpenClaw integration for developer and workflow contexts
Buffy is optimized for people who:
- Don't want to open a separate app — they want reminders to arrive in their existing tools
- Have habits that are part of larger routines with multiple steps
- Need tasks and habits managed in the same system
- Want their behavior system to get smarter about nudging them specifically
What Buffy doesn't do well:
- Minimal, dedicated iOS app experience
- Counter-based habit tracking (e.g., glasses of water)
- Passive HealthKit tracking
- Rich visual streak history in a purpose-built interface
- Flexible repeat schedules like "3x per week" (Buffy uses time windows, not per-week counts)
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | Done | Buffy |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | Minimal app, open to log | Behavior agent, reminders come to you |
| Platform | iOS / iPadOS only | Telegram, Slack, ChatGPT, OpenClaw |
| Repeat schedules | Daily, weekly, x times per period, every N days | Time windows, recurring schedules |
| Counter habits | ✅ (e.g., 8 glasses of water) | ✗ |
| Reminders | iOS push notifications | Conversational nudges across channels |
| Skip / snooze logging | None | Logged and factored into future nudges |
| Behavioral memory | None | Short-term + episodic + semantic history |
| Adaptation | None | Reminder timing and tone adapt to patterns |
| Routines / sequences | ✗ | ✅ |
| Tasks alongside habits | ✗ | ✅ |
| HealthKit integration | ✅ | ✗ |
| Team features | None | Slack routines, shared activity sets |
| Best for | Minimal iOS habit logging | Cross-channel execution and follow-through |
Where Done genuinely wins
- You want the cleanest possible iOS habit tracker with zero extra features
- Your habits are genuinely simple and don't need multi-step routines
- You prefer opening a dedicated app over receiving conversational nudges
- You track counter-based habits (steps, water intake, servings)
- You want HealthKit integration for passive tracking
- You want flexible "x times per week" schedules for habits you don't do daily
Where Buffy wins
- Your failure mode is forgetting to open the habit app, not forgetting the habit
- You want reminders that arrive in Telegram or Slack, where you already are
- Your habits are part of a larger routine — morning startup, weekly review, deep work block
- You want your system to notice that you always skip on Tuesdays and adjust accordingly
- You need tasks and habits in the same place
The "open the app" loop
Done's design philosophy is honest: it's an app you open. That's a valid approach if you build the habit of opening Done. The problem is that for many people, the habit of opening the habit tracker is itself what breaks.
Buffy sidesteps this by flipping the direction. The system comes to you — a Telegram message, a Slack nudge, a ChatGPT prompt. You don't have to remember to check; it checks in on you.
This is a genuine model difference, not a feature gap. Done assumes you'll open it. Buffy assumes you won't.
Using both
A workable combination if you want both:
- Done for simple habits you want visual streak feedback on — particularly counter-based or irregular-schedule habits where Done's flexibility shines
- Buffy for multi-step routines, tasks, and habits where conversational follow-through matters more than a streak chart
Done handles the visual review layer. Buffy handles the execution layer.