Building a Habit Tracker with Lock Screen Widgets and Push Interactions

The best habit apps meet users where they are — on the lock screen and in notifications. Here is how HabitForge achieves this.

1. Native Android Widgets

Using Expo's native module system, we built Kotlin widget providers that display today's habits directly on the home screen:

kotlin
class HabitWidgetProvider : AppWidgetProvider() {
    override fun onUpdate(context: Context, manager: AppWidgetManager, ids: IntArray) {
        ids.forEach { id ->
            val views = RemoteViews(context.packageName, R.layout.habit_widget)
            views.setTextViewText(R.id.habit_name, getTodayHabit())
            manager.updateAppWidget(id, views)
        }
    }
}

2. Interactive Notifications

Push notifications include action buttons so users can mark habits complete without opening the app.

3. Streak Animations

Completing a habit triggers satisfying confetti animations built with React Native Reanimated, reinforcing positive behavior loops.

Summary

Meeting users at the lock screen and notification tray increases habit completion rates by 3x compared to app-only tracking.