You have a reading goal. You want to read twelve books this year. You set it up in Strides using the Milestone tracker type. You log your progress, one book at a time. The number climbs. The app tracks what you need it to track.
And yet, the experience does not sit right. The app still surfaces streak data in ways that feel beside the point. The interface asks you to confirm daily check-ins even though your goal is to finish books, not read every day. The reminder system is built around frequency. Somewhere underneath the Milestone tracker, the app is still thinking about streaks.
That gap between what you set out to track and how the interface responds is the moment people start looking for a Strides alternative.
What Strides does well
Strides has been on iOS for over a decade. That longevity shows in the execution.
Four tracker types. Strides offers Streak calendars (for success rates), Milestone calendars (for project timelines), Average trackers (for repeating numbers), and Target trackers (for date-based goals). The flexibility is real. If you know which mode fits your goal, the app can accommodate it.
Apple Health integration. Strides reads from and writes to Apple Health, pulling in activity data, sleep, nutrition, and other metrics automatically. For goals tied to Health data, this removes manual entry from the equation.
Flexible scheduling. Goals can be set to daily, specific days of the week, several times per week, or custom intervals. The scheduling logic is thorough.
The interface has survived ten years of iOS design changes. The core interaction model is fast and reliable. For daily habits, checking off a task takes one tap.
These are real strengths. The case for Strides as a habit tracker is solid, and the four tracker types reflect a team that thought carefully about how different goals require different measurement approaches.
Where the friction starts for milestone-focused users
The same flexibility that makes Strides powerful creates a specific problem for users who want to track goals with a finish line.
The milestone tracker is available, but it is not the native mode. Strides was built around streak tracking. The interface surfaces streak data even when you are using a different tracker type. A user tracking a reading goal in Milestone mode will still see streak indicators in ways that feel irrelevant to the task. The app thinks about consistency even when you are thinking about completion.
Choosing the right tracker type is a tax you pay every time you add a new goal. Strides asks you to decide which mode fits each goal. Streak, Milestone, Average, or Target. The flexibility is admirable until you realize that deciding which tracker mode to use is itself overhead. Notch does not ask this question. Every goal gets milestone tracking by default. The interface is built around one question: how far are you from the target.
Streak anxiety persists even in Milestone mode. The app shows streak counters by default. Even a user who has set up their goal correctly will see those numbers, and for goals where rest days are part of the process, the sight of a streak at risk of resetting adds friction that has nothing to do with the goal itself.
The Strides experience for milestone-focused users is: a capable tool with four modes, an interface that leans toward streaks even when you have chosen something else, and a subscription that compounds over time.
The core difference in what gets measured
Strides asks: how consistent are you?
Notch asks: how close are you to done?
These are different questions, and answering one does not answer the other.
Consistency tracking measures whether you showed up through daily check-ins, protected streaks, and success rates. The feedback is binary: did you do it today or not?
Milestone tracking measures whether you are getting closer through cumulative entries, distance to the target, and progress as a number that grows. The feedback is quantitative: you are 8 books into a 12-book goal.
A consistency tracker is designed for behaviors that should happen regularly with no endpoint in mind. A milestone tracker is designed for goals that end when you reach them. The right question depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Comparison at a glance
| Notch | Strides | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Milestone tracker | Multi-mode goal tracker |
| Pricing | Free · $9.99 one-time Pro | Subscription (~$5/month or $48/year) |
| Streaks | None | Yes, for Streak tracker type |
| Resets | None | Yes, in Streak mode |
| Apple Health | No | Yes |
| Reminders | No | Yes |
| Measures | Distance to target | Consistency + distance |
| Best for | Goals with a finish line | Daily habits + varied goal types |
When Strides is the right choice
Strides earns its reputation in a few situations.
You are tracking daily habits without a target number. Medication, morning routines, a consistent sleep schedule each day. If the daily check-in is the goal and there is no endpoint, Streak mode measures the right thing.
You need Apple Health integration. Strides reads and writes Health data automatically. For goals tied to activity, sleep, nutrition, or other Health metrics, this removes manual logging entirely.
You track multiple goal types at once. Strides handles habits, milestones, averages, and date-based targets in one app. The flexibility accommodates a mixed goal portfolio without switching tools.
You value reminders and accountability features. The notification system is built to prompt you at the right times, and the charts and trends give you a detailed view of consistency over time.
When Notch is the better fit
The case for switching, or starting with Notch instead, is narrower and more specific.
Your goal has a finish line. Running 500 kilometers this year, reading 12 books, or logging 100 workouts all share the same structure: they end when you hit the number. The relevant feedback is how far you are from that number. Notch shows this. Strides can model this in Milestone mode, but the interface does not commit to it.
Rest days are part of the goal. Strength training, distance running, cold exposure, and language learning all require days off. The recovery is not failure. Notch does not treat it as such. A cumulative tracker records everything before the gap and waits for the next entry. The gap changes nothing.
You want one tool with one philosophy. Strides asks you to choose the right tracker type for each goal. Notch asks you to choose milestone tracking and then focuses entirely on getting you to your target. If the decision fatigue of choosing modes is real for you, Notch removes it.
You prefer one-time pricing. Notch is free to download. The full app unlocks with a one-time $9.99 purchase. No subscription, no recurring charge. Strides uses a subscription model, which adds up over years of use. For a full list of apps you buy once and keep, see the best iOS apps with a lifetime purchase.
Frequently asked questions
Is Strides worth the subscription?
For daily habit tracking with Apple Health integration and reminder infrastructure, Strides delivers on its feature set. The subscription is reasonable for users who need those features. For milestone-focused goals with a finish line, the subscription cost is harder to justify when Notch handles the same job with a one-time purchase.
Does Notch replace Strides?
Notch is not a replacement for Strides. They are different tools built around different measurement philosophies. Notch is a milestone tracker. Strides is a multi-mode goal tracker that includes streak-based habit tracking as its primary mode. If you use Strides for daily habits and Strides is working for those, Notch does not improve on that experience. If you use Strides for milestone goals and the interface friction is real, Notch removes it.
Can I export my Strides data?
Strides supports data export. You can download your history before switching if you want to preserve the record.
What happens to my streaks if I switch?
Notch does not track streaks. Switching means starting fresh on the cumulative record. Your Strides streaks disappear, but for milestone goals, the streak was measuring the wrong thing anyway. The number of books you finished or workouts you logged in Strides Milestone mode carries over as your starting point.
Does Strides have a milestone tracker that works well?
Strides includes a Milestone tracker type, and it functions. The interface was built around streaks and reflects that even in Milestone mode. The milestone feature works better in Notch because milestone tracking is all the app does.
What if I track both habits and milestone goals?
Strides handles both in one app. Notch focuses on milestone goals only. If you have a portfolio that includes both daily habits and goals with a finish line, Strides is the more complete tool. If your focus is on goals with a target number and the daily habits are either handled elsewhere or not the priority, Notch is purpose-built for that.
Strides is a capable iOS app that has been a fixture in the productivity space for years. Ten years of iteration produces a level of polish that shows. The four tracker types reflect genuine thought about how different goals require different measurement approaches.
The friction for milestone-focused users has a specific source. Strides was built around streaks and consistency, and that orientation shapes the experience even in modes designed for something else. The interface asks you to measure what you did today. Milestone goals ask you to measure how far you are from done.
Those are different questions, and the app that asks the right question for your goal will serve you better than the app that asks a different question and lets you reconfigure it.
Notch asks the question that matters for goals with a finish line. Set a target, log every milestone, watch the total grow. One-time purchase, no streaks, no resets.
Notch tracks distance. The finish line is built in.
Try Notch
Every notch counts.
A milestone tracker without streaks, guilt, or subscriptions.
Download on App StoreFree · $9.99 Pro · No subscription