How to use Dopamine Dealer

The whole app, explained in plain words. Ten minutes from "what is this" to "I've got it".

The big picture

You pick a few habits. You check them off. The Dealer hands you a hit of dopamine every time you do. That's the entire app.

The point isn't the checkbox. It's that the reward shows up immediately, instead of six weeks from now when the habit finally pays off. Sparks, a bar that fills, a streak that grows. Your brain gets paid today for something that won't pay you back until later.

If you've ever built a beautiful habit tracker and abandoned it in nine days, that gap is why. This app closes it.

The Dealer on the left, today's lineup on the right. That's home.

The dopamine bar and the Dealer

The bar tracks one thing: what percentage of today's habits you've checked off. Zero at the start of the day, 100% when you've done all of them.

The Dealer is the character on the left. He reacts to that number as it climbs, and he gets progressively more invested in you as it does. At 0% he's pitching you. At 50% he's involved. At 100% he loses it entirely.

Tap him when you're stuck. He'll say something. It won't be useful, but it's usually the nudge you needed.

Habits: adding, checking, removing

A habit is one line. "drink water", "10 min walk", "meds", whatever you keep meaning to do.

• Add one by typing it in the box under your list and tapping + Deal. Sixty characters, no settings. The small menu under the box lets you tag it for a merit badge, and it guesses on its own when the name is obvious.
• Quick adds sit right below that box. Tap a suggestion and it's in. Fastest way to fill your first list.
• Check one off by tapping it. That's the whole interaction.
• Remove one with the small x on its row. It goes away without ceremony.
• Reset today unchecks everything for the current day if you tapped something by mistake.

You start with a few habits already in the list so the app isn't a blank page on day one. Swap them out for yours whenever you want.

Type your own, or tap a quick add. A habit is just a name.

Yesterday counts too

Forgot to check things off last night? The arrows next to the date let you go back up to 7 days and fix it. A banner tells you when you're looking at a past day so you never edit the wrong one by accident.

The app uses your timezone, which it asks for once when you sign up. Your "today" ends when your day ends, not at some UTC rollover in the middle of your evening.

Streaks, full doses, and the shield

Three separate things get counted, and it helps to know which is which:

The week strip above your habits shows the last seven days at a glance, so you can see the shape of your week without doing any math.

At 7, 30, and 100 days the app stops what it's doing and makes a scene about it. That's the point of the streak.

A streak is one number that only moves two ways. It climbs, or it goes to zero. The next section is for the days it goes to zero.

The streak shield (Pro)

Life happens. The shield covers one missed day a month so a single bad day doesn't erase seven weeks of work. It spends itself automatically, and recharges on the 1st of the following month. You'll see a chip next to your streak telling you whether it's ready or already spent.

Your last seven days, your streak, and your best. The padlock on the shield means it's a Pro feature.

Merit badges

Scout badges for things that are genuinely hard when your brain won't start. Check a habit off after 11pm. Come back after a gap. Hit a hundred completions. Each one lands a patch on your sash, with a small scene to go with it.

Badges never reset. Earn one and it's yours. A bad week costs you momentum, not progress, and coming back means adding to a collection instead of starting over. Streaks stay exactly as they are. This sits next to them.

There are 24. Some are about when or how you check things off, and those work on any habit:

Others are about a specific habit: dishes, water, laundry, meds, going outside, texts and calls, inbox, shower, bills, making the bed. Those count when a habit is tagged. New habits get tagged automatically when the name is obvious ("drink water", "make the bed"), or you pick a tag from the small menu under the add box. If a habit has no tag it still counts for everything else, it just can't earn the habit-specific badge.

Locked badges stay visible with the colour drained, so you can always see what you're chasing. Tap See the sash on the badge strip to open the full wall.

Your sash. Colour is the reward, and it never goes away.

A normal day

1. Open the app.
2. Tap the habits you did.
3. Let the Dealer make a fuss about it.

That's it. Under a minute. The app is deliberately not a place you spend time.

Your first ten minutes

1. Cut the list down to 3 or 4 habits. Tap the x on anything that isn't yours. A short list you finish beats a long list you don't.
2. Add one habit you keep skipping. The one you feel guilty about. That's the one this app is for.
3. Check off anything you've already done today. Even if it's 4pm. Starting the streak today is the point.

What's free and what's Pro

Free is a real habit tracker, not a trial. Pro is one pass that also unlocks the other four apps in the hub.

Hitting 5 habits on free doesn't lock you out. Swap one for another any time, or go Pro for unlimited.

The Pro features, in plain words

Habit packs

Curated bundles. Instead of thinking up a morning routine from scratch, you install one and edit from there. Free accounts can open any pack and read exactly what's inside before deciding.

The ledger

One row per habit: how often you actually hit it over 30 days, your current streak on it, and your best. This is where you find out which habit you've been skipping for three weeks without noticing.

Streak history

A 12-week grid, one square per day, darker the more you did. Good for spotting the pattern nobody notices in the moment, like every Thursday falling apart.

Goal Rx

Type what you're chasing, in your own words. "run a 5k", "read more", "ship the thing". It writes you a small set of habits that actually add up to that, and you keep the ones you want.

The 7-day contract

Pick one habit, commit to it for 7 straight days. Pips fill in as you go. It's a smaller, sharper promise than "build a habit forever", which is why it works.

Streak history and the ledger. The pattern, then the receipts.

Quick answers

Do I have to check in every day or I lose everything?

No. Your habits and history stay put. Only the current streak resets, and you can go back up to 7 days to fill in what you forgot.

Do badges reset when my streak breaks?

No. Badges are permanent. The streak is the only thing that resets, and even then your best streak and every badge stay on the board.

Why is a badge like "Dish Corps" not counting my dishes habit?

The habit isn't tagged. Habits added before badges existed were only tagged when the name was obvious. Remove the habit and add it back with the dishes tag picked from the menu under the add box. Your streak isn't affected, since it only needs one check a day from any habit.

What happens when I hit 5 habits on free?

You can still swap habits in and out, so the app keeps working. Tap the x on one you're done with, add a new one. Pro removes the cap.

Does Pro only cover this app?

No. One Pro pass covers Dopamine Dealer plus the other four apps in the App Hub. You sign in once and hop between them.

Can I see the app tour again?

Yes. Tap the ? button at the top of the app, then Show me around.

Where does my data live, and can I get rid of it?

In a cloud database, so it syncs across your devices and survives a cache clear. Open Account settings in the footer to delete your account and everything in it.

Where do I ask for help?

The feedback button in the corner of the app comes straight to me, Jen. I read every one.