What is MateIt?

At a glance

What it is – an app where exactly two people see a habit through over a set period of time.
Who takes part – you and a person of your choice. If you don’t have anyone, you’ll find someone in the Marketplace.
What you do – log what you got done. That’s the whole effort.
What you see – your score, your mate’s score and the number of days you both keep going in a row.
Devices – iPhone and Android. Your mate can be on the other system.
Price – free to use. Premium unlocks photo and video proof plus several challenges at the same time.

What the app is meant for

For things you repeat and keep up over weeks: training, studying, reading, less phone, no alcohol, putting money aside. Anything you can count or tick off fits in here.

MateIt is not meant for one-off tasks, appointments or shopping lists. Calendars and to-do apps do that better.

How a challenge runs

Create the challenge. You answer five questions: duration, goal, mode, proof, stakes. Those turn into the rules that apply to both of you.
Bring in a mate. The app creates a six-character code that you send to someone you know. Or you put the challenge in the Marketplace, or join an open one there.
Log it. Each of you logs what you got done – with proof switched on, that means a photo or video the other one can review and reject. Both of you see every entry right away.
End it. When the time is up or the goal is reached, the app sums it up: score, days you kept going and the stakes you agreed on. You can only end it early together – one of you proposes it, the other agrees.

If your mate drops out, the challenge doesn’t disappear. You’ll see that they left and decide whether to carry on alone or close it out. Your entries and your days are kept.

All five steps in detail

What you decide yourselves

Duration – no end date, a fixed duration, or until a goal is reached.
Goal – a number, say 1,000 pull-ups, or a single event, say running a marathon.
Mode – Battle: whoever does more wins. Target: both of you have to hit the same requirement, say training three times a week.
Proof – trust-based, or with a photo or video for every entry.
Stakes – nothing, a reward for the winner, a punishment for the loser, or both.

What the app takes care of

Counting – both scores, what has already been logged today and how many days in a row you’ve racked up.
Reminding – messages when your mate has logged something, a proof is waiting for review, or your day is nearly over. In the settings you decide which of those you get.
Chat – one conversation per challenge, for agreements, proofs and proposals to end it.
Marketplace – open challenges from other users sorted by category, with a message before you join.
Summary – an overview at the end of the result, the days you kept going and the stakes.

Why this works

Resolutions rarely fail on day one. They fail a few days in, when nobody asks. Behavioral research has looked into what helps against that. The six findings with the strongest evidence shape how the app is built.

Record your progress and show it

People who record their progress regularly reach their goals more often. A review of 138 studies with around 19,000 participants found that the effect is stronger when progress is written down or reported to another person. An entry in MateIt is both at once.

Harkin et al. (2016), Psychological Bulletin.

A promise carries more weight than an intention

In a study with 267 participants, those who wrote their goals down and reported their progress to a friend every week reached them far more often than those who only thought about them. The study is small and was presented at a conference, not peer-reviewed in a journal. It is an indication, not a proof.

Matthews (2015), Dominican University of California.

Together it lasts longer

In a weight-loss study, some people signed up on their own, others together with friends and with incentives that applied to everyone involved. After six months, 66 percent of those who had signed up together had kept their result, compared with 24 percent of those who signed up alone.

Wing and Jeffery (1999), Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Stakes make quitting expensive

For most people, losses weigh heavier than gains of the same size. In a field study, smokers who deposited their own money and lost it if they relapsed quit measurably more often than the comparison group. The stakes in MateIt use the same mechanism – you decide yourselves whether there are any, and what they are.

Giné, Karlan and Zinman (2010), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics; Kahneman and Tversky (1979), Econometrica.

Repetition takes time

In a study of everyday life it took a good two months on average before a new behavior ran by itself – between 18 and 254 days, depending on the person and the plan. A single missed day set nobody back. That’s why MateIt counts days and makes that early stretch visible instead of skipping over it.

Lally et al. (2010), European Journal of Social Psychology.

Clear rules beat good intentions

People who decide in advance when, where and how often they do something follow through more often than people who plan it in general terms. A review of 94 studies shows a medium to large effect for this. In MateIt those decisions are made when you create the challenge, and from then on they apply to both of you.

Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.

The studies named here relate to particular groups and goals. They show that these mechanisms work – not that they guarantee you’ll reach your goal. The app gives you the structure; the logging is on you.

What MateIt is not

Not a social network – there are no followers, no likes and no feed.
Not a group app – a challenge always has exactly two participants.
Not an automatic tracker – the app measures nothing by itself and is not connected to any watch or health app. What counts is what you log.
Not medical or therapeutic help – for addiction, eating disorders or mental health strain, medical or therapeutic support is the right way to go.

Who it is made for

For two people who know each other: friends, siblings, couples, roommates, colleagues. And for everyone who has started plenty of times and stopped just as often.

What MateIt costs

Sources

Harkin, B. et al. (2016): Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin 142(2), 198–229.
Matthews, G. (2015): Goals Research Summary. Dominican University of California, 267 participants.
Wing, R. R. and Jeffery, R. W. (1999): Benefits of recruiting participants with friends and increasing social support for weight loss and maintenance. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 67(1), 132–138.
Giné, X., Karlan, D. and Zinman, J. (2010): Put your money where your butt is: a commitment contract for smoking cessation. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2(4), 213–235.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1979): Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica 47(2), 263–291.
Lally, P. et al. (2010): How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology 40(6), 998–1009.
Gollwitzer, P. M. and Sheeran, P. (2006): Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38, 69–119.