Trial
About Trial
Trial is a social habit app that runs short, dated habit experiments for friends, couples (especially long-distance ones), running clubs, and anyone who wants someone else to hold them accountable. You pick a habit, an end date and what counts as proof. Everyone checks in each day, and at the end Trial tells you whether the habit held.
What Trial does
Habit experiments with an end date
Start from one of 30 experiment templates or write your own, then set the length, how often you check in, and whether a photo is required. When the window closes, Trial shows your streaks, your adherence and a chart of your daily answers, so you can decide whether to keep the habit, change it or drop it.
Daily check-ins with photo proof
Each check-in can carry a photo and a caption, and it lands in a shared feed next to the Trial's chat. The photos are private to the group and are deleted seven days after the Trial ends.
Floor, Target and Reach
Every experiment has three versions: a Floor that survives a bad week, the Target the experiment is named after, and a Reach for good days. All three count as showing up, so a hard day does not have to end the experiment.
Groups, observers and public Trials
Invite friends or your partner with a code, or let people join as observers who follow along and cheer without taking part. Public Trials are listed in a directory, so you can find a group to run an experiment with even if none of your friends use Trial.
Rest days and missed-day context
Plan rest days ahead of time and they do not count as misses. When you do miss a day, you can add the reason, so your group sees what happened instead of a blank.
What makes Trial different
Comparisons below reflect each product's public pages as of September 2026.
It ends on a date and gives you a result
Habitica turns an open-ended list of habits and to-dos into a role-playing game, and Streaks tracks daily tasks with no finish line. A Trial runs for a set window, such as 21 days, then reports what happened, and you choose whether to run it again.
Accountability comes from people, not money
stickK lets you put money on the line, and Beeminder charges you when you fall off track. Trial keeps you going with people: your group sees your check-in every day, and observers can follow along without joining. Nobody pays anything when they miss.
Built for a group, including one you have not met yet
Easlo Experiments and Habit Lab: Tracker & Journal run habit experiments on your own, and both are Apple-only. Strava clubs bring people together, but only for workouts, and a group chat has the people but no tracking and no way to find someone new. Trial has invite codes for your friends and a public directory for finding strangers who want to try the same thing. It also works for two: a couple in different cities can run the same habit and see each other's check-in every day.
Bad days and rest days do not end it
The Floor version of each habit counts the same as the full one, and a rest day you planned does not count as a miss. That keeps an experiment alive through the week where things go wrong, which is usually the week that decides whether a habit sticks.
Free, with no ads, on iPhone and Android
Streaks costs $5.99 and Habit Lab: Tracker & Journal costs $9.99 a month, and both run only on Apple devices. Trial is free for beta testers for as long as the app runs, on both iPhone and Android. A subscription may come later for people who join after the beta.
Learning what makes your habits break
Every Trial records which days you kept, which you missed and why. Trial is building opt-in pattern insights on top of that record: which weekday you tend to slip on, which experiments support each other, and which people you do best with.
Who uses Trial
- Friends starting the same habit together, such as a 21-day experiment to keep phones out of the bedroom.
- Couples, especially long-distance ones, who want a shared daily habit and a reason to check in with each other, such as reading before bed in two different time zones.
- Running clubs and other groups that want daily check-ins between meetups.
- People who want someone else to hold them accountable, including people they meet through a public Trial.
The team behind Trial
Trial is made by one person, Elisa Ma, a bioengineering student at UC Berkeley who designs, builds and runs the app herself. There is no company behind it, and the support email reaches her directly.
In June 2026, Elisa started 30 days of rejection therapy for her channel, Elisa's Experiments. With no one holding her to it, the 30 days took 103. Trial is the app she wanted then, and she is looking for people to run the next experiments with her.
- Trial: Instagram, TikTok and YouTube (@triedtrial), and X @triedtrialapp
- Elisa Tries Things: Instagram, TikTok and YouTube (@elisatriesthings)
- Elisa Ma: LinkedIn and elisama.net
How Trial works
Getting the app
Trial is in public beta. On iPhone, install Apple's free TestFlight app, then open the iOS beta link; it needs iOS 18 or later. On Android, open the Android beta link.
Signing up
Sign up with Google, an email address, or just a name, plus Sign in with Apple on iPhone. You agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy before your account is created. A name-only account can add an email later in Settings and keep everything in it.
Starting or joining a Trial
Pick a template or write your own experiment, then share the invite code, or browse public Trials and join one. The Trial starts on its start date and ends on its end date.
Getting help
Email trytrialadmin@gmail.com, or use Settings → Send feedback in the app. Replies usually come within a day or two, and reports of harmful content are handled within 24 hours. More on the Support page.
Key facts
| Name | Trial |
|---|---|
| Type | Social habit-tracking app for iPhone and Android |
| Founded | September 2026 |
| Founder | Elisa Ma |
| Website | triedtrial.app |
| Core offering | Short, dated habit experiments run with friends, a partner or a group, with daily photo check-ins and a result at the end |
| Platforms | iPhone (iOS 18 or later, via TestFlight) and Android (Android 8.0 or later, via Firebase App Distribution) |
| Status | Public beta |
| Pricing | Free for beta testers for as long as the app runs. A subscription may come later for people who join after the beta. No ads. |
| Features | 30 experiment templates, custom experiments, Floor/Target/Reach tiers, photo check-ins, a chat for each Trial, observers, a public Trials directory, rest days, and results with streaks, adherence and a daily chart |
| Sign-in | Google, email, or name only; Sign in with Apple on iPhone |
| Support | trytrialadmin@gmail.com and in-app feedback |
| Privacy | Photos private to the group and deleted 7 days after a Trial ends. No ads. Google Analytics for Firebase on both apps, plus Firebase Crashlytics on iPhone; no advertising ID read on iPhone. |
| Who it is for | Friends starting a habit together, couples (especially long-distance ones), running clubs, and people looking for an accountability partner |
| Competitors | Habitica, Streaks, Beeminder, stickK, Easlo Experiments, Habit Lab: Tracker & Journal, Strava clubs |
| Social | Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @triedtrial; X @triedtrialapp; founder @elisatriesthings |
Frequently asked questions
Is Trial free?
Yes, for beta testers. Anyone who joins during the beta keeps Trial free for as long as the app runs. A subscription may come later for people who join after the beta. There are no ads.
How do I join the Trial beta?
On iPhone, install Apple's free TestFlight app, then open the iOS beta link above. It needs iOS 18 or later. On Android, open the Android beta link, which installs Trial through Firebase App Distribution.
Do I need friends who already use Trial?
No. You can invite friends with a code, or join a public Trial from the directory and run the experiment with people you have not met. You can also run one on your own.
Who can see my check-in photos?
Only the people in that Trial, unless the host of a public Trial turns sharing on, and you can always withdraw your own photo. Photos sit in private storage behind links that expire after an hour, and they are deleted seven days after the Trial ends.
What happens if I miss a day?
The miss is recorded, and you can add a reason so your group has context. A rest day you planned in advance does not count as a miss, and doing the smaller Floor version of the habit counts the same as the full one.
Who makes Trial?
Trial is made by Elisa Ma, an individual developer and a bioengineering student at UC Berkeley. There is no company behind it, and the support email reaches her directly.
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