Health & Fitness · Free · iOS & Android
By CoddyKit
Hair Pulling Tracker: a private log for BFRBs
Hair Pulling Tracker is a free self-monitoring app for hair pulling, skin picking, and nail biting. Log an urge in about 15 seconds, watch your own pattern build over weeks, and reach for a competing response the moment an urge starts. Built around Habit Reversal Training.
- Price
- Free
- Account
- Not required
- Languages
- 10
- Age rating
- 4+
- Requires
- iOS 15.1 or later
A reset is data, not failure.
Most habit apps punish a broken streak. This one treats it as the most useful thing you logged all week — a data point about when, where, and why an urge won.
What it is
Hair Pulling Tracker (BFRB) is a free iOS and Android app for tracking body-focused repetitive behaviors — trichotillomania (hair pulling), dermatillomania (skin picking), and nail biting. You log each urge or episode with its trigger, emotion, intensity, and location; the app turns those logs into a visible pattern and pairs them with a library of Habit Reversal Training techniques.
It is a self-monitoring tool, not a treatment. It does not diagnose anything, and it is not a substitute for care from a clinician — see Safety and limits.
Background
What is a body-focused repetitive behavior?
A body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) is a recurring, self-directed habit that damages the body — most commonly pulling out hair, picking at skin, or biting nails. BFRBs are common, they are not a character flaw, and they respond well to structured behavioral approaches such as Habit Reversal Training.
Trichotillomaniahair pulling
Repeatedly pulling out hair from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or elsewhere, often without full awareness while reading, scrolling, or concentrating.
Dermatillomaniaskin picking
Repeatedly picking at skin, scabs, or blemishes, frequently in front of a mirror or during idle moments, to the point of visible damage.
Onychophagianail biting
Chronic biting of nails or cuticles, commonly triggered by stress, boredom, or deep concentration.
How it works
Three steps, repeated
The app follows the sequence Habit Reversal Training is built on: awareness first, then a competing response, then changing the environment that keeps producing urges.
Notice and log it
Record the behavior, intensity, trigger, emotion, and location. It takes about 15 seconds, so it happens in the moment rather than being reconstructed later. The logging itself is the awareness training.
Use a competing response
Open the library and pick a physical action that cannot happen at the same time as pulling or picking — a fist clench, a stress ball, a textured fidget — and hold it until the urge crests and falls.
Change the setup
Work through the stimulus-control planner for the situations that keep coming up in your log, and adjust the environment before the next high-risk moment arrives.
What’s inside
Built around the parts of HRT you can actually do daily
~15s
Urge and episode log
Behavior, intensity, trigger, emotion, and location — captured fast enough to catch the moment instead of remembering it wrong.
18
Competing responses
From a classic fist clench and stress-ball squeeze to textured fidgets, scalp massage, cold water, bitter nail polish, and a bandage barrier.
9
Stimulus-control plans
Nine everyday trigger situations — boredom, stress, screen time, driving, reading, anxiety and more — each with concrete environment changes.
30d
Pattern and triggers
Your logging streak, top triggers across the last 30 days, and how the pattern moves over time.
AI
Weekly pattern summary
An optional reflection of your own logged data for the week. It never gives advice, never guesses, and never sees your private notes.
988
Crisis resources
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, Crisis Text Line, and a worldwide helpline directory, one tap from anywhere in the app.
Inside the app
What it looks like
Fit
Who it’s for — and who it isn’t
A good fit if you
- Pull hair, pick skin, or bite nails and want to understand your own pattern
- Already know Habit Reversal Training and want a log built around it
- Want a competing response and a stimulus-control plan ready before the next urge
- Want to track privately, with no account required to start
- Have tried to describe your pattern to a therapist and had no real log to bring
Not the right tool if you
- Are looking for a diagnosis — this app does not assess or diagnose anything
- Want it to replace therapy or clinical treatment; it is built to sit alongside them
- Expect coaching or advice — the weekly summary only reflects data you logged
- Need a blocker that physically prevents the behavior; this is a log, not a lock
Safety and limits
This is a self-monitoring tool, not medical care
Hair Pulling Tracker does not diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and it is not a substitute for professional mental-health care. If you have not been evaluated by a clinician, consider speaking with a doctor or therapist.
If you are in crisis, help is available now. In the US you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line). The app links to a worldwide helpline directory from every screen. For BFRB-specific information and clinician directories, the TLC Foundation for BFRBs is the established nonprofit resource.
Privacy
What leaves your device
Your episode log stays on your device. The private notes field is never sent to any AI service. The optional weekly summary sends only your own logged data points — never your notes — and you can export your full log or delete every entry from the Progress tab at any time.
Full details are in the CoddyKit privacy policy.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the best app for tracking hair pulling or skin picking?
The most useful tracker is one you will actually open during an urge, which means logging has to take seconds and a broken streak must not feel like punishment. Hair Pulling Tracker is built on that principle: a roughly 15-second log, a streak reset treated as data rather than failure, and an 18-technique competing-response library available at the moment you need it. It is free on iOS and Android and works without an account.
Does tracking hair pulling actually help?
Yes — awareness training is the first step of Habit Reversal Training, the behavioral model used in professional BFRB treatment. Many episodes happen with little conscious awareness, so recording each one in the moment is itself the intervention: it converts an automatic behavior into a noticed one. The log also gives you something concrete to bring to a therapist instead of trying to recall your patterns from memory.
What is Habit Reversal Training (HRT)?
Habit Reversal Training is a structured behavioral approach to repetitive habits, built on three components: awareness training (noticing when the behavior happens), a competing response (a physical action incompatible with the behavior), and stimulus control (changing the environment so high-risk situations occur less often). Hair Pulling Tracker maps directly onto these three components.
What is a competing response?
A competing response is a physical action you cannot perform at the same time as the BFRB, held for about a minute until the urge subsides. The classic example is clenching your fist — you cannot pull, pick, or bite while doing it. The app ships 18 of them, including a stress-ball squeeze, textured fidgets, scalp massage, cold water, bitter-tasting nail polish, and a bandage barrier, filterable by behavior.
Is Hair Pulling Tracker free?
Yes. The app is free to download on both the App Store and Google Play, and you can start logging immediately in guest mode without creating an account.
Does it track skin picking and nail biting too?
Yes. Despite the name, the app covers the three most common body-focused repetitive behaviors — hair pulling (trichotillomania), skin picking (dermatillomania), and nail biting (onychophagia). The competing-response library can be filtered to whichever behavior applies to you.
Is my data private? Can the AI read my notes?
Your episode log stays on your device, and the private notes field is never sent to any AI service. The optional weekly pattern summary reflects only the structured data you logged — behaviors, triggers, intensities — and never your notes. You can export your entire log or delete every entry from the Progress tab whenever you want.
Can this app replace therapy?
No. It is a self-monitoring tool, not a diagnosis, treatment, or substitute for professional mental-health care. It works best alongside clinical care — the log gives a therapist real data to work from. If you have not been evaluated, consider speaking with a doctor or therapist.
Do I need an account, and does it work offline?
No account is needed. Guest mode lets you start logging straight away, and you can add an optional sign-in later only if you want one. Logging works on your device; the optional weekly AI summary is the only feature that needs a connection.
What languages does it support?
Hair Pulling Tracker is available in 10 languages, with both light and dark themes. It requires iOS 15.1 or later, or a recent version of Android.
Start logging
See your own pattern, without the judgment
Free, no account required, and your log stays on your device.
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Not a medical device. Does not diagnose or treat any condition.