No. Tonic tracks the activity you earn with automatically, through Apple Health, so there are no check-ins, no proof photos, and nothing to log by hand. You do not even have to open Tonic: it notices your workout, meditation, or walk in the background and unlocks your apps on its own, usually within a minute. For anything Apple Health cannot see, you can still track it yourself as a Habit.
Tracking is automatic
Most habit and focus apps make you check in or snap a proof photo. Tonic does not. It reads the activity you earn with from Apple Health: the workouts, meditation, steps, and time in daylight your iPhone and Apple Watch already record. You do the activity, Tonic notices, and your apps unlock. There is nothing to remember and nothing to prove.
Why automatic is the point
A check-in is one more thing to forget. A proof photo only proves you took a photo. Because Tonic reads real activity from Apple Health, your apps unlock based on what you actually did, with no busywork from you. This is the part that sets Tonic apart: the earning happens on its own.
Your apps unlock on their own
Here is the part people switching from other apps notice most: you do not have to open Tonic to claim your unlock. Some apps make you come back and tap to collect what you earned. Tonic does not. When your workout, meditation, or steps reach Apple Health, Tonic notices in the background and lifts the lock by itself, usually within a minute. The exact timing is up to iOS, so once in a while it takes a little longer, and if you are ever waiting, opening Tonic checks right away.
When you want to track something yourself
Some things Apple Health cannot see, like reading a paper book, practicing an instrument, or time away from a screen. For those, Tonic has Habits: you add the habit and mark it done yourself. Use automatic earning for anything your phone or watch can measure, and Habits for everything else.
Habits you mark yourself are on the honor system.
Because you check them off by hand, Habits rely on your own honesty, unlike the activity Tonic reads automatically. That is the trade: automatic for what Apple Health can see, self-tracked for the rest.
Still stuck? Email [email protected].
Related: How does Tonic work? Earning your way into the apps you choose · Which fitness trackers and smartwatches work with Tonic? · I granted Apple Health access but my workouts, meditation, or steps still aren't counting