User Guide & FAQ
Everything you need to know about using RhinoPals to reach your goals
Getting Started
Welcome to RhinoPals! Here's how to start tracking your goals in just a few minutes.
Create a Challenge
Set up goals with custom targets for time, counts, or tasks
Track Daily
Log sessions, counts, or check off tasks as you complete them
Build Streaks
Stay consistent to build momentum and earn badges
Add Pals
Invite friends to keep each other accountable
Your First Challenge
- Click "Manage Challenges" from the Tracker or use the navigation menu
- Click "Add Challenge" or choose from "Templates" for quick setup
- Enter a title, set your goals, and choose your challenge type
- Click "Create Challenge" and start tracking!
Challenge Types
Choose the right type of challenge based on how you want to track your progress.
Time-Based
Track duration: practice sessions, study time, workouts, meditation
Count-Based
Track quantities: pages read, steps walked, glasses of water
To-Do Lists
Track tasks: routines, checklists, recurring or one-time tasks
Streak Challenges
Track consecutive days: break habits or build new ones
Time-Based Challenges
Perfect for activities where duration matters—practice sessions, focused work, exercise, meditation, and more.
Example: Learn Guitar
Goal: Practice 30 minutes per session, 5 days per week
How it works:
- Click Start Session when you begin practicing
- The timer runs in the background (you can close the browser)
- Click End Session when done—time is logged automatically
- Your weekly progress bar fills based on total minutes practiced
Example: Study for Certification
Goal: Study 45 minutes per session, 6 days per week
Weekly target: 4.5 hours of focused study time
Count-Based Challenges
Ideal for tracking quantities—pages read, miles run, glasses of water, pushups, words written, and more.
Example: Read More Books
Goal: Read 25 pages per day, 7 days per week
How it works:
- Enter the number of pages you read in the input field
- Click Log [pages] to record your progress
- Add an optional note ("Finished chapter 5!")
- Track your weekly page count and reading streak
Example: Stay Hydrated
Goal: Drink 8 glasses of water, 7 days per week
Custom unit: "glasses" (you set this when creating the challenge)
To-Do List Challenges
Great for routines, checklists, and multi-step tasks that repeat on a schedule.
Recurrence Options
- One-time: A single checklist (e.g., "Pack for vacation")
- Daily: Resets every day (e.g., "Morning routine")
- Weekly: Resets every Monday (e.g., "Weekly meal prep")
- Monthly: Resets on the 1st (e.g., "Monthly budget review")
- Specific Days: Choose M/T/W/Th/F/Sa/Su (e.g., "Gym days: Mon/Wed/Fri")
- Custom Interval: Every X days (e.g., "Every 3 days: water plants")
Example: Morning Routine
Type: Daily recurring to-do
Tasks:
- ☐ Make bed
- ☐ 10-minute stretch
- ☐ Healthy breakfast
- ☐ Review today's priorities
- ☐ Take vitamins
All tasks reset automatically each morning!
Example: Weekly Review
Type: Weekly recurring (resets Monday)
Tasks:
- ☐ Review last week's accomplishments
- ☐ Set top 3 priorities for the week
- ☐ Check calendar for appointments
- ☐ Clear email inbox
- ☐ Plan meals for the week
Streak Challenges
Perfect for breaking bad habits or building consistent daily practices. Track consecutive days and maintain your streak!
Key Features
- Daily Check-ins: Simply check in each day to maintain your streak
- Target Days: Set a goal (30 days, 90 days) or go indefinitely
- Manual Breaks: If you slip, record the break and start fresh
- Attempt History: Track all your attempts and learn from patterns
- Backfill: Forgot to check in? Backfill previous days in the current attempt
Example: No Smoking
Goal: Quit smoking indefinitely
How it works:
- Check in each day you remain smoke-free
- Watch your streak grow: Day 1, Day 7, Day 30...
- If you slip, record it honestly and restart
- Track your longest streak and celebrate milestones
Example: 30 Days No Alcohol
Goal: Complete 30 consecutive days without alcohol
Target: 30 days (you'll be celebrated when you hit it!)
After reaching goal: Choose to keep going, extend your target, or archive the challenge
Example: Daily Meditation
Goal: Meditate every day for 90 days
Notes: Add a note with each check-in to track how you felt
Challenge Templates
Don't want to start from scratch? Use one of our pre-built templates to get going in seconds!
Time-Based Templates
Count-Based Templates
To-Do Templates
Streak Templates
How to Use Templates
- Go to Manage Challenges from the navigation
- Click the Templates button
- Browse templates by category (Time, Count, To-Do, Streak)
- Click a template to pre-fill the form
- Adjust settings if needed, then click Create Challenge
Daily Tracking
The Tracker (Dashboard) is your home base for daily activity. Here's how to use it effectively.
For Time Challenges
- Start a session: Click the Start Session button on your challenge card
- Work on your goal: The timer runs in the background—even if you close the tab
- Stop when done: Click End Session and your time is logged automatically
- Add time manually: Use "Add Time Manually" if you forgot to start the timer
For Count Challenges
- Enter your count: Type the number in the input field on your challenge card
- Log it: Click the Log [unit] button (e.g., "Log pages")
- Add a note (optional): Great for remembering context later
- Track progress: Your weekly totals update immediately
For To-Do Challenges
- Add tasks: Type in the "Add new item..." field and click the + button
- Check off tasks: Click the checkbox as you complete each item
- Watch progress: The progress bar fills as you complete tasks
- Auto-reset: Recurring to-dos reset on schedule automatically
For Streak Challenges
- Check in daily: Click Check In each day you maintain your streak
- Add a note (optional): Record how you're feeling or any thoughts
- Watch your streak grow: Your current streak and longest streak are always visible
- If you slip: Click I Broke My Streak to record it honestly and restart
- Backfill if needed: Forgot yesterday? You can check in for past days in your current attempt
Streaks & Badges
Building Streaks
Streaks count consecutive days of activity on a challenge. They're a powerful motivator!
- Daily Streak: How many days in a row you've logged activity
- Weekly Streak: How many weeks you've met your weekly goal
- Best Streak: Your all-time record (keep trying to beat it!)
Earning Badges
Badges celebrate your achievements and milestones. Here are some you can earn:
New badges appear with a celebration when you earn them. View all your badges in your profile!
Accountability Pals
Research shows you're 65% more likely to reach a goal if you commit to someone else. With an accountability partner, that jumps to 95%!
How Pals Work
- Add a pal: Go to Pals and enter their email address
- They join: If they're already a user, you're connected instantly. If not, they'll get an invite email
- Share challenges: Choose which challenges to share with each pal
- See progress: View each other's activity, streaks, and achievements
- Stay motivated: Friendly competition and mutual support!
Example: Fitness Buddies
You and your friend both create "Exercise 30 min/day" challenges and share them with each other.
- You can see when they complete their workout
- Compare weekly streaks on the leaderboard
- Send encouragement when someone is falling behind
- Celebrate together when you both hit milestones!
Weekly Insights
Every week, you'll receive a personalized summary of your progress with actionable recommendations.
What's Included
- Weekly Summary: Overview of all your challenges and completion rates
- Streak Updates: Current streaks and records broken
- Trend Analysis: Are you improving, maintaining, or declining?
- Recommendations: Personalized tips based on your patterns
- Celebrations: Badges earned and milestones reached
Sample Insight
"Great week! You hit your reading goal 6 out of 7 days—your longest streak yet. Your most productive day was Tuesday (45 pages). Consider setting a slightly higher daily target to keep challenging yourself."
Access insights from the Insights link in the navigation menu. New insights are generated automatically every Monday based on your previous week's activity.
Calendar & Stats
Calendar View
See all your logged activity on a visual calendar. Great for:
- Spotting patterns in your habits
- Identifying your most/least productive days
- Viewing details of past sessions
Statistics
Track your progress over time with detailed stats:
- Total Time: Hours invested in each challenge
- Total Count: Cumulative counts (pages, miles, etc.)
- Completion Rate: Percentage of goals met
- Best Streaks: Your record-breaking runs
- Weekly Trends: Performance over the past weeks/months
Pro Tips
Do This
- Start with 1-2 challenges
- Set achievable daily goals
- Track immediately after doing
- Review progress weekly
- Archive completed challenges
Avoid This
- Starting 10 challenges at once
- Setting unrealistic targets
- Waiting until end of day to log
- Ignoring your stats
- Deleting instead of archiving
Success Habits
It's better to set a goal of 10 minutes and exceed it than to set 60 minutes and fail. Build the habit first, then increase the target.
Add RhinoPals to your home screen for quick access. On iPhone, tap Share → Add to Home Screen. On Android, tap the menu → Install App.
Pick a specific time each day to check your challenges. Consistency in checking leads to consistency in doing.
Spend 5 minutes each Sunday reviewing your stats. What worked? What didn't? Adjust your goals accordingly.
Don't skip past your achievements! When you earn a badge or hit a streak milestone, take a moment to feel proud.
When you complete a challenge or need a break, archive it instead of deleting. You keep your history and can restore it later.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you forgot to stop a timer and the recorded time is wrong, go to Stats and find the session in your log history. You can delete the incorrect entry using the delete button, then use "Add Time Manually" on the Tracker to log the correct duration for that day.
Yes! Your data syncs across all devices. Log in on your phone, tablet, or computer and everything stays in sync. If you start a timer on one device, you'll see it running when you open another device. When you stop the timer on any device, other devices will update within a few seconds.
Go to Manage Challenges, find your challenge, and click Edit. You can change the minutes per session, days per week, count target, or any other setting. Your historical data is preserved with the old goals.
Archive: Hides the challenge from your active list but keeps all your data. You can restore it anytime from the Archived tab.
Delete: Permanently removes the challenge and ALL associated data (logs, streaks, history). This cannot be undone!
To-do lists reset based on your configured schedule. Check the recurrence setting on your challenge—it might be set to weekly instead of daily. Also, ensure your timezone is set correctly in your profile settings.
No—you control what each pal can see. When you add a pal, you choose which specific challenges to share with them. You can share different challenges with different pals, or keep some completely private.
New users get a 3-month free trial with full access to all features—no credit card required to start. During your trial, you can create challenges, track progress, add accountability pals, and use all premium features.
After your trial ends, you can still view your data (challenges, stats, history), but tracking will be disabled until you subscribe.
When your trial expires:
- Your data is safe—nothing is deleted
- You can log in and view all your challenges, stats, and history
- Tracking is disabled—you won't be able to start sessions, log counts, or check off tasks
- You'll see a reminder banner when you log in
Subscribe anytime to resume tracking right where you left off!
No—your 12-month subscription starts when you pay. Remaining trial days are not added to your subscription. This keeps things simple and ensures everyone pays the same price for 12 months of access.
Tip: If you're enjoying RhinoPals during your trial, you can subscribe anytime to lock in your rate. There's no advantage to waiting until the last day!
To cancel your subscription, log into your PayPal account and go to Settings → Payments → Manage automatic payments. Find RhinoPals and cancel the subscription there. You'll keep access until the end of your billing period. Your data is preserved if you decide to resubscribe later.
Yes! Use "Add Time Manually" on the Tracker (for time challenges) or log a count entry for the missed day. Once there's logged activity for that day, your streak will recalculate automatically.
RhinoPals is a Progressive Web App (PWA), which means you can install it on your phone like a native app! On iOS, open Safari, tap Share → Add to Home Screen. On Android, Chrome will show an "Install" prompt, or use Menu → Install App.
Email us at support@rhinopals.com and we'll get back to you within 24 hours. Include your username and a description of your issue for fastest help.
Still have questions?
Contact Support