A skin picking tracker where progress doesn't reset.

You already know when you're picking. Anxora shows you what comes before it — the hour, the place, the feeling — so you can get there first.

Free for one habit · No account · iPhone & Apple Watch

Illustration of a person touching a small bump on their cheek
You already know

Noticing was never the missing piece.

Most advice starts with “catch yourself doing it.” But plenty of people see every second of it and still can't stop. What's usually missing is knowing what sets it off — and having something ready before the first touch.

Something you can feel

A bump, a flake, an ingrown hair. Your fingertips find it while your eyes are on a screen — long before you decide anything.

A mirror and good light

You weren't going to pick. You were only going to look. For a lot of people the trigger is a place, not a mood.

The end of a long day

Tired, not sad. Not even anxious. Late evenings and the start of the week often show up more than bad news does.

Different starts. Different answers. All of them begin with seeing which one is yours.

“Every time I look at my skin, I find a reason to pick.”
What tends to hold

Make it cost less, not forbidden.

What people who've lived with this for years actually credit. Pick the one that matches what sets yours off.

  • A hand pressing a small round patch onto a cheek

    Cover the spot

    A hydrocolloid patch cut to size protects one spot for days while it heals.

    For one spot that won't settle
  • An open palm smoothing over a forearm

    The same move, gentler

    Rub it flat with your palm instead of squeezing. Same spot, less damage.

    For the urge to squeeze
  • Two people talking calmly, one holding a tube of cream

    Treat what's underneath

    Ingrown hairs, acne, eczema — a dermatologist can take away the bump your fingers keep finding.

    For bumps that keep coming back

One thing that rarely holds: taking the tools away. Knowing when the urge is coming works better — that's the part Anxora is for.

Few people say this out loud

The riskiest day isn't a bad one. It's the day your skin looks good.

Progress can be a trigger too. A spot has finally healed, you go to check it, and the checking starts the cycle again.

That's why progress in Anxora lives in Steps, and Steps only add up. A slip is logged, not punished — so “just this once” never wipes out what you've built.
Three steps

Built for the urge, not just the slip.

A finger tapping a button on a phone screen

Tap

Tap “The urge is here.” Didn't pick? Save it as Urge only — the moment still counts.

15 feelings · triggers for your habit · or skip both

A person with eyes closed, hands on chest, breathing slowly

Breathe

Three breaths, right after. Something to do with your hands that isn't your skin.

3 patterns · haptic rhythm

A person looking calmly at a chart of their week

See

Your week, the peak hour, and which feelings and triggers keep turning up together.

Week view · trigger links · peak hour
Inside the app

What it actually does, screen by screen.

Real screens from the app. The first half is for the moment itself. The second half is what you see after a few weeks.

In the moment
  1. The home screen with one large button: The urge is here
    01

    One button

    “The urge is here” sits on the first screen. Tap it when you feel the pull — before the first touch if you can, after if you can't.

  2. Logging screen: Did it or Urge only, then feelings and triggers
    02

    Did it, or Urge only

    Say whether you picked or held off, then tap what was around it — tension, a scab, a blemish, deep focus. Or just press Save.

  3. Starting an awareness session: how often to check in and for how long
    03

    For the long stretches

    When an evening at the mirror turns into forty minutes, start a session. Anxora checks in quietly every few minutes, and you answer with one tap from the Lock Screen.

  4. Pimple Pop: a practice game where you squeeze a bump on screen with two fingers
    04

    The same move, not your skin

    Pimple Pop gives your fingers the squeeze on a screen. Glue Peel, Tweezers, Bubble Wrap and guided breathing are there for the other versions of the pull.

Over the weeks
  1. Weekly analytics: episode count compared with last week, peak time, feelings and triggers around it
    05

    A week you can read

    How many episodes, compared with this point last week. The peak day and time. The feelings and triggers that were around them.

  2. Charts: top triggers and which feelings appear with which triggers
    06

    What goes with what

    Which feelings show up with which triggers — tension with deep focus, restlessness with screen time. After a month it stops being a mystery.

  3. Steps: milestones for entries, days and coping moments
    07

    Steps that only add up

    Credit for entries, for the days you show up and for every coping moment. Milestones that only ever add up — never a streak to lose.

  4. PDF report settings: period, summary or all records, created on the device
    08

    A report for your dermatologist

    Turn any period into a PDF with the numbers, charts, triggers and feelings. It's made on your phone and goes only to whoever you send it to.

Nobody has to know you're working on this.

No account, no login, no email. Your entries stay on your device and sync through your own private iCloud. We don't run a server that holds them.

0
accounts
0
ads
0
data sold

The app records anonymous usage events — which screens open, which buttons are tapped — so we can tell what's broken. Never the content of an entry. → Privacy policy

From people who've lived with it

“Yes, I know I'm picking. Knowing has never been the problem.”
“Take the tweezers away and I'll still find a way.”
“Once I start, it's never just one spot.”

Paraphrased from public conversations in BFRB communities. Not Anxora users.
FAQ

Good questions.

It won't do it for you. What it does is make the pattern visible — the hour, the room, the routine it attaches to — and a pattern you can see is much harder to run on autopilot. No streak to protect. Progress lives in Steps — entries, days you show up, coping moments — and it only ever adds up. A slip is logged, not punished, on a bad day or a good one. Log it afterwards, or add it to any day in the calendar. Nothing is marked as missed. For long evenings, a session checks in with you so you don't have to remember. No sign-up, no email, no password. Open it and start. It's the clinical name for compulsive skin picking, also called excoriation disorder. It belongs to a group called body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), along with nail biting and hair pulling. Anxora doesn't diagnose anything — it helps you see your own pattern. No. It's built on ideas from Habit Reversal Training, but a tracker isn't treatment. If picking leads to wounds, scarring or infection, see a dermatologist or a therapist who works with BFRBs. Not yet — it's built on Apple Health, Apple Watch and iCloud.

Comparing apps? Skin picking apps compared — an honest side-by-side →
Habits trade places

When one quiets down, another often gets louder.

Less picking, more nail biting — it happens a lot. Anxora tracks habits side by side, so one getting better doesn't hide another getting worse.

Nail biting

Often boredom and concentration, not stress.

Nail biting tracker →

Tonight's mirror is still going to be there.

Have something ready when you get to it.

iOS 17 or later · Apple Watch optional · Free for one habit