Today, I wanted to mess around with something a bit different – those little streak icons you see on apps. You know, the ones that show you how many days in a row you’ve done something? Yeah, those. I’ve always been a little curious about how they work, so I figured I’d try to make one myself.
First, I tried to find out some info about it, and I realized these things are pretty popular. They’re in all sorts of apps, from language learning to games. And there are a bunch of questions about them too. People asking why their streak got reset, or why they can’t see the icon. Someone even said their streak disappeared from Gmail! That’s wild.
So I started messing around, trying to figure out how to make one of these icons. I had a few ideas. Maybe I could use some kind of counter that goes up every day you open the app? Or maybe there’s a way to track it through the settings? I even thought about trying to make it look like a little flame or something, to make it more visual.
- First Attempt: Daily Counter
My first idea was to create a simple counter. Every day the user opens the app, the counter goes up by one. Easy enough, right? But then I realized I needed a way to store this number. And what happens if the user misses a day? I guess the counter would need to reset back to zero. I played around with this for a while, but it got a bit complicated trying to keep track of everything.
- Second Attempt: Using Settings
Next, I thought maybe I could use the app’s settings to keep track of the streak. I saw someone mention that you can turn streak reminders on in the settings. So maybe there’s a way to store the streak data there? I tried a few things, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to make it work. It felt like I was missing something.
Visuals Matter
While I was working on this, I also thought about what the icon should look like. I saw some examples where it’s a number inside a circle, or a little flame. I wanted something that would be eye-catching and motivating. I sketched out a few ideas, playing with different shapes and colors. I even thought about making it animated, like a flame that gets bigger as the streak goes up.
In the end, I didn’t quite get a working streak icon up and running. But I learned a lot along the way. It’s definitely more complex than I initially thought! There are a lot of things to consider, like how to store the data, how to reset the streak, and how to make it look good. It’s like a whole project of its own. I also got some clue from others’ experience like clearing cache, reloading browser or some extension conflicts may cause it, I guess. Maybe I’ll give it another shot sometime, but for now, I’m happy with what I’ve learned. It’s always fun to try new things and see how stuff works, even if you don’t end up with a perfect result.
