Use Your iPhone to Build These 10 Good Habits in 2025

Use Your iPhone to Go to Bed on Time

Many of us don't have a good relationship with sleep; in many cases, it's our fault. Whether we stay up at night browsing social media or chatting with someone, we're losing quality sleep for no good reason.

Not only that, but it's been reported that using your iPhone before you go to bed also affects the quality of your sleep. This means that even if you sleep eight hours, you might not feel as rested as you should.

Fortunately, your iPhone can help you fix this issue with its Wind Down feature. With this feature, your iPhone will send you a notification up to three hours before bedtime so you know when to stop using your phone before going to bed.

It also turns on your Sleep Focus Mode, which silences all unnecessary notifications, making it easier to avoid distractions from your iPhone.

To set up your Wind Down time, you must first set up a sleep schedule on the Health app. Here's how you can set up both at the same time:

1. Open the Health app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Browse tab in the bottom right corner of your screen.
3. Scroll down and select Sleep.
4. Choose Full Schedule & Options.
5. Under Full Schedule, select Set Your First Schedule.
6. Choose the days you want your schedule to be active. Also, adjust the wheel to mark your bedtime and wake-up times. You can also scroll down and change the alarms if you want.
7. When you're done, tap on Add.
8. Now, under Additional Details, tap on Wind Down.
9. Choose the hours and minutes you want to use as your Wind Down time. 

And that's it. You can close the Health app, and your iPhone will automatically send you a reminder when it's time to wind down.

Always Remember to Take Your Medicine

If you always forget about your medications or even your daily vitamins, your iPhone can help you with that as well. All you need to do is set up the proper reminders, and then you can rely on your iPhone to remind you when you need to take your medication.

This is thanks to the Medications features in the Health app. Here's how to set it up:

1. Open the Health app.
2. Tap on the Browse tab in the bottom right corner of your screen.
3. Scroll down and go to Medications.
4. Under Your Medications, tap on Add a Medication.
5. Search for your medication and select it from the search results. If you can't find it, select Add.
6. Follow the instructions on your screen to add your medication, and when you finish, tap on Done.

And that's it. You can do this with all your medications or supplements that you need to take. Your iPhone will not only let you know when it's time to take it, but it can even give you extra information about your medication, like how it interacts with substances like alcohol, cannabis, or tobacco.

Use Your iPhone to Be More Active

Your iPhone is a fantastic tool for helping you become more active or fit. Whether you want to lift weights, do some cardio, or track your daily steps, your iPhone can help you with all that — and more.

For instance, if you have an Apple Watch, you can use the Fitness app to track the calories you burn or the steps you take in a day. If you don't have an Apple Watch, you can still track your steps by opening the Health app and going to the Summary tab. From there, you can find the steps you take in a day.

Of course, you can also use a subscription service like Peloton or Apple Fitness+ if you want to work out at home. Both platforms offer various workout alternatives, all guided by experienced coaches.

If one of your goals in 2025 is to go to the gym more often, then you can use an app on your iPhone to track your workouts and learn gym routines and workouts you didn't even know existed. There are plenty of workout apps on the App Store, but we recommend you start by checking apps like Boostcamp or Strong. These are both amazing apps that you can start using for free.

Use Your iPhone to Organize Your Life

More often than not, we have to deal with multiple things at once. Whether it's work, school, or social life, there's always something we need to take care of. Not only that, but there are times when we'll forget about important things that we need to deal with but just don't.

Luckily, you can still organize your life with the help of your iPhone. Your iPhone has amazing first-party apps that can help you organize your days or weeks. 

For starters, you can use the Reminders app. You can create reminders for everything you need to get done. You can also create folders for different things like work or school-related stuff.

After you've created your to-do list, you can use the Apple Calendar app. This app is perfect for planning all the important events in the next few days or weeks. 

The Calendar app will keep track of everything from dentist appointments to holidays and even birthdays or anniversaries. And the best part is that thanks to iOS 18, all the reminders you create in the Reminders app will also be visible in Calendar, making it easier to see everything in one place.

Use Your iPhone to Read More

Many of us want to start reading more in 2025, and thanks to technology, this is easier than ever.

Using Do Not Disturb or a Focus Mode, you can use your iPhone to read as much as you want without worrying about distractions. Plus, these days you can find nearly any book or audiobook in a format that's ready to read on your iPhone.

Of course, you'll need the right app for the job. For this, you can use Apple Books or the Amazon Kindle app. Both apps let you easily read and buy e-books (although with Kindle you'll need to head over to Amazon in Safari to do so). You can also import your own PDF files if you want to use them to read something different.

If you're looking for a challenge to keep your reading habits intact, you can use an app like StoryGraph. With this app, you can track all your books in one place, and you'll also find many challenges made by both the platform and other users. 

Use Your iPhone to Eat Better

If you're looking to lose weight in 2025, one of the most important things you need to consider is your nutrition. Sure, working out is essential, but having the proper diet is just as important for weight loss. 

That said, many people's relationship with food is not the best, to say the least. After all, getting takeout is usually easier than cooking your own meals. However, that will eventually affect both your wallet and your health.

Fortunately, there are many ways to use your iPhone to track what you eat and make smarter decisions about the food you eat. 

For this, there is no better app than MacroFactor. The app has an extensive library of different foods, making it easy to log everything you eat in a day. Moreover, it will tell you the amount of calories you should be eating in a day, based on personal data like your weight, height, and personal goals.

Of course, this app won't be helpful if you don't know what type of food you should eat. If you want some good recipes in your repertoire, one of the most popular options is Yummly. You'll find a lot of different recipes and even some solid recommendations based on the food you have or the tastes you're trying to get.

Take Care of Your Mental Health With Your iPhone

Even though mental health is extremely important, a lot of us take it for granted. If you want to stop that in 2025 and build the habit of taking care of yourself emotionally and mentally, your iPhone has the right tools.

You can use the Mental Wellbeing section in the Health app. This feature will help you track important data like risks of anxiety or depression, using a Mental Health Questionnaire, and the ability to log in your emotions and moods.

This will give you enough data to understand how you've been feeling lately and a few tips to help you improve your mental state in case you need it.

Of course, you can also use a third-party app like Calm, which features various stories, sounds, and classes to help you deal with anxiety and stress anywhere.

Start Journaling With Your iPhone

Journaling is a valuable habit that many of us should try more often. Keeping a journal can help you organize your thoughts, handle stressful situations, and learn more about yourself and what you like or dislike.

This is why we recommend you start journaling with an app like Apple Journal. This is a pretty basic app that has everything you need to journal your days. You can type or record your entries and add photos or videos to make your entries stand out.

Moreover, since it's an Apple app, you know it works great with your iPhone, and it offers other unique features like the ability to add and track your emotions, set Reminders, and even get suggested moments to start journaling in case you have writer's block.

Keep Track of Your Finances With Your iPhone

Most of us also need to improve our relationship with money; a great way to do that is to have a budget.

Sure, it's always easier said than done, but with the right app on your iPhone, you can have your budget and track your expenses from your iPhone. One of the best apps for the job is YNAB, which stands for "You Need a Budget." This app keeps track of all your expenses and even suggests you start saving money for those expenses that only occur once every few months. 

Besides that, the app can connect to your bank account, so it will automatically track all your income and expenses without you having to worry.

Use Your iPhone to...Stop Using Your iPhone so Much

Even if it's not on your list of New Year's resolutions, you should consider creating a habit of using your iPhone less this year. And what better tool for the job than your iPhone itself?

Apple has added many different features to help you avoid distractions and even stop using distracting apps.

For starters, you can use your iPhone's Screen Time feature. By going to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits, you can limit your use of specific apps during the day. For instance, you can set apps like TikTok or Instagram to block access after you've used them for an hour. Of course, you can override this, but at least you'll think twice before spending too much time in these apps.

You can also manage your notifications and disable notifications on apps that are too distracting for you, like YouTube or Reddit. Moreover, you can go to Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Summary and create a summary so you only get notifications that aren't important at specific times during the day.

Last but not least, you can set up Focus times by going to Settings > Focus. This way, you can automatically turn on a Focus mode at a specific time during the day, so you aren't bothered or distracted by notifications that aren't all that important.