How to Not Relapse After Quitting Smoking: Log the Slip

Q: What to do if you relapse smoking?

In the app: log it with Details at the real Time, tag what set it off, and let the timer start again. The streak goes to 0 and restarts at 1 the next smoke-free day; your longest streak and the milestones you reached stay. Outside the app, a stop-smoking service is the right next call if it keeps happening.

Q: Can I hide a slip so my streak survives?

You can simply not log it, or delete it in History, and the streak will come back. Shields do not do it for you in this version. We would not: the point of the count is that it is true.

Take a 12-day streak broken by one cigarette at 23:10, logged ten minutes later. Here is what the app does.

What changes when you log one cigarette

Before and after logging 1 cigarette on day 13 (pack 12.00 for 20, so 0.60 a cigarette)
On Home	Before the slip	After logging it
Current Streak	12 days	0, then 1 the next morning
`Best: %lld days`	not shown (current run is the longest)	Best: 12 days
Time Since Last %@	12 days and counting	counts again from 23:10
Next Milestone	the next time milestone ahead	back to the 20-minute one
Money Saved	the running total	0.60 lower than it would have been
Milestones already reached	reached	still reached

The streak counts calendar days with nothing logged. The slip day breaks it, and the empty day after it starts a new one at 1. Logging the slip rather than leaving it out means the streak starts climbing again the next morning.

The Don't Give Up screen

When a streak of 3 days or more drops to 0, a sheet titled Don't Give Up opens. It says Relapses happen. and Your progress is NOT lost, asks What triggered it? with a grid of reasons, and ends with Restart my streak now.

One limitation: the Streak Shield box says Use a shield to protect your streak from this slip. Tapping Use Shield (%lld left) reduces the shield count while Current Streak stays at 0. In this version a shield does not change the streak. Do not watch an ad for Watch Video → Get Shield expecting a broken streak back.

The reason you tap in that grid is not saved anywhere either. For a record you can read later, use the trigger on the entry itself (next section).

How to log a slip honestly

On Home, tap Details under Quick Add. The Log Entry sheet opens.
Set Time to when you actually smoked. Future times are blocked; past ones are fine, so a next-morning log still lands on the right day. One difference: logged the next morning, the streak goes straight to 1 and the Don't Give Up screen never opens.
Under What triggered this? pick what it was, for example With Alcohol and Social. Add a Note if you want, such as who you were with.
Save. If you logged it twice by mistake, open History, pick the day and swipe the extra entry left to delete it.

If you smoked and log nothing, the timer and the streak keep going as if you had not. The app only knows what you tap. A streak you know is false stops meaning anything, which is worse for the next craving than a 0.

What helps the next time

Two things in the app work before the cigarette, not after.

Having a craving? on Home opens a 3-minute countdown; Start 3-min craving timer gets you there in one tap, with a breathing exercise if you want it. Each one you finish is counted.
The trigger you saved goes into History (Top Trigger for the day) and the CSV export. Two slips tagged With Alcohol point to which evenings to plan for.

All of this is free: logging, Details, the timer, the streak and the craving timer. Premium removes ads, adds one shield a month (which, as above, does not hold the streak) and shows history older than 7 days.

Questions and answers

What to do if you relapse smoking?

In the app: log it with Details at the real Time, tag what set it off, and let the timer start again. The streak goes to 0 and restarts at 1 the next smoke-free day; your longest streak and the milestones you reached stay. Outside the app, a stop-smoking service is the right next call if it keeps happening.

Does one cigarette ruin quitting?

We cannot answer that medically. In Cigarette & Vape Counter, one cigarette resets Current Streak and the timer, takes its price off Money Saved, and leaves everything else: history, Best: %lld days and the milestones already reached.

I smoked a cigarette after quitting; should I reset my quit date?

You do not need to. The timer and the streak already restart from the logged cigarette. Changing Quit Date only moves the start of the money figure, so leave it unless you are starting a whole new attempt.

Can I hide a slip so my streak survives?

You can simply not log it, or delete it in History, and the streak will come back. Shields do not do it for you in this version. We would not: the point of the count is that it is true.

Ride out a cigarette craving with a 3-minute timer and breathing · Cigarette & Vape Counter
Keep a smoking diary to find your triggers · Cigarette & Vape Counter

How to not relapse after quitting smoking, and what to do if you slip