75 Hard is the most demanding habit challenge on the internet. Two workouts a day, strict diet, no alcohol, a gallon of water, 10 pages of reading, and a daily progress photo, for 75 consecutive days. Miss one task? Start over from day 1.
Most people quit before day 10. Doing 75 Hard with friends is how you finish it: a small group checking in every day, where everyone sees who did the second workout and who didn't. Below: the rules, the best 75 Hard app for a group, and how to set it up.
What Is 75 Hard?
Created by Andy Frisella, 75 Hard is a "mental toughness program" with these daily rules:
- Two 45-minute workouts (one must be outdoors)
- Follow a diet (any diet, but no cheat meals and no alcohol)
- Drink 1 gallon (3.8L) of water
- Read 10 pages of non-fiction
- Take a daily progress photo
- No alcohol, no cheat meals
If you miss any single task on any day, you restart from day 1. No exceptions.
Why 75 Hard Is So Hard Alone
The individual tasks aren't impossible. Two workouts is demanding but doable. A gallon of water is a lot but manageable. Reading 10 pages takes 15 minutes. The diet depends on what you choose.
The hard part is doing all of them, every single day, for 75 days straight. One bad day (a work emergency, a sick kid, a travel day) and you're back to zero.
When you do it alone:
- Nobody notices when you're struggling on day 23
- Nobody checks whether you actually did the outdoor workout in the rain
- Nobody cares when you quietly restart for the third time
- The internal motivation that got you started on day 1 is long gone by day 30
Why 75 Hard With Friends Changes Everything
A group of 3 to 5 friends doing 75 Hard together transforms the experience:
Peer Pressure Becomes a Feature
When you know your friends can see your daily check-in (or lack thereof), skipping becomes embarrassing. That social pressure isn't a bug. It's the whole point. The discomfort of admitting you missed a day is stronger than the discomfort of doing the second workout.
You Share the Suffering
Day 14 in the rain. Day 30 with a cold. Day 50 when you're traveling. These days are miserable alone. With friends, they become shared war stories. "Who's doing their outdoor workout in the snow today?" becomes a bonding moment, not a quitting moment. In Daily Pact, everyone in the pact gets a notification when a friend checks in, so the 6am ping that someone has already done their outdoor session lands while you're still deciding whether to get up.
Competition Drives Consistency
The leaderboard shows who's still going and who's restarted. Nobody wants to be the first person out. That competitive edge carries you through the days when discipline alone isn't enough.
You Catch Each Other's Excuses
"I'll just count walking to the car as my outdoor workout." A friend will call that out. When the rules are enforced by a group, the gray areas shrink. Which is the whole point of 75 Hard.
What's the Best 75 Hard App?
The best 75 Hard app depends on whether you're doing it alone or with friends. Solo, the official 75 Hard app is the obvious pick: it's built around the exact rules and stores your progress photos. With friends, you need an app where everyone sees each other's daily check-ins, because the official app has no shared groups.
Here's how the options compare (App Store listings checked October 2026):
| App | Best for | Price | Friends and groups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 75 Hard (official, by 44Seven Media) | Doing it solo by the book | Free download, subscription required: $4.99/month or $39.99/year | No shared groups. You can share progress to Instagram Stories |
| HabitShare | A free shared checklist | Free | Friends see the habits you choose to share. No group challenges or leaderboard |
| Daily Pact | Doing 75 Hard as a group | 14-day free trial, then $0.99/month, $9.99/year or $39.99 lifetime | A shared group, check-in notifications, streaks and a leaderboard |
| Notes or a spreadsheet | Zero setup | Free | Only if you keep sharing screenshots |
For apps beyond 75 Hard, see our comparison of the best accountability apps.
What the official app does well: daily task tracking, custom reminders, a progress photo and a note for each day, and a history of every attempt. It also continues into Andy Frisella's longer Live Hard program. Its 4.5 stars from 6,400+ ratings show it does the solo job well.
Where it falls short for a group: there is no group view. If you and three friends all use it, nobody sees who has done the second workout today unless someone posts a screenshot. That's the gap a shared tracker fills. Plenty of people use both: the official app for photos, a group app for the daily "did you do it?".
Many App Store apps with "75" in the name are unofficial trackers. If you want the program's own app, look for the "Official App of 75Hard" subtitle.
How to Track 75 Hard With Friends
Most groups start with a group chat, Notes or a shared spreadsheet, and none of these actually track consistency over 75 days. Here's how to set it up properly:
Option 1: Multiple Challenges in Daily Pact
Create a group with your 75 Hard friends and add separate daily challenges:
- "Two workouts (one outdoor)": daily
- "Gallon of water": daily
- "10 pages of reading": daily
- "Diet adherence (no cheats)": daily
Check into each one when you complete it. Your home screen then reads like the day's checklist: each task has its own row for the week, so the missing gallon of water is obvious at 9pm, not at midnight. The leaderboard shows overall completion rates.
Option 2: Single Daily Challenge
If you prefer simplicity, create one challenge: "Complete all 75 Hard tasks." Check in once you've done everything. A missed check-in means you need to restart.
Either way, the daily check-in creates a record of your consistency. After 75 days, you can look back at every single day.
One honest note: Daily Pact check-ins are a tap, not a photo, so keep your daily progress photo in your camera roll. The check-in is the record that you did it.
Doing 75 Hard as a whole group?
Some gyms, coaches and online communities run 75 Hard together. In Daily Pact the organizer can invite everyone at once: one link in the group chat, several people from contacts, a pasted email list (up to 200 at a time) or a QR code on the gym wall. Then choose who pays. One person can cover everyone with a Group plan, from $9.99 a month for up to 15 people up to $49.99 for 200, so nobody hits a paywall on day 15. Or everyone uses their own 14-day free trial. See how Daily Pact works for groups.
Tips for Actually Finishing 75 Hard
Plan the Outdoor Workout First
The outdoor workout is the most commonly skipped task (weather, time constraints, convenience). Do it first thing in the morning. By the time you're done, everything else feels easier by comparison.
Front-Load the Water
A gallon is a lot. If you wait until 6pm to start, you'll be running to the bathroom all night. Start drinking immediately when you wake up. Carry a 1L bottle and refill it 4 times. Track your refills.
Read Immediately Before Bed
Ten pages takes 10 to 15 minutes. Don't try to squeeze it into a busy afternoon. Make it your wind-down routine before sleep. This becomes one of the easiest habits to maintain.
Pick a Sustainable Diet
75 Hard says "follow a diet" but doesn't prescribe which one. Don't choose the most restrictive option. Pick something you can realistically maintain for 75 days. Whole foods, no processed junk, no alcohol is a solid baseline that most people can sustain.
Use PactPause Wisely
Wait, PactPause and 75 Hard? Here's the nuance: the official rules say any miss = restart. But real life has genuine emergencies. Decide as a group whether PactPause is allowed (and how many times). Some groups go strict, some allow 2 PactPauses for medical emergencies only. Define it before you start.
Common Reasons People Fail (and How the Group Fixes It)
| Failure Point | Solo Response | Group Response |
|---|---|---|
| Bad weather for outdoor workout | Skip it, rationalize | Friends post their rainy workout selfies, you feel compelled to do the same |
| Social event with alcohol | "One drink won't hurt" | Group holds the line, everyone knows the rules |
| Forgot to read before bed | "I'll count it tomorrow" | The check-in system catches the missed day immediately |
| Travel day | "I'll restart when I get home" | Friends share their hotel room workouts, proving it's possible |
| Day 40+ fatigue | Quietly quit, never mention it | The leaderboard shows you're still going, so quitting means the group knows |
Starting 75 Hard in January 2027?
A lot of people start 75 Hard on New Year's Day. Start on Friday, January 1, 2027 and day 75 lands on Tuesday, March 16. The danger zone comes early: Strava calls the second Friday of January Quitter's Day (January 8 in 2027), when many resolutions fade, and for 75 Hard that's only day 8. Agree with your group before New Year's Eve how you'll handle that first week, and talk to your doctor first if the workload is a big jump from what you do now.
If 75 days of five rules sounds like too much for January, there's no shame in a smaller start. Our guide to goals for the new year helps you pick something that fits, the January workout challenge is a gentler fitness option, and the January challenge keeps it to one small habit with one friend, every day from January 1 to 31.
Is 75 Hard Worth It?
75 Hard is not for everyone. It's intentionally extreme. If you want the same 75 days with one workout and no restart, the 75 Soft challenge is the forgiving version, and our list of fun challenges to do with friends has shorter ideas your group can finish in a week or a month. But for people who want to prove to themselves that they can commit to something difficult for an extended period, it's transformative.
The key insight: it's not about the workouts or the diet. It's about proving you can follow through on a commitment for 75 days. That mental shift, from "I'll try" to "I said I would, so I will", transfers to every other area of your life.
Doing it with friends makes the difference between Day 8 and Day 75.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official 75 Hard app?
Yes. The 75 Hard app by 44Seven Media is the program's official app on the App Store. It is free to download but needs a subscription, listed at $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year as of October 2026.
Is there a free app to track 75 Hard?
HabitShare is free and lets friends see the habits you share. A spreadsheet or your phone's notes also work if you only need a checklist. The official app and most dedicated trackers charge a subscription.
What is the best app for doing 75 Hard with friends?
Pick an app with a shared group, so everyone sees who checked in today. Daily Pact lets you add each 75 Hard task as its own daily challenge and shows the group's streaks on a leaderboard. It has a 14-day free trial.
Is there an app for the 75 Soft challenge?
Any daily habit tracker works, because 75 Soft has no restart rule. Set up one check-in per rule. Our 75 Soft challenge guide has the rules and a group setup.
Can you do 75 Hard with a partner?
Yes, and it's one of the best ways to finish. Agree on the diet, the restart rule and what counts as an outdoor workout before day 1, then check in every day where your partner can see it. See what an accountability partner does.