Smoking cigarettes is one of the best ways to make sure that you will have health problems sooner rather than later. You could develop lung cancer, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), all kinds of heart diseases, stroke, asthma, diabetes and all the other types of cancer you can think of. It's quite a gruesome picture if you think about it. But despite all that, some of us still hold on to this unhealthy habit. Although it hasn't been long since I stopped smoking, in the last three months I've learned a few things about how your Android smartphone can help you quit smoking. Before I actually stopped smoking, I installed more than a dozen apps that promised to help me fight with my cravings, provide support, and help me permanently quit this habit. Here are the 6 best Android apps that can help you quit smoking:

1. Kwit - stop smoking cigarette

Kwit is one of those apps that make even the hardest thing look easy. Install it on your Android smartphone and it will gamify the painful process of quitting smoking. If you decide to Kwit , you will get to reach different levels and each time you do that you will be rewarded with a positive reinforcement.

The free version of Kwit also keeps track of how many days have passed since you quit smoking, how much money you saved and how many cigarettes you didn't smoke since then.

As a former smoker and as a minimalism lover, I can also testify that Kwit's user interface design is one of the best I've seen in "quit smoking" apps. You're going to love the clean and simple way in which this app displays information.

Download: Kwit - stop smoking cigarette

2. Smoke Free, stop smoking help

Smoke Free is one of the best Android apps for tracking your progress and measuring the achievements you've made while quitting smoking. It tells you how much time has passed since you stopped smoking, the money you saved and how much money you'll save on a yearly basis, the number of cigarettes you didn't smoke and so on.

Each time you unlock an achievement, Smoke Free rewards you with badges they will make you feel proud that you've quit smoking.

One thing I liked about Smoke Free was that it let me log my cravings so that I always knew how many times I actually resisted smoking. It also helped me realize that, after 2 weeks or so, I didn't even bother logging cravings, because they were just so very few in number.

Download: Smoke Free, stop smoking help

3 . Quit Smoking: Cessation Nation

Quit Smoking: Cessation Nation keeps tabs on how long it's been since you quit smoking, how much money and time you've saved and how many cigarettes you did not smoke in this whole time.

Cessation Nation gives you motivational rewards each time you reach a stepping stone. They're not as many as you'll get from other "quit smoking" apps in this list, but some of them are really original. If you need motivation to stay clean, you could actually treat yourself with some of this app's recommendations. For instance, when I didn't smoke enough times to save 20 dollars, I took my wife out to dinner. It wasn't anything fancy, but it felt really good and kept me away from the cigarettes for another day or so.

Download: Quit Smoking: Cessation Nation

4 .Quit smoking - QuitNow!

QuitNow! is not just a "stop smoking" tracker app - it's a lot more. QuitNow! is a community of over two million people that quit smoking and live a healthier life now. The app's main point of attraction is its chat screen - a place where you can sand and receive encouraging messages to other people trying to quit.

QuitNow! also keeps track of the time since you last smoked a cigarette, the number of cigarettes you did not smoke since, the money you saved and also the evolution of your health improvements.

Download: Quit smoking - QuitNow!

5. Breathe - Quit Smoking LITE

Breathe - Quit Smoking is a complex app with lots of features. What I appreciated most about it was the access to the community - sometimes a word of advice and an encouragement is worth a whole lot more than just tracking your progress. After two weeks or so since I stopped smoking, I was on the brink of relapsing. Yet the encouragements I received from this community and others helped keep me on track.

Of course, the achievements you get and the statistics are also useful and can represent a great motivation to carry on, and Breathe - Quit Smoking offers these too.

Download: Breathe - Quit Smoking LITE

6. Get Rich or Die Smoking

Some smokers don't care that much about their health, but they do care a lot about their finances. And as we all know it, unless you're Cuban, you probably spend a whole lot of money on your smoking habits. Get Rich or Die Smoking emphasizes on this and lets you see when you can buy the things you want with the money you will save since you last smoked a cigarette. You might be surprised at how many things you can afford in very little time.

Download: Get Rich or Die Smoking

Conclusion

If you are or you were a smoker, you know how hard it is to quit. That last cigarette always asks for another and you just can't seem to stop… ever. Until three months ago, I was one of those "heavy smokers" as they call it: I used to smoke up to two packs a day and I never felt ill. And even if I knew that cigarettes are nothing but evil, I just couldn't help but feeling in love with them. So much that, if you told me that I couldn't smoke in a place or another, I took that as a sign that you were harbouring some sort of a personal grudge against me. Nothing could stay between me and my beloved cigarettes. However, over time, I increasingly became more aware about how much cigarettes are affecting my health and that of the people around me , besides the fact that smokers smell awful and everyone in the vicinity knows it. 🙂 Finally, at the beginning of this year, I managed to quit smoking "cold turkey", but I must admit that I used all the apps I've talked about in this roundup, and more. Without my smartphone telling me several times a day that I made progress, I probably would be smoking now still. If you are a smoker, I really hope that they will prove helpful to you too and you'll join the non-smoker community sooner rather than later .