Step 1 · Sign up (2 minutes)
Go to habitu.io, click Book a Demo or Sign Up (once public self-serve is live), and create your account with your business email. You'll pick a plan, enter your legal business name and location count, and confirm your billing method.
At the end of signup, you're asked: do you want to DIY the setup, or would you rather a 30-minute guided call with our team? Both paths end in the same place by end of day. Pick whichever matches your appetite.
Step 2 · Brand your app in the builder (15-20 minutes)
Inside the merchant dashboard, open The App tab. You'll see a set of layout presets, pick the one closest to your brand (menu-led, loyalty-led, or story-led). The preset decides the structure; your brand decides the look.
Upload your logo (PNG or SVG), set your colours (page background, card surface, text and each button variant are separate values, not just one accent), and pick a display typeface from the faces Habitu ships. Each change updates the live preview on the right in real time. No waiting for a designer.
Write the one-line greeting that shows up on the guest's home screen ('HEY, REN.' or whatever fits your voice). Save. That's your brand config.
Step 3 · Connect your POS (5-10 minutes)
Settings → Integrations → Foodics (or Square). Click Authorize, sign into your POS admin, grant scoped read-only access. Habitu only reads transactions, not card data or menu structure.
Wait 5 minutes for the first transactions to sync. Go to the Guests tab, if your POS has been active, you'll see today's transactions already flowing in as 'Unknown' guests (no identity yet, just transaction records).
Step 4 · Invite your team (5 minutes)
Settings → Team → Invite member. Roles: Owner (full access), Manager (all non-billing settings), Staff (read-only on guest lookup, used at the counter).
Most merchants invite 2-3 Manager-level teammates who will actually run campaigns. Staff don't need dashboard access, they use the guest-facing app on the counter iPad to scan QR codes and confirm rewards.
Step 5 · Test it yourself first (15-30 minutes)
Open your web app URL on your phone and go through the full guest flow: join with your phone number, confirm the OTP, land on the home screen, check your points balance.
Then go to your restaurant, buy something, and watch the transaction appear in the Guests tab within minutes. Confirm it matched your identity (phone number), not just left as an Unknown transaction.
If anything feels off, the brand renders wrong, the greeting is weird, the enrollment flow confuses you, fix it now, before the team touches it.
Step 6 · Generate your counter QR and go live (5 minutes)
The App tab has a Print section. Generate a branded counter card (QR + your logo + 'Scan to earn' copy). Print it, laminate it, put it at every register.
Run a 10-minute standup with the team: 'Ask every guest for their phone number at payment. Tap the app, show the QR, done.' That's it. No pitch, no explanation.
You're live. Guests enrolling today are your first real data.
Optional, App Store distribution (1-2 weeks, parallel track)
The web app is live and fully functional today. If you want the native-app presence on the Apple App Store and Google Play, Habitu can wrap your app for both platforms. The wrapper is a thin native shell around the same web app, so any update you make in the builder propagates automatically.
The App Store distribution path adds 1-2 weeks for Apple and Google review. See the App Store Distribution course for the pre-reqs (Apple Developer account, DUNS number, Google Play Console, listing assets). None of it blocks your launch, it's a parallel track.
What to watch on day one
The Guests tab should show new signups as they happen. If you're not seeing any after an hour, the team isn't asking, that's the most common day-one fail.
Pulse takes about 48 hours to populate. Don't refresh it constantly waiting for a number; it'll settle after a couple of days of real data.
Once you see your first identity-captured guest (not Unknown, a real phone number attached to a name), that's your first victory. The program works from there.