Original data

No Contact, by the Numbers

Anonymized, aggregated data from No Contact Tracker · Updated August 2026

Most breakup advice is opinion. We build a no contact tracking app, which means we get to see something rarer: anonymized, aggregated patterns of how thousands of people actually behave while trying to stop contacting an ex. No names, no messages, just the shape of recovery. Here is what the data shows.

1.7x
People who log how they are feeling on their very first day are about 1.7 times more likely to still be checking in a week later. Naming the feeling seems to be the single strongest early habit. Not fixing it, just naming it.
1.4x
People who write an unsent letter in their first day stick around about 1.4 times more often. Writing to your ex without sending it looks, in the data, like a pressure valve that actually works.
Evening
Usage climbs through the evening and peaks late at night. The hardest hours are after the day quiets down, which is exactly when most "I almost texted them" moments happen. If you are planning defenses, plan them for the night.
Day 7+
A large share of people do not start tracking on the day of the breakup. Many arrive a week or more in, after realizing that willpower alone is not holding. Notably, people who start one to four weeks after the breakup stick with tracking best of all, likely because the decision is deliberate rather than impulsive.
Weeks 3-4
The most painful stretch is the first week, but the point where the largest share of people quietly drift away is weeks three and four. The pattern fits what people report: feeling better lowers your guard, and "one harmless text" starts to sound reasonable exactly when it is most costly.

What we take from this

Two habits in the first 24 hours (logging a mood, writing an unsent letter) separate the people who make it to week one from the people who do not. The night is the battlefield. And the danger peaks not when the pain does, but three weeks later, when it fades.

None of this is destiny. These are averages across thousands of people, and every one of them was one person having one specific bad night. But if you want to stack the odds: name the feeling on day one, write the letter instead of the text, and do not trust week three.

About this data

Figures come from anonymized, aggregated usage events in the No Contact Tracker app (retention cohorts of several hundred users each, measured in 2026). We never read anyone's letters, notes, or messages; journals and letters stay on the user's device. Comparisons describe correlation, not proven causation: people who log moods may simply be more committed. We publish them because even correlations beat folklore.

Want to cite these numbers? Link to this page, and feel free to reach out via the address on our privacy page for questions.

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