Best Water Reminder App: Five Apps Compared From Their Listings

We make Glubbo, one of the five apps on this page, so read this comparison with that in mind. To keep it fair, every feature below comes from each app's own App Store listing, read on 16 October 2026, or from the app maker's own website; nothing comes from our impressions.

A reminder app is one tool among several in our guide on how to drink more water. If you would rather not install anything, your phone can already do part of the job: setting a water reminder on your phone shows how.

What Is the Best Water Reminder App?

The best one is the app whose reminders you do not switch off after a week. All five we compared send reminders, offer a widget and are free to download with in-app purchases; they differ in how they set your goal, how playful they are and what the free version keeps.

How We Compared Them

We read the US App Store listing of each app on 16 October 2026 and wrote down only what the listing or the maker's website states. We did not test reminder timing, battery use or accuracy, and we do not score the apps. Ratings and features change, so check the listing before you download.

The Five Apps Side by Side

WaterMinder

The WaterMinder listing sets your goal from your body weight or a goal you type in. It names "Advanced water tracker reminders," "Pre-defined cups for quick hydration tracking" and custom cups with their own size, icon, colour and drink type.

It runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision, syncs with Apple Health and offers US oz, UK oz, litres and ml. Suits you if you want detailed statistics and many ways to log.

Waterllama

The Waterllama listing promises "Smart Reminders during your day" and a goal worked out from your weight, activity level and weather. You collect characters as you drink and can log over 150 drinks.

The listing says Premium adds more characters, challenges and drinks, extra reminder sounds, custom drinks and editing of your past logs. Suits you if collecting and streaks keep you going.

Plant Nanny

In Plant Nanny, each glass you log waters a plant. The listing mentions automated reminders, a widget, monthly comparisons and Apple Health sync.

Its subscription adds unlimited plants, reminders tailored to your schedule, an advanced water log and an "Ad-free, enjoyable drinking experience", which means the free version shows ads. The listing is in 5 languages: English, Japanese, Korean and both forms of Chinese.

HidrateSpark

HidrateSpark is the companion app of a smart bottle, but its listing says the app "does NOT require a bottle to be used." With the bottle, the bottle itself glows to remind you, and it logs sips over Bluetooth.

The goal uses the most inputs of the five: weight, age, height, sex, activity level and weather. Some features, such as the Hydration Score and the 40+ drinks, sit behind its Premium subscription.

Glubbo

Glubbo is our app. Its listing names "One-tap logging," a home-screen widget, streaks, a diary and "Works offline — your logs stay on your device"; its website adds three reminder styles: Gentle reminds less often, Smart skips a reminder when you are on track, and Strict reminds at every interval until you reach your goal.

The free version keeps logging, all three reminder styles, the widget, medals and your last 30 days. Premium adds unlimited history, buddy characters with their own reminder voices, and no ads. Limits worth knowing: the App Store version is for iPhone only, with no Apple Watch app, and it shows litres and ml, not ounces.

Do Water Reminder Apps Help You Drink More?

Maybe a little, as part of a bigger plan; we found no trial of a reminder app on its own. The largest trial we read, published in 2026, gave 826 people with kidney stones a fluid target, money for meeting it, coaching and their choice of tools such as text messages. They passed more urine than 832 people on usual care, a sign they drank more.

What That Trial Found

Urine volume rose in both groups and stayed higher in the coached group, but the extra drinking did not cut new stones.

6–24 months

the coached group passed more urine at every check

19 %

of the coached group had a stone event in two years

20 %

of the usual-care group did

The authors summed it up as a plan that "did not reduce recurrent stone events but modestly increased urine volume." The trial was funded by the NIDDK and run at six US centres, in people aged 12 and over with a history of stones, so it tells you little about healthy adults using an app alone.

Where a Reminder Earns Its Place

Most healthy people stay hydrated by drinking when thirsty and at meals, the US National Academies found. A reminder helps on the days that rhythm breaks: travel, long meetings, a shift with no breaks, the afternoon when you stop noticing thirst. On the other days, a good app stays quiet.

Is There a Free Water Reminder App?

Yes. All five apps here cost nothing to download, and four of them list reminders as part of the free version; WaterMinder offers a 7-day trial of every feature and does not itemise what stays free. Check what the free version keeps before you build a long streak in it.

If you want no app at all, a phone's own reminders and a marked bottle cost nothing; how to track your water compares paper, bottle marks and apps.

What Should You Look for in a Water Reminder App?

Look for reminders you can shape to your day, logging that takes one tap, and a goal you can change. Everything else is taste.

1. Quiet hours and a bedtime. A reminder at 11 PM teaches you to ignore all of them, and drinking water before bed explains why the last two hours should stay light.
2. A way to space reminders by your own pace, so a glass you drink unprompted pushes the next nudge later. How often to drink water shows what a sensible interval looks like for your goal.
3. Logging in one or two taps, ideally from a widget, with your real cup and bottle sizes.
4. Drinks other than water. Tea, coffee and milk count toward your fluids, and an app that ignores them sets you up to overshoot; if you don't like plain water lists what counts.
5. A goal you can edit. Every app here computes its own number, and none of them is an official amount; if a doctor has set yours, type it in.
6. Units you think in. Glubbo shows only litres and ml; WaterMinder and Waterllama list ounces too.

Which App Fits Which Person?

Match the app to what keeps you coming back. These pairings follow each listing's own description.

Before You Install One

Decide your times first, then let the app remind you at them. The water drinking schedule turns your goal, wake time and bedtime into a list of drinks you can copy into any app.

Pair the app with one fixed habit, such as a glass at each meal or a bottle refill when you sit down at work; drinking more water at work and the 30-day water challenge give you a plan to start with. After two weeks, turn off any reminder you keep dismissing, and keep the ones you act on.