How to track your water intake on iPhone

2026-10-30

The simplest way to track water on an iPhone is an app that logs a drink in one tap and saves it to Apple Health. You can also type each drink into the Health app by hand, which costs nothing but takes several taps and never reminds you. Whatever you choose, the method that works is the one fast enough that you actually use it every time you drink.

Why tracking helps (and when it doesn't)

Most people have no idea how much they drink. A day of meetings or a long drive can slip by on two cups of coffee, while a gym day might easily reach three liters. Logging makes that visible.

The targets themselves are broad. The NHS suggests 6 to 8 cups or glasses of fluid a day, and EFSA's reference values for water are 2.0 liters (68 fl oz) a day for women and 2.5 liters (85 fl oz) for men, counting the water in food too. We explain where these numbers come from in how much water you should drink a day.

Tracking is a tool, not a test. If you are healthy and rarely thirsty, a week or two of logging is often enough to learn your patterns. If you have a condition that limits fluids, such as heart or kidney disease, follow your doctor's target instead of an app's.

Option 1: the Health app on its own

Every iPhone has the Health app, and it has a Water data type in the Nutrition category. Apple's guide to managing Health data describes manual entry:

Open Health and tap the Browse tab.
Tap Nutrition, then Water (or search for "Water").
Tap Add Data in the top corner.
Enter the amount, check the date and time, and save.

Pros: free, built in, no extra app. Cons: four or five taps per glass, no goal, no reminders. Many people stop after a few days simply because it is tedious. If you want to stay with Health only, our guide to logging water in Apple Health shows how to pin Water to your Summary so it is one tap closer.

Option 2: a dedicated water app

A good water app removes the friction. When you compare apps, check for:

One-tap logging for your usual glass or bottle, plus a custom amount.
A goal you can adjust, ideally suggested from your weight and activity rather than a fixed 2 liters.
Reminders that know when to stop. Notifications that keep coming after you hit your goal get muted fast.
Apple Health support, so your data is not locked inside one app.
Quick entry points outside the app: widgets, Apple Watch, Siri.
Undo. Mis-taps happen; fixing them should take a second.
Privacy. You should not need an account, and the app should not show ads or track you.
Your units. Glasses, milliliters or ounces.

Option 3: Shortcuts

If you like tinkering, the Shortcuts app can log water to Health or run an app's "log water" action from a Home Screen icon, Siri or the Action Button. It is flexible, but you build and maintain it yourself. We cover this in Siri, Shortcuts and the Action Button.

Step by step: tracking water with Water Tracker

Water Tracker is our free app, with no ads, no account and no subscription. Here is the whole setup.

1. Set your daily goal

The first time you open the app, enter your weight and turn on I exercise most days if it applies. The app suggests a goal of about 33 ml per kg of body weight (roughly 0.5 fl oz per lb), plus 500 ml (about 17 fl oz) if you are active, kept between 1.5 and 4 liters. Someone who weighs 70 kg (154 lb) and exercises most days gets about 2.75 liters (93 fl oz), rounded to whole glasses. Treat it as a starting point: you can change the goal anytime in Settings.

Pick how you want amounts shown: Glasses, Milliliters or Ounces.

2. Turn on reminders and Apple Health (optional)

The next screen offers two extras. Reminders send a nudge every couple of hours during the day and stop once you reach your goal. Apple Health saves each drink as Dietary Water, next to the rest of your health data. Both can be changed later.

3. Log drinks from the Today tab

The Today tab shows a drop that fills up as you drink, and three buttons:

Glass: your glass size, in one tap.
Bottle: 500 ml (about 17 fl oz).
Custom: any amount.

Logged the wrong thing? Tap Undo, or touch and hold an entry in Today's log and tap Delete.

4. Make the glass size match your real glass

In Settings, choose a Glass size from 150 to 500 ml (5 to 17 fl oz). If your favorite mug holds 350 ml, set it to 350 ml, and the one-tap button becomes accurate. Measure it once with a measuring jug; most people underestimate their glasses.

5. Set reminder hours

Under Reminders, choose From and Until (for example 8:00 to 20:00) and how often: Every 1, 2, 3 or 4 hours. Stopping a couple of hours before bed helps if you wake up at night to use the bathroom.

6. Check your history

The History tab shows your week or month as a chart, with your daily average and streak. Look for patterns rather than single days: low weekends, or afternoons where nothing gets logged.

Tips to keep logging

Log when you pour, not when you finish. You will forget otherwise.
Add a widget to your Home Screen so you can log without opening the app; see water widgets.
Count other drinks sensibly. Tea, coffee and milk contribute fluid too, so decide once which drinks you log and stick to it.
Don't chase perfection. A missed glass in your log is not a missed glass in your body. Weekly averages matter more than any single day.

Bottom line

You can track water on iPhone with nothing but the Health app, but the extra taps make it hard to keep up. A dedicated app with one-tap logging, a realistic goal, reminders that go quiet when you are done, and Apple Health support is easier to stick with. Set it up once, make the glass size match your real glass, and let the log show you where your day runs dry.

This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or take medication, ask your doctor how much you should drink.