Hydration Hero · iPhone
The water tracker that turns hydration into a game
Hydration Hero is a water reminder and drink tracker with a difference: a customisable avatar who reacts to every sip, smart goals that know coffee and wine don't count like water, and mates to keep you honest.
5.0 on the App Store
Free to download · Made in Melbourne, Australia
Inside the app
Drink logging you won't quietly abandon in week two
Why Hydration Hero
A hydration app built around how habits actually form
A hero who reacts to every sip
Build a full-body avatar that looks like you — skin tone, hair, outfit, the lot — then watch them cheer for water, get jittery on coffee and go a bit wobbly after wine. Logging stops being admin and starts being a little moment.
Smart goals, not naive ones
Not all drinks hydrate equally. Hydration Hero factors in the real effect of caffeine and alcohol, so a flat white and a glass of water don't count the same — and your daily goal adjusts to what you've actually had.
Reminders on your terms
Gentle nudges at intervals you choose, not a nag every twenty minutes. Set them around your day and they'll fade into the background until you need them.
Streaks and badges
Hit your goal, keep a streak, earn a badge. Small rewards on a daily loop are how habits stick — the same mechanics that make the games on your phone hard to put down, pointed at something good for you.
Mate challenges
Challenge friends, set group goals and cheer each other on. People stick to habits far more reliably when someone else knows about them — so Hydration Hero makes hydration a thing you do together.
Your drinks, not a preset list
Add custom drinks — the specific kombucha you like, your protein shake, your afternoon herbal tea — and track how each one contributes to the day. Then take on challenges like cutting caffeine or easing off alcohol.
The actual science
How much water should you drink a day?
The famous "eight glasses a day" has no real evidence behind it — it's a rule of thumb that got repeated until it sounded like science. The honest answer is that it depends on you.
Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council puts adequate intake at roughly 2.6 litres of fluid a day for men and 2.1 litres for women, on top of the water you get from food. That's a population average, though — a 50 kg office worker in Hobart and a 95 kg tradie in Darwin need very different amounts.
What moves your number: body size, exercise (you can lose a litre an hour in a hard session), heat and humidity, pregnancy and breastfeeding, and being unwell. The simplest check is still the colour of your urine — pale straw means you're about right; dark yellow means catch up.
Hydration Hero sets a personal daily goal from your details rather than a flat number, and nudges it as your day changes. Read the full guide to how much water you really need →
A rough starting point
Around 30–35 ml per kilogram of body weight per day is a common guideline for healthy adults in a temperate climate — about 2.1 L at 65 kg, 2.8 L at 85 kg. Add more on hot days and training days.
Talk to a doctor first if…
You have a heart, kidney or liver condition, or you've been told to limit fluids. Some people genuinely need to drink less, and a tracker isn't a substitute for that advice.
Hydration Hero is a habit and tracking tool, not a medical device. For anything concerning your health, talk to a qualified professional.
Not all drinks are equal
Does coffee count? Does wine? Hydration Hero knows the difference.
Most water apps treat every liquid the same: log a long black, get full credit. Your body disagrees. Coffee and tea do hydrate, but caffeine is a mild diuretic, so a cup doesn't land the same as a glass of water. Alcohol actively works against you. Milk, oddly, hydrates better than water does.
Hydration Hero weights each drink by what it actually does for you, so your progress bar reflects reality rather than volume. Log a beer and your hero looks a bit wobbly; log a glass of water afterwards and they cheer up. It's a small thing, but it's the difference between a tracker that tells the truth and one that just counts.
Read: does coffee count as water? What actually hydrates you →
Your hero
Inclusive by design — build a hero who looks like you
Talking to people about why they'd ditched other water apps, one thing came up again and again: they were boring. A glass filling up is not a reason to open an app twice a day. So we borrowed an idea from the Tamagotchi era — a little companion who depends on you — and built a character creator around it.
Skin tones, hair, body shapes and outfits are broad by design, because a hero you can't see yourself in isn't much of a hero. Once you've built yours, every drink you log gets a reaction — and a companion who's happy to see you drink water turns out to be a surprisingly effective reason to do it.
FAQ
Questions people ask about Hydration Hero
How much water should I drink a day?
Australian guidelines suggest roughly 2.6 L of fluid a day for men and 2.1 L for women, on top of the water in food — but your real number depends on your size, activity, the weather, and whether you're pregnant or breastfeeding. Hydration Hero sets a personalised goal from your details rather than a one-size number. The full guide is here.
Does coffee count towards my water intake?
Partly. Coffee and tea are mostly water and do hydrate, but caffeine has a mild diuretic effect, so a cup doesn't count the same as a glass of water — and alcohol works against you. Hydration Hero weights each drink by its real hydration effect, so your progress reflects what your body's actually getting. More on what actually hydrates you.
Is Hydration Hero free?
It's free to download from the App Store, with optional in-app purchases. What's included at each level is shown in the app and on the App Store listing.
Is there an Android version?
Not at the moment — Hydration Hero is an iPhone app. If you'd like it on Android, email us and say so. Demand is genuinely how we decide what to build next.
Can I track drinks other than water?
Yes — coffee, tea, juice, milk, soft drink, alcohol and more, or add your own custom drinks. Each contributes to your goal according to how much it actually hydrates you, and your avatar reacts differently depending on what you drank.
My reminders aren't showing up
Almost always an iOS notification setting rather than the app — check Allow Notifications, Scheduled Summary and Focus modes. The support page walks through it step by step.
How do I delete my account and data?
Use the account deletion request form. Requests are processed within 30 days. What we hold and why is in the privacy policy.
Who makes Hydration Hero?
Digital Sauce, a small app studio in Melbourne, Australia. The people who designed and built the app answer the support inbox — there's no help desk in between. You can read the case study too.
Be the hero of your hydration
Build your hero, set your goal, and let them cheer every glass. Free to download on iPhone.
Get Hydration Hero →