HidrateSpark: Is a Smart Water Bottle worth it?

Sold at Apple Stores, the HidrateSpark PRO STEEL is a smart water bottle designed to remind you to drink more water. On the bottom of the bottle, there is a sensor puck that tracks your water intake and uses Bluetooth to sync your information with the HidrateSpark app.

The HidrateSpark app is available on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android devices. Within the app, you can track the location of your water bottle. You can also challenge friends, view your water intake, and set goals for yourself.

You can still use the app if you don’t have the HidrateSpark water bottle connected. The water intake, hydration tracker, goals, and more features are still available, as long as you manually update them. The app also allows users to connect their information to Apple Health and others like Fitbit, Garmin, Under Armour, and Health Mate. You can also customize settings within the app to have it remind you to drink – whether that’s on your Apple Watch or iPhone or iPad.

Possibly my favorite thing to do within the app is to change the color of the glow of the sensor puck at the bottom of the bottle. The bottle glow is designed to remind you to drink water so you can make your goals. You have the option to adjust or to turn the glow off completely from within the app. The app gives you six glow colors for free; if you want to customize colors, you have to pay for “GlowStudio” for $4.99. It’s not something I’d recommend paying for, but there’s always a market of people who will pay extra to customize.

How to recalibrate your HidrateSpark water bottle

Sometimes you will need to recalibrate your smart water bottle. According to HidrateSpark, ensure your bottle is empty and set upright on a flat surface. Then, open the app and go to the Bottles page. Next to the bottle, you’ll find three dots and select “Recalibrate Sensor.” Follow the instructions provided by the app and again place the bottle on a flat surface. Let it sit for about 10 seconds.

Track your beverage intake history with the HidrateSpark app

In the latest HidrateSpark app update, you can assign liquid types other than water to your intake history. With this, you can track any other beverages you’ve been drinking, not just water from your HidrateSpark. The app will break down how much of each beverage you’ve been drinking so you can gain insight into your usage. You can also adjust or delete your water intake just in case you made a mistake.

HidrateSpark Challenges

In the Social tab, you can challenge your friends with a leaderboard. If none of your friends has a HidrateSpark water bottle, you can join public challenges. For example, I am part of a challenge called “Save 250K Bottles Before Summer with about 4,500 other users. Collectively within the HidrateSpark app, we track how many plastic bottles we have saved and can earn exclusive trophies if the challenge’s goal is met.

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