How to log water in Apple Health (and see your history)

2026-10-30

Apple Health has a built-in Water data type under Nutrition (developers call it "Dietary Water"). You can add drinks by hand from the Browse tab, or let a water app save every drink there automatically. Once data is in, Health shows daily totals and averages by day, week, month or year, and keeps everything in one place next to your sleep, steps and workouts.

Where to find Water in the Health app

Open Health, tap Browse, then Nutrition, then Water. Faster: tap Browse and type "Water" in the search field. The Water page shows a chart of your intake and, below it, options such as adding the page to your pinned list and seeing every individual entry.

If the page is empty, nothing has been logged yet. Health does not measure water on its own; every number in it was entered by you or by an app.

How to add water manually

Apple's guide to managing Health data describes the steps:

Open the Health app and tap Browse.
Tap Nutrition, then Water.
Tap Add Data in the top corner.
Enter the amount. Change the date and time if you are logging something from earlier.
Save.

Health uses your region's units by default, so you will see milliliters or fluid ounces. A standard glass is about 250 ml (8.5 fl oz); if you're not sure what your own glasses hold, measure one with a kitchen jug once and remember the number.

Pin Water to your Summary

If you log by hand, put Water where you can reach it. Apple's Health app guide explains how to pin a category:

Tap the Summary tab.
Tap Edit next to Pinned.
Tap Water (it is under Nutrition) to add it, then tap Done.

Now today's total sits at the top of Summary, and tapping it takes you straight to the page with Add Data.

How to see your water history

On the Water page, the chart has tabs for D, W, M, 6M and Y (day, week, month, six months, year). In the week and month views, Health shows your daily average for the period. Tap and hold on the chart to read a single day's value.

To see every entry, scroll down and tap Show All Data. Each record shows the amount, time and the app that saved it. To fix a mistake, tap Edit, then the delete button next to a record.

What to look for

The average, not single days. One low day is normal. A month that averages well below your target is worth acting on.
Weekday vs weekend. Many people drink well at work and poorly on weekends, or the other way round.
Seasonal drops. Compare summer and winter in the Y view; many people drink less when it is cold.

Let an app write to Health for you

Manual entry works, but it is four or five taps per glass. Most people who stick with tracking use an app that logs in one tap and saves a copy to Health.

To see which apps can save water, open the Water page, scroll down and tap Data Sources & Access. You can turn each app's access on or off there.

In Water Tracker:

Open Settings in the app.
Turn on Save to Apple Health.
Allow Water Tracker to write Water when iOS asks.

From then on, each drink is saved as Dietary Water, whether you log it in the app, from a widget or with Siri. If you undo or delete a drink in Water Tracker, its copy in Health is removed too, so the two stay in step. Water Tracker only writes water; it does not read the rest of your health data.

Avoid counting the same glass twice

If two apps both save water, or you add a drink by hand that an app already logged, Health counts both. Pick one place where you log drinks and stick to it. Data Sources & Access shows which apps are writing, and Show All Data makes duplicates easy to spot.

What Health's water number does and doesn't mean

The Water total is what you logged, which is not the same as your total water intake. Official reference values, like EFSA's 2.0 liters a day for women and 2.5 liters for men, include water from food. Fruit, vegetables, soup and yogurt all contribute, as we explain in how much of your water comes from food.

So if your Health chart shows 1.6 liters on an ordinary day and you feel fine, you are probably not dehydrated. Use the chart to spot trends, and decide in advance which drinks you log. Tea, coffee and milk hydrate too; do other drinks count? explains which to include. For signs that you actually need more, see signs of dehydration.

Privacy

Apps can only read or write Health data with your permission, one data type at a time, and you can change that whenever you like in Data Sources & Access. Water Tracker needs no account, and your drinks stay on your iPhone and Apple Watch.

Bottom line

To log water in Apple Health, open Browse > Nutrition > Water and tap Add Data, or pin Water to your Summary to make it quicker. For daily tracking, an app that saves each drink to Health in one tap is far easier to keep up. Either way, check the weekly and monthly averages rather than single days, and remember that food covers part of your water too.

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.