Dropkin glossary · Apple Health
For iPhone users who log water: ten Health terms in plain words, plus a 6-point setup check.
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Tick what is already true on your iPhone.
Free on iPhone · no accountDietary water is Apple Health's name for the water you drink: a running record of amounts that you, your iPhone or a water app logged, shown in the Health app as Water under Nutrition. Apple's HealthKit documentation (2026) describes it as a sample type that “measures the amount of water consumed”, using volume units and cumulative values. It is a log of drinking, not a sensor reading of your body.
Updated November 2026 · Checked against Apple's developer and support pages
Read top to bottom: each card builds on the one before. Once you know sources and priority, double counts stop being a mystery.
01
The Health data type for water you drink. Apple defines it as a sample type that “measures the amount of water consumed”. Apps write to it; Health shows it as Water.
It is drinking water you or an app recorded, not a measurement of your body.
02
Where dietary water appears in the Health app: Browse, then Nutrition, then Water. Charts, daily totals and the list of entries live here.
Same data, friendlier name.
03
One entry: an amount, a start time and the app or person that wrote it. Logging a 16 oz bottle in Dropkin writes one sample of 16 fl oz.
Every drink is one row of data.
04
Water samples add up. Apple's documentation says dietary water measures cumulative values, so Health shows a daily total rather than an average.
Water is summed, not averaged.
05
Dietary water uses volume units: fluid ounces, cups, milliliters or liters. Health can display it in whichever unit you pick, without changing the data.
Ounces or liters is a display choice.
06
The app, device or person that wrote a sample. Each entry in Show All Data names its source, so you can see which app logged which drink.
Every sample has an author.
07
When several sources write the same type, Apple says “the data source at the top will take priority over others”. By default manual entries come first, then Apple devices, then apps.
The top of the list wins on overlap.
08
The screen inside each data type where you reorder sources or switch an app off. Browse, Nutrition, Water, scroll down, Data Sources & Access, Edit.
This is where you fix double counts.
09
An app that adds water to Health but does not read it back. Dropkin works this way: it saves dietary water, and updates or removes its own samples when you edit or delete a drink.
Health hears from the app; the app does not read Health.
10
Water you type straight into the Health app with Add Data. It is labeled as entered by you and sits at the top of the default priority order.
Fine for one-offs; tedious every day.
It is the Health data type for water you drink. Apps such as water trackers write each drink to it, and the Health app shows the total under Nutrition as Water. It records what you logged, not how hydrated your body is.
Usually two sources wrote the same drinks, for example a water app plus a manual entry, or two water apps. Open Browse, Nutrition, Water, then Data Sources & Access, and turn off or reorder the extra source. Apple says the source at the top takes priority.
In Health, dietary water is whatever you or your app log as water; caffeine and other drinks have their own types. For your own goal, Mayo Clinic (January 2026) says tea, coffee and milk count toward how much you drink each day, and food provides about 20% of the water you need.
There is no single number. Mayo Clinic (January 2026) says some studies suggest about 2.7 to 3.7 liters of total fluid a day for the average healthy adult, from all drinks and food. Your clinician can tell you what fits you, especially with heart, kidney or other conditions.
No. Apple Health sync in Dropkin is optional and write-only. It saves dietary water and updates or removes its own samples when you edit or delete a drink, but it does not import drinks logged by other apps.
Not by itself, but water apps with a watch app can. Dropkin's Apple Watch app logs your pinned bottle, quick amounts or a Digital Crown custom amount, and drinks sync to your iPhone and are counted once.
No. It is a record. This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your clinician.
If you need a fluid limit or a precise intake chart for a medical reason, follow your care team's method; a hospital chart may ask for every cup, soup and ice chip. If you already log water happily in another app that reads Health, keep it. Dropkin suits people who drink from the same few bottles and want one tap per refill.
The six ticks above map to the glossary. Units and goal are display choices you control. The middle four are about sources: one writer, a known priority order, no hand-typed duplicates, and edits that flow through. Score five or six and your Water chart in Health is telling the truth. Below four, start with Data Sources & Access.
| Type it into Health | Smart bottle app | Dropkin | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taps per drink | Several (Add Data, amount, save) | None once paired | One for a saved bottle |
| Cost | Free | Bottle purchase | Free; optional Pro |
| Reminders | None | Bottle glow or app | Only in your hours, stop at goal |
| Writes to Health | Yes, as you | Depends on the app | Yes, optional, write-only |
Simple rule: pick one writer for water, and let Health just collect.
One tap per bottle, a clean Water chart in Health, and reminders that go quiet once you're on pace.