Make an app
Make a water reminder app for iPhone
A water reminder needs three things: a goal, a one-tap way to log a drink, and reminders that stop when you're done. Describe your glass, your bottle and your waking hours, and Borel builds a native iPhone app with a filling ring, reminders scheduled by the phone itself, and a week of history.
Updated
“A water reminder: my goal is 2 litres a day. Buttons add my glass (250 ml) or my bottle (750 ml), a ring fills up as I drink, and I'm reminded every 2 hours between 8 am and 9 pm, but not once I've hit the goal. Show the last 7 days.”
Screens
What a water reminder app needs
The screens Borel builds from the prompt above. Ask for more, fewer or different ones.
Today
A ring that fills toward the goal, with quick-add buttons below it.
Drinks
Today's drinks with their times, swipe to undo a mistaken tap.
History
The last seven days as bars against the goal.
Settings
Goal, cup sizes, reminder interval and waking hours.
Data
What it keeps
Borel writes these as Swift models. On the phone they work with no connection; in Borel's cloud they follow a signed-in person.
| What | Holds | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| Drink | Time and amount in millilitres | On the phone, with SwiftData |
| Cup | Name and size, like glass or bottle | On the phone, with SwiftData |
| Plan | Daily goal, interval, first and last reminder | On the phone |
Native iPhone features
What it can use on your iPhone
Written in Swift with Apple's own frameworks, so they work the way iPhone owners expect.
Make it yours
What to ask for next
Once the first version runs, ask for changes in the chat, in words like these.
- “Show whether I am ahead of or behind where I was at this time yesterday.”
- “Raise the goal on days I log a workout.”
- “Use ounces instead of millilitres.”
How to make it
From a prompt to your iPhone and the App Store
- 1
Describe it
Paste the prompt on this page into Borel, or write your own in plain words. Borel plans the screens with you before it builds.
- 2
Try it in your browser
Borel writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI, builds it with Xcode on its own Mac and opens it in a live iPhone simulator in your browser, free.
- 3
Put it on your iPhone
With Pro, Borel Companion for Windows or Mac installs it on your own iPhone with your Apple ID: a cable the first time, then Wi-Fi.
- 4
Publish it when it's ready
Pro publishes to the App Store from the same project. Apple's Developer Program, $99 a year, is the one thing you pay Apple.
Reminders only arrive on a real iPhone, so this is the app to install early. Leave it for a day: count how many reminders came, whether they stopped after the goal, and whether the ring is readable at a glance. If a reminder comes during a meeting, ask Borel for quiet hours.
Water reminders are a crowded App Store category, so one made for your own routine is usually the point. If yours does something the others don't, Pro publishes it.
Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month, and the simulator in your browser costs nothing. Pro, from $20 a month, adds installs on your own iPhone through Borel Companion and publishing to the App Store.
Before you start
Good to know
- Drinks aren't written to the Health app; the log stays in the app.
- Reminders are scheduled on the phone, not pushed from a server, so they follow the plan you set rather than reacting to what you drank elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Ask for it in the prompt, and Borel cancels the day's remaining reminders when the goal is met.
Yes. The iPhone schedules each reminder, so they arrive on the lock screen even if the app isn't open.
Yes, from the settings screen Borel builds, or by asking Borel to change the defaults.
Yes, everything except the reminders runs in the live iPhone simulator in your browser.
Make your water reminder app
Start from the prompt on this page, change it to fit your idea, and Borel builds it while you watch.