Home/Compare/Plant Nanny vs Waterllama
Plant Nanny and Waterllama both turn hydration into a pet-collecting game, and both are genuinely loved, with well over 100,000 ratings each. Plant Nanny also runs on Android and its plant guilt-trips you into drinking; Waterllama backs your collection up to iCloud free and ships a Watch app. We make Brim, and neither of these is it.
The bottom line
If a wilting plant or an Android phone is what gets you drinking, that is Plant Nanny. If you want the more decorated game with your collection backed up to iCloud for free, that is Waterllama.
We make Brim, so read this page accordingly. Every claim is sourced, prices were checked on the dates shown, and where a rival is the better fit we say so. We also run price experiments, so the price you see in the app may differ from the one below.
How we picked
- This page is about two apps people genuinely choose between, Plant Nanny and Waterllama, both pet-collecting hydration games with well over 100,000 ratings each. We are not one of the two, so we can say which one wins which need out loud.
- We ranked on what deciding between two games is actually about: which one is more fun, what happens to your collection if you switch phones, and whether either app’s five-star average can be trusted at face value.
- Every fact was re-checked on the live US App Store or Google Play listing on the date at the bottom of this page. Apple caps the in-app purchase list it displays at ten items and ranks it by popularity, so an item missing here is not proof it does not exist.
- Both apps get the same two blocks: what each genuinely does well, and the honest cut. We make a third app, Brim, and it is deliberately not ranked here. It sits in a card above, clearly labelled, with what it cannot do printed alongside what it can.
What Brim does not do
We are on this list, so here is our own cut, before you read ours.
Brim has no Apple Watch app, no Android edition and no Apple Health integration. Plant Nanny runs on Android with more than 5 million installs, and Waterllama ships a free Apple Watch app and free Apple Health sync; Brim answers neither.
Brim has no backup, no restore and no export. A reinstall deletes your history today. Waterllama ships free iCloud backup and beats Brim outright on data safety; Plant Nanny requires an Apple ID sign-in for cross-device data, and at least one reviewer reports losing their plant collection when their phone failed anyway.
Brim’s free tier logs water only, the same limit as both games on this page, and it has no game layer to abandon in the first place: a plain streak, no pets, no currency, no guilt copy.
Brim has two App Store ratings, launched in June 2026. Plant Nanny has 105,628 at 4.72 over a decade; Waterllama has 156,498 at 4.87 and a 2022 Apple App Store Award. We have no track record next to either.
Brim shows a paywall at the end of onboarding. You can dismiss it and stay on the free tier.
Brim’s own App Store shelf lists the weekly and the yearly plan twice, at two different prices each, because we run live price experiments: $1.99 and $2.99 weekly, $24.99 and $29.99 yearly, plus a $39.99 lifetime. We print both, the same way we would print anyone else’s.
The apps
Every app below gets the same two blocks: what it genuinely does well, and the honest cut. Ours included.
Plant Nanny
SPARKFUL INC.
A ten-year-old, genuinely beautiful game in which your water intake keeps a plant alive. More than 100,000 ratings at 4.7 stars.
Wins on: Android and a mixed-phone household, plus a guilt mechanic reviewers say works harder than a plain notification.
What it does well
- Genuinely loved and long-lived: 105,628 ratings at 4.72 stars, with the underlying IP dating back to 2013.
- A real, separately maintained Android app under the same publisher, with more than 5 million Google Play installs at 4.66 stars, so a mixed iOS and Android household can share one app.
- The plant visibly wilts if you stop logging, and reviewers credit the guilt directly with real behaviour change, from a vasovagal syncope sufferer to someone managing ADHD.
- A large, cute collection: a clovers currency, collectible pots and plant species, badges and multi-year streaks.
The honest cut
- Water only, with no per-drink model at all. There is no coffee, tea, milk or alcohol logging and no coefficient concept anywhere in the app.
- Setting your own daily goal requires the subscription, the most-repeated complaint in its own reviews across 19 separate versions from 2.2.3 to 6.24.1; that subscription runs as high as $69.99 a year.
- The more identity-linked privacy label of the two: Apple’s label declares a device ID under “Data Used to Track You,” plus an email address and a user ID “Linked to You.”
- Reviewers report a free flower pot was offered only in exchange for a five-star review (1 star, v4.12.8). We have not verified whether that prompt still ships in the current build, and Apple’s rating is cumulative and never resets.
Get Plant Nanny if the plant’s guilt is what actually gets you drinking, you are on Android or split across iOS and Android, and you can live with paying to set your own goal.
Plant Nanny on the App Store →Waterllama
Llama Luna Apps Inc
A genuinely charming collection game built around drinking water, with more than 150,000 ratings at 4.9 stars.
Wins on: your collection surviving a reinstall or a new phone, and the more decorated game of the two.
What it does well
- Free iCloud device backup ships on the free tier, so your character collection survives a reinstall or a new phone. Nothing about Plant Nanny’s free tier does this.
- A free native Apple Watch app and Apple Health sync, on top of an adaptive goal (weight, activity and weather) that is free to compute and free to override.
- The most decorated app in the category: 156,498 ratings at 4.87 stars, a 2022 Apple App Store Award for Cultural Impact, and an Apple Design Award finalist nod (finalist, not winner).
- The character-collection loop demonstrably changes behaviour: reviewers credit it with years of habit, including managing migraines and chronic conditions like lupus and CKD.
The honest cut
- iPhone only. Plant Nanny has more than 5 million Google Play installs, so a mixed-phone household can share Plant Nanny and cannot share Waterllama.
- Reviewers report that deleting or editing a logged entry requires Premium (5 stars, v1.92.6). We have not verified this in-app.
- A confusing in-app-purchase shelf: 10 items sharing 3 generic names at different prices, and reviewers say they cannot tell them apart.
- Cross-promotional ads are served to paying users (2 stars, v1.92.6), something Plant Nanny’s ad-supported free tier does more openly.
Get Waterllama if you want the more decorated game, a free Watch app and Apple Health, and you want your collection to survive a phone change without paying for it.
Waterllama on the App Store →What actually happens to your collection
Not price, not privacy: this is the axis that actually decides between two beloved games, what the game layer is, what it costs to advance in, what survives a reinstall or a new phone, and what happens the day you miss your goal.
| App | The game layer | Currency and rewards | On a reinstall or a new phone | If you miss a day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plant Nanny | A plant that visibly wilts if you stop logging, plus collectible pots, plant species and badges | A single “clovers” currency (replacing separate acorns and sunshine currencies in a 2023-24 redesign), earned via ads and daily check-ins or bought as a consumable, $1.99 to $19.99 | Apple ID sign-in is required for cross-device data. At least one 5-star reviewer reports losing their plant records and flowerpot collection when their phone failed anyway | The plant wilts and the guilt copy is explicit: reviewers credit it as a healthy fear tactic, and one blames it for compounding a depressive episode |
| Waterllama | 140 collectible characters (the listing also says “100+” elsewhere), 10+ themed challenges and monthly events | Most characters unlock by hitting your daily goal, or by buying “Full Access” ($6.99); one character is free | Free iCloud device backup ships on the free tier, so your collection survives a reinstall or a new phone | An “angry llama” missed-goal state one reviewer compares directly to Duolingo’s guilt mechanic |
| Brim | None. A plain streak, free at full history, with no pet, no currency and no guilt copy to abandon | No currency of any kind | No backup, no restore, no export. A reinstall deletes your history today | Nothing happens beyond the streak resetting |
What users say
Quoted verbatim from public App Store reviews, with the star rating and the app version or review date. We over-sampled critical reviews deliberately, so these read harsher than any app’s overall average. Brim launched in June 2026: every written review so far is five stars, and there is no critical tail to over-sample yet.
“With the other apps, because it is only a notification... I usually just ignore it. With this one your consciousness won’t let you live until you water the plant.”
“It’s a free app, but you need to pay to even set your own water intake goal in a water tracking app?? They make it free to bait you into paying their subscription.”
“I’ve been using this app every day for almost 2 years, and with its help I have almost no migraine days any more.”
“I am disabled and I live with Lupus & CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease)... Your app is just what I need!”
Frequently asked
Which is more fun, Plant Nanny or Waterllama?
Both are genuinely loved and both lean on guilt as a motivator. Waterllama is the more decorated of the two: a 2022 Apple App Store Award and 156,498 ratings at 4.87, against Plant Nanny’s 105,628 at 4.72.
Does either work on Android?
Plant Nanny does, with more than 5 million Google Play installs. Waterllama is iPhone-only.
If I switch phones, do I keep my collection?
Waterllama backs up to iCloud for free. Plant Nanny requires an Apple ID sign-in for cross-device data, and at least one reviewer reports losing their plant collection when their phone failed anyway.
Can I set my own daily goal for free in either?
In Waterllama, yes: the adaptive goal and a custom override are both free. In Plant Nanny, no, setting a custom goal requires the subscription.
Is either app’s star rating fully trustworthy?
Plant Nanny reviewers report a free flower pot was offered only for a five-star review (1 star, v4.12.8), a build we have not verified is still current. No comparable pattern is documented for Waterllama. Apple’s rating is cumulative and never resets either way.
Neither of these fits me, what else is there?
If you want the plant and the llama gone entirely, with your drinks credited on a published index (Premium) and a free goal computed from weight, activity and climate, we make Brim (Water Reminder – Brim, App Store ID 6777476351). We are disclosing a stake here, not offering a neutral third pick.
Which app called Brim is this?
This page is about Water Reminder – Brim (App Store ID 6777476351, by SYRNIK LTD). A different iOS app is also called Brim (Brim – Smart Water Tracker, ID 6761324419). It is not this app.
Keep reading
Sources
- 1.Plant Nanny Cute Water Tracker on the App Store: description, the ten in-app purchases Apple displays, and the App Privacy label. Checked July 13, 2026.
- 2.iTunes Lookup API for Plant Nanny (id 1424178757): rating, release date and version history. Checked July 12, 2026.
- 3.App Store customer reviews for Plant Nanny, sampled across sort orders with critical reviews deliberately over-sampled; all 83 critical reviews read in full. Checked July 12, 2026.
- 4.Google Play listing for Plant Nanny, confirming a separate, actively maintained Android app under the same publisher. Checked July 12, 2026.
- 5.Water tracker Waterllama on the App Store: description, in-app purchases, App Privacy label and Requirements panel. Checked July 13, 2026.
- 6.iTunes Lookup API for Waterllama (id 1454778585): rating, release date and version history. Checked July 12, 2026.
- 7.App Store customer reviews for Waterllama, sampled across sort orders with critical reviews deliberately over-sampled. Checked July 12, 2026.
- 8.Brim on the App Store: the five in-app purchases Apple displays, plus our own beverage catalogue and free-tier gate read from source. Checked July 25, 2026.
Plant Nanny is a trademark of SPARKFUL INC. Waterllama is a trademark of Llama Luna Apps Inc. Used for identification only. Neither endorses nor is affiliated with Brim.
This page is about Water Reminder – Brim (App Store ID 6777476351, by SYRNIK LTD). A different iOS app is also called Brim (Brim – Smart Water Tracker, ID 6761324419). It is not this app and this page is not about it.
