MeYou Health Launches EveryDRINK

Everything we create at MeYou Health is about balancing mindfulness with the action. With this in mind, we conceived a small project to make people more mindful about water drinking and spur them to action. Our new EveryDRINK desktop widget does just this, reminding you to drink more water throughout the day in a persistent and visual way. We use animation, sound and the ability to track your individual progress in this simple app.

The mechanics of EveryDRINK

This product idea comes down to seeing how simple amounts of ambient information and a disruptive reminder can nudge you into a new behavior. The hypothesis is set around the fact that it’s not about our lack of wanting to drink water – rather, it’s about how we simply don’t remember to do so. EveryDRINK helps you remember to take that action (drinking water) in an easy, fun way.

We are already working on the next version of the widget which will support  the ability to send an SMS text message to your phone in case you are away from your desk. You can also respond back by SMS text to say you drank your glass of water and to reset the counter.

How EveryDRINK works

The app works by allowing you to set the length of your day (or the time in which you will be around your computer). For some, this may be while you’re at work, for others it might mean while you are working around the house. Once you set your day, you then choose how many glasses of water you want to drink during that time period, and the counter begins.

You immediately see the glass slowly fill up, drip by drip, as the counter decreases. If you don’t drink any water by the time the counter reaches zero, the glass overflows and the water starts to spill over. The sound of water spilling is a subtle yet effective way to capture your attention. A simple click on the glass (after drinking the glass of water, of course) resets the counter and the cycle starts over again until your pre-set “day” comes to a close.

The future of well-being desktop widgets

It’s our hope at MeYou Health that something as simple as a useful and engaging desktop widget can lead to a whole suite of small ambient tools that give you simple reminders to do small, healthy actions that improve your well-being. While these tools can be on your computer’s desktop, we are exploring delivery channels that include mobile phones and the Web.

EveryDRINK is simply our very first attempt to validate these ever-expanding ideas that let us see how people respond to helpful and convenient tools that let them focus on improving one key area of their well-being.

By creating a dedicated product that focuses on hydration, we provide users with a sense of control, necessary empowerment and unique customization that lets them know what to expect every day – and what the outcome is for one small, dedicated action over a period of time.

Download the EveryDRINK app and try it out. Let us know what you think, and feel free to share it with friends.