The Mac water reminder that makes you listen

Drink water, or watch your screen drown.

A Mac reminder app that floods your desktop with realistic, refracting water until you actually drink.

I have a headache.

Did you drink some water?

If you're tired of being asked, drink.
If you're tired of asking, gift this to them.

Drink or Drown is a paid macOS 14+ menu bar app that triggers full-screen water flood reminders at the interval you choose. $7.99 one-time on the Mac App Store. No subscription. No telemetry. The camera only turns on if you opt in to Hardcore mode, and even then frames stay on your Mac. See the privacy policy or jump to support.

In three steps

How it works

Step

Set the rhythm.

Every 30, 60, or 90 minutes. Set your active hours too.

Step

Choose how strict.

Gentle, Standard, or Hardcore. You know yourself.

Step

Drink. The water drains.

Auto-detected in Hardcore. One tap in the others.

Modes

Pick your difficulty

You can change this any time in Settings.

Hardcore

Drink or stay drowned.

Camera on, never stored, never recorded

Water swallows the screen. The camera turns on only during the reminder so the app can watch you actually drink, then drains itself. Everything runs on your Mac. Frames are never stored, never uploaded.

Standard

You'll feel it.

Water rises until most of your screen is under. Hard to ignore, easy to dismiss. No camera, no detection. You tap I drank when you've taken a sip.

Gentle

Just a splash.

Water creeps to halfway and waits. No camera, no detection. You tell the app you drank by tapping I drank. Good if you mostly need a reminder, not a shove.

Sound

Pick the voice in the flood

When the screen drowns, one of these plays. Or none, if you want silent water. Tap any clip to preview.

Sea on screen

"Moses, the sea is not parted..."

For Daddy

"Drink water for daddy baby girl."

Classic hello

"Hello, how are you? I am under the water..."

Rain in my mouth

"Too much raining in my mouth area..."

There's more soundtracks to choose from inside the app.

Privacy

The camera is yours.

Three promises, by design and in code.

Only when needed.

The camera turns on only in Hardcore mode, and only while a reminder is firing. No other moment, ever.

On your Mac only.

Frames go to Apple's Vision framework, on-device. No Core ML, no custom model, no network code path that touches camera data.

Never anywhere else.

Frames are never written to disk, never sent over the network, never used to train anything. Discarded as soon as the sip is checked.

Read the full privacy policy →

Honest note

Camera detection is friction, not proof.

Lighting, facial hair, glasses, head angle, and cup shape all affect it. Stanley cups, coconuts, and dark mugs are harder to read. If the camera doesn't catch you, tap I drank. That always works.

Common questions

Before you ask

What macOS versions does Drink or Drown support?

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Is there a subscription or free trial?

No. Drink or Drown is a one-time $7.99 purchase on the Mac App Store. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no trial.

Why does the camera turn on?

Only in Hardcore mode, and only while a reminder is firing. The app uses Apple's Vision framework on-device to detect that you've taken a sip, then drains the water. Frames are never written to disk and never sent over the network.

What if the camera doesn't catch me drinking?

Tap I drank. The button always works. Camera detection is meant to add friction, not to police you, so it has a manual override built in.

How is this different from the Reminders app or a Pomodoro timer?

Most reminder apps post a notification you can dismiss in a quarter-second. Drink or Drown floods your entire screen with realistic water. You have to do something physical (or fake it) to make it go away. It works because it's annoying on purpose.

$7.99

One-time. Yours forever.

No subscription. No in-app purchases. No ads. No telemetry.

Get it on the Mac App Store

Mac App Store. macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Stay in the loop

Drinking is hard.

Marketing is harder.

Two updates a year, max. Launch news, new features, the occasional ridiculous voice pack. Nothing more.