Water tracking 2.0
Hey everyone,
We're thrilled to unveil our latest upgrade to the Water Tracking feature! At Cronometer, we've been listening closely to your feedback, and we're excited to introduce improvements that will make staying hydrated easier and more convenient than ever before. Be sure to check it out at beta.cronometer.com - soon to be released on mobile!
Here's a sneak peek at some of the key highlights of this latest release:
Dedicated Water Widget: Say goodbye to cumbersome tracking methods! Our new Water Widget operates independently from food and beverage entries, making tracking your water intake as simple as tapping a button. Watch your hydration levels rise with intuitive animations for added satisfaction.
Improved User Experience: We've fine-tuned the user experience by storing timestamps for water entries, providing greater flexibility and accuracy in tracking your intake. Customize serving sizes and container sizes to suit your preferences for a personalized experience.
Easy Settings Management: Take control of your hydration journey with our settings menu, where you can adjust units, goals, and reminder preferences with ease. Schedule personalized reminder times to stay on track without feeling overwhelmed by unnecessary notifications.
We're incredibly excited about the potential of this enhanced water tracking feature, and we can't wait for you to explore it firsthand. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us refine and improve our tools, so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts and suggestions with us.
Here's to a happier, healthier, and more hydrated you!
Cronometer team
Comments
Getting a web server error 500 when trying to access beta.cronometer.com after logging in. (Same results on both Firefox and Chrome - ad blocking turned off.)
I left a message in the app, but so it can be discussed here. I had logged 20 ounces earlier today by going to Diary, then clicking the + button and Add Water. Then I noticed the notification that the latest beta was downloaded and updated. When I opened the app, I saw the new water display in the Diary, but it showed my ounces was converted to cups (not a huge deal), but going to the Water Settings and switching to fl oz, it only shows 19.17 oz. Seems the conversion with the new feature isn't working exactly right. I can include a screenshot if needed.
I also included a screenshot of what I'm seeing on the beta page when I log in and click on Diary. The right side shows the water and I thought it was an ad for a minute. This is not at all correct:
I wonder if it was changed when I tried adding and removing water on the app.
My findings so far from the beta page:
I see it removed all my water entries in the diary. Previously every time I tracked water it showed in my drinks category with timestamps and the amount of water I dranks each time.
I can't find out how can I see the timestamps of each water entry? It only shows glasses, no way to see how much each time and timestamp?
For me personally, most of the time I'm not using glasses to track water, I drink different amount every time and it seems there's no way to change or create different types of glasses with different amount. Only one glass or add custom every time.
The widget shows only the separate "glasses" water intake without taking into account the water from beverages and food? this seem a bit confusing and wrong.
Comparing it to the previous beta of water tracker widget, that I liked a lot, I could simply click add water set the amount in milliliters and click add and the widget showed the total water intake including the water from beverages and food. This was the ideal approach, especially as cronometer knows water amount in all food types.
P.s. I'll need to see how it's implemented in the app itself for final verdict but unfortunately it looks very limiting right now, at least for me personally.
Cheers
Hey Matt,
After receiving your email with the answers that there is no way to see the timestamps and the widget isn't showing the water from food and beverages,
Unfortunately, not being able to see the timestamps and how much water I drank each time and the widget not showing water from foods IS A HUGE DEALBREAKER for me!
I will not be updating to the latest version until it's fixed/changed.
Please let us choose to disable this feature entirely in the next version, so I'll be able to continue to track water the way I track it now before the update.
Regards.
If it stays like this, then this is a HUGE DOWNGRADE from the previous iteration of the water tracker widget and the app in general.
Not everything is supposed to be extremely simplified.
There are tons of apps in the app store that can track water by clicking "add glass" with no customization. Cronometer is unique in the way that it allows customization and configuration and that it knows almost in 98% of times the amount of water in foods.
We appreciate your feedback on the new water tracking feature. We understand your concerns about the changes and want to assure you that this is still a work in progress. Your input is invaluable in helping us improve the feature to meet your needs and expectations.
Please bring back the previous iteration of the water tracker widget beta and improve upon that. The one that was in August last year. Or at least let us choose between the more advanced from the previous beta and the new simplified one
Just to play devil's advocate for a bit...
I personally like tracking water this way. I need to drink 64-96 oz of water daily, not counting what's found in my food. Previously I made a separate entry in the diary for water and updated that single entry throughout the day every time I refilled my water bottle. Having a widget as an easier way to log it is definitely an upgrade for me...
For people who don't like it, or got used to the way Cronometer does it now, perhaps a setting that allows for classic water logging vs updated logging via widget would satisfy everyone.
PS - I can't edit my first post that said I couldn't get into the beta site, and I did reply to Matt's email separately, but just wanted to note that I'm now able to log into the beta site. Not sure what was up with it yesterday. (Actually I have a couple theories which I mentioned to Matt but it's not important for the here and now.)
On jumping back over to the app, I found that the water I logged via the website is showing up in my Vitamins & Supplements Diary group (I'd actually prefer it to go to the water group though I don't see a way of configuring that), but even more importantly, it's assigning it kcals equivalent to the number of grams it thinks I drank. Though even the math doesn't add up there. (32 oz does not equal 946.35 grams.)
From the web, I logged 25 oz, then another 32 oz using the water widget. This is what I see in my diary on the app:
Here's another example from a different perspective now that it's end of the day.
I logged in total 88 oz of water via the widget on the website, but when I call up the details on my water intake, it shows 2602.5 grams, which is equal to 91.8 oz. So yeah as both @adaca and I mentioned above, the calculations are off somewhere.
PS - yeah I know my sodium was high today. No judgement please... it was tamale night! LOL
Hmm not sure why my above comment isn't displaying, but I saved a copy just in case it doesn't show up soon.
Hmmm still not showing up. Maybe it needs to be approved for the way I stated something or a particular word I used?
In any case, I figured out why the discrepancy, having to do with a volume to weight conversion, and actually explained it in greater detail in the missing post. I'll wait until Matt's back to see if it gets approved before paraphrasing and reposting.
Hey CheriePie, I looked at your posts' revision history but it doesn't display anything. I do not know why it did not post for you. Feel free to repost your information about the discrepancy and I will pass it along to the devs.
Retrying this post from the desktop:
Aha I think I figured it out. It has to do with the conversation from volume to weight. (Since weight is what it shows when you look at it in the diary.)
I'd always assumed that 1 fluid ounce of water weighs exactly 1 ounce, but apparently it weighs a little more than an ounce, around 29.57 grams. Therefore, if I take the 88 fluid oz that I entered and multiply that by 29.57, I come up with 2,602.16, which is pretty close to the 2602.5g reported by Cronometer. It looks like 29.5738636364 is the exact multiplier Cronometer is using.
So... Do I get a gold star ⭐ for figuring all that out?
Eeek! I just got the new water tracking feature in the app and it caused numerous issues when I tried to use it:
I finally went to the beta web to undo undo all the water widget changes from there since it's definitely not usable in the app right now.
Thanks for the update, CheriePie! I encountered similar errors while using the app. I've forwarded these bugs to our developer, who is working on a new iteration of the beta build. Regarding the previous issue with kcal associated with water, it stemmed from the build lacking water tracking functionality. I've logged a bug for this, which I'll ensure to check once it's released.
Thank you for the feedback and let me know if you find anything else!
On beta.cronometer.com/#diary, I am seeing the following in the water entry section:
What is '75114657'? Is that supposed to say ounces?
Thank you for bringing that to our attention! I've logged an issue for it. There seems to be a communication bug between the web and mobile platforms, where setting units on one platform causes errors on the other. You may have noticed that the 'display' page on the web is likely blank now if you click the cog icon. Rest assured, our developers are actively working on resolving this issue!