Who knew that fulfilling your basic human needs could be so fun? If you’re anything like me, drinking an adequate amount of water each day can be a surprisingly difficult task, especially when coffee is your main source of hydration. Today I’m reviewing the Android incarnation of the app Plant Nanny, a true game changer in the lifestyle app universe that reminds you to drink water regularly. Plant Nanny is a beautiful and functional game that is endearing and accessible to users of all ages.
At the start of the game, inputting your physical stats yields an estimate of how much water you should be consuming. You choose the size of the glass of water that sustains your plant, establish a water goal and pick from an array of adorable plants. Watering is easy – drink a cup of water and tap the glass icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. That’s it.
Related: Stay motivated and healthy with the FitBit App
After a day or two of watering your plant levels up, and when he’s fully grown you’re given the option of moving him to the garden. As bittersweet as it is to say goodbye, in the garden he produces seeds you can use for buying rare plants, custom backgrounds, and special water that revives dead plants. If you’ve grown too attached to your companion to plant him, you can watch video clips from advertisers to earn seeds instead.
The simplicity of this app is what fuels it. It’s engaging enough to keep you interested, but it’s also really low maintenance. The only hiccup the game presents is that you are unable to access the tutorial after starting the game, meaning you best remember what is said at the beginning. After I made a drinking cup that was too large, it took nearly half an hour for me to remember the specific place onscreen that I needed to tap to edit the glass size. For your sake, I have circled the thing:
Graphics: 
Plant Nanny’s detailed, inviting graphics are such a breath of fresh air (or a glass of cold water…) that I was actually interested in taking care of my little plants to see what they’d look like as grown ups. Everything from the plants to the pots they live in is customizable and beautifully illustrated.
Gameplay: 
The “gamification” of drinking water is pretty solid – my desire to play the game overrode my innate laziness. I would pay for this app if the developers gave the plants a personality or another level of interactivity, but as a habit tracking app, Plant Nanny does its job well.
Audio: 
There are relatively few sounds, which are mostly just responses to actions – liquid swirls as water fills your cup, and the plant giggles with delight in response. I’m usually an advocate of all things cute, but what starts out adorable becomes merely another obnoxious reminder to turn the sound all-the-way down when everyone in the office knows you’ve just drank your tenth glass of the day.
Additionally, there are some discrepancies I found between the Android system volume and the game settings volumes that MAKE THE SOUND EFFECTS REALLY LOUD. You can easily avoid the mistakes I made by simply never filling up your glass while listening to music on earbuds…
Innovation:
The concept behind this app is simple but powerful, and I love its simplicity. Plant Nanny takes one of those habits we all need to improve but never get around to, and turns it into a fun and dynamic experience. As much as I’d love to say that apps like Lift and Chains.cc changed my life, I honestly can’t, because no emotional bond was ever forged. Plant Nanny succeeds where others have failed by giving obvious rewards and consequences for the upkeep of habits.
Overall: 
If you’re looking for a solid lifestyle app that you’ll actually keep up with, this is it!! Plant Nanny isn’t going to entertain or distract you from your busy life, but it’s going to improve it. Whether you’re a kid who is learning health basics, or an adult revisiting neglected habits, this water tracking app is an excellent way to keep you accountable for your goal. And let’s face it, the little guys are adorable.
Plant Nanny is available for both iOS and Android ecosystems.
I am new to Plant Nanny 2
When you touch the plant it does a little zing noise and a sun, music note or star appears. Does this do anything for the plant?
I would like to know if you can change mil to ounces on app
I have noticed that some of my plants in the garden are on cinderblocks and some aren’t. It doesn’t seem to have any correlation to plant, pot, water intake, etc. I also couldn’t figure out how to add the cinder block. Can you please explain?
Can the order if the plants be changed?
How do you get a pot for your plant. I can’t get it to work. Can’t find any help either.
How do I use the sun in my green house
What’s with the music note that pops up? I can’t figure out how to play it music. Can you help?
It’s just the plant singing
What’s with the music note that pops up? I can’t figure out how to play it music.
Someone give me free water of life I cba to pay
Do planted plants need care
No they do not
I never got a tutorial when I downloaded it, and my first plant is in a plain white pot. Tried to change it but cant seem to. Its in my garden now, can the pot be changed now?
My dandelion has a speech bubble with a water drop what does that mean?
It means it wants water
How can I see the price of pots even when I’m not ready to plant?
Some of the achievements that I’ve completed are not registering as completed. So I’m not getting the “stamp” that I should be getting. For example, I have 3 different plants in my garden but it’s not giving me the “flower power” stamp. Theres other stamps I haven’t received also. Does anyone know how I can get these to register?
I’m having the same issue here and I really don’t know how to fix it
Thank you for the information, i couldn’t find it anywhere else.
I have another question:
Now my first plant is grown up, i planted in the garden. And now what?
How do I get a new plant? In the shop it isn’t possible to select one. Or an new pot….
I have plant nanny app installed in my old android and installed the app in my new phone, but I am not finding a way to transfer my information , progress, pkants, etc. to new phone. I am not seeing a login so I can retrieve my information.
Try going into settings on your old phone and turning on “Connect to Cloud”. Maybe that will help?
Just started this, but can’t find any instructions whatsoever. Frustrating.
How do I use my 5,000 bonus points accrued??
can u have more than one water bottle added? i’m pretty sure i’m not the only one who uses more than after bottle(:
Yes you can, if u pull up the grey bar at the bottom then you can add cups, different size and adjust the quantity. However you can only have one main one, which ever one you use the most you can star on the grey bar, but you can still use the other cups if you hold them down once you have pulled up the grey bar.
Purchased a new pot and seeds were deducted but can’t find the new pot It didn’t come on my screen
You can only use it for a new plant, as a new pot
I had this app for a few years now, but I deleted it like more than a year ago when my phone data storage was almost full. I just redownloaded again and all my plants I had are gone and the shop reseted itself. When I try to ‘validate’ that I have Walkr to get the plants and stuff from the shop, it won’t register. Then when I checked for the Doggii achievement, it won’t register the app when I have it on my phone. Does anybody know how to get my old data back?
Is it possible to track more than one person? I would like to set this up for both my kids!
I have been using the app for the last 6 months or so and I do like it. I have been out of the country for the last month or so and I have not opened up the app during that time. Will all of my plants be dead now? will I have to start all over again? is there anything that I need to do before I reopen the app so that my month absence doesn’t affect my history? I also noticed the app storage increases with use.If I delete the app and then re-download it, will I lose all prior history?
I really want it to make a sound to let me know it is time to drink water. I went to notification and set it to remind me every 2 hours…but never hear a sound at notification. Does it do this and if so how do I set it?
If your phone ringer is on and high enough, your phone should notify you. I personally have vibration and ringer turned on, on my phone and I always get both when it sends a notification. I have an iPhone 5s and I haven’t had problems with sounds. Good luck, and I hoped this helps!
I could have written word by word as to what you did. Have never ever had any kind of reminder. Like you I have full both notifications on !
I can’t get any free seeds.. I’ve had the app for 2 weeks now and I only got 1 free seed til now. My friend downloaded the app yesterday and she got 8 free seeds but when I click it says ‘no free seeds available at the moment. Please try again later.” I keep trying but nothing??! Anyone knows if i can do something about it?
I think i have the same problem. My gf gets all the seeds she wants. I think this is the difference between android and apple. Apple gets all the ads and android gets fewer ads but this means there isnt always an ad available to show you.
I have had this issue as well. You have to complete exit out of the app each time and you should get the free seeds. At some point when you have a lot of plants you will no longer even need to watch the video at all, but you can of course!
How do you choose a new plant after you put your first one in the garden, I’m clicking on the buttons but all it allows me to do is download a plant and it’ll tell me a description and that’s all I can do
I’m trying to figure out the same thing.
Swipe on the plant and it will move to the next plant. Continue swiping until you find the plant you want. You cab do the same thing to choose your pot. When you’re done, click plant it.
How do I change the plant pot??
When you are planting the new seed into a pot, first, pick a new pot by swiping to the side on the pot and the pot will change to different pots. Then pick your seed to plant.
I’m logged into game center but it won’t load my achievements. Anyone else have this trouble?
Is there anyway to undo the water you put in…I have a 3 year old who like to go in & continuously push the button.
Just don’t register any more water until you catch up with app
How do I know if my plant is dead? I didn’t drink a lot yesterday and now my plant is sad and droopy and it has a voice cloud with (x)’s for eyes and a squiggly mouth. Is it dead…or dying? Do i only give drop of life when it is dead?
If your plant is dead, your plant will look brown and black, have X’s for eyes and have a speech bubble with a skull. If your plant is DYING but not completely dead, then it will look yellow, have x’s for eyes and have a squiggly line in the speech bubble. If your plant is dying but still holding on for dear life, that mean you need to step up your game and drink your sufficient water amount for te next consecutive days and not miss any days, and your plant should be happy enough and healthy again. Long live the CACTUSES (cacti? Like octupus? Cactopuses? Octocacti)who knows…) Good luck!!
I have been using Plant Nanny on my iphone. Can I access my “account” on my ipad? I would like the convenience of being able to add my water to my plant on either device.
Why does my plant have a speech bubble with a music note, what does it mean?
It means your plant is happy. :)
Great question! The music note means that your plant is happy! You’re doing a great job Ano.
How long before i get a reminder notice if I have not had anything to drink for a while? Can we adjust a reminder time? Does it have to be water or can it be any liquid?
Hello Sue,
Plant Nanny is a water-reminder app and will help you intake a healthy amount of water!
Depending on when you last had a drink of water, a notification will be sent. There is no way to adjust the reminder time. Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Actually, I found that I can adjust the reminder times. Go to Settings and scroll down to the bottom. There is a Drinking Reminder tab. You can be reminded every 2, 4, 6 hours or there is also a custom option.
I really enjoy plant nanny, it does help me drink water or my poor little plants suffer. I now have the magic hat pot, with a cabbage plant but I have not seen rabbits come out of the hat(pot) yet. Any suggestions?
How do I change the pot my plant is in?
Where do i get new plants
The store (menu icon, shop icon) or when your current plant grows up, and you are planting a new plant, click the new plant and it should switch do a different category so you can choose your new plant.
Changed phones and lost all previous plant and seeds. Is there anyway to get them back?
I have the same question!!!!
So did i, we have tried everything to get them back, guy in phone shop managed to download my achievements, that is still there but no plants was so upset
Can i view my friends status who also has the app?
I didnt realize I didn’t log my last glass of water until the next day. Is there any way to log on past dates?
Reset the clock on your phone
Hi I had over 1000 seeds on my old phone now I got a new one (the phone is same number, service and type of phone its and iPhone 6s Plus) does anyone know how to transfer my seeds?
I accidentally deleted the app! I redownloaded and it wants me to start all over. It’s still saved in my Game Center. How do I get my garden back?
I am going to the mountains for the weekend and have no cell service. How can I put this app on hold until I get back. I will be out of service for 3 days. I don’t want to lose all of my plants!!!!
Most apps do not require cell service to work, so if you have your phone you can water your plants.
What level dose a plant fully grow and allow me to put it into my garden
It depends on the plant, your exercise level and how much you are drinking/watering the plant.
How do I edit the list of water bottles on my shelf? And how do I change the default one on the main page?
You can go in to the bottle are and tap on the bottle or cup you would like. One of two thing will happen: either you will see a bubble that has a star and a trash can or you will select it and it will go up as your main bottle. If you get the bubble with the star and trash can, click the trash can to delete the bottle or click the star to set as your main bottle. I’m not sure what how to delete a bottle if you don’t get the bubble though. I have an iPhone but I’m not sure how different the android version of the app is from the Verizon for the apple products.
I’m drinking 20 oz. at a time and can’t get my app to register each bottle. How do you update your water intake?
I have a friend who does this app with me and she gets 2 free seeds each time (8) times so a total of 16 free seeds a day. I still only get 8. We’re on the same level why does she get 2 for every watched video and I only get 1?
When its time to harvest,try to click on ur plant as many times as u can(very fast) before the seed falls down and ull harvest more. I can get up to 30 seeds off the plant that produces I seed per day.
If anyone knows how to use those little seeds that your grown plant produce…let me know.i have had tons of this appear on my 2 grown plants but when I touch them they just fall into the same pot they are hanging on. I would like to use them to start another plant!
The seeds that you collect allow you to buy new starter plants from the shop in order to plant them.
How do you plant them though when it comes up with a plant pot that says plant a new plant or something along those lines it wouldn’t let me do anything I’ve tried taping it but it doesn’t do anything please help !?!?!
I love this app but can’t get it to work on my new Samsung Galaxy S6. Please help, app crashes everything I open it. I’ve tried installing several time and it’s a no go.
I had the same problem on my Galaxy S6 Edge. I had a glitch in my phone after a system update, and ended up having to factory reset it. I had been using Plant Nanny and loving it. But, when I re-downloaded it after resetting my phone the app would crash Every time I opened it. I downloaded it from the Amazon Appstore instead on Google Play, and it works kind of. The Flowershop won’t load on mine now, so I dan’t get any new plants.
I like the app very much, and it has helped me to stay hydrated (I hate drinking water). But it needs more directions. Is there a tutorial?
If you click the menu icon and then the wrench icon, you should see different setting categories. Click on “About” and then “why plant nanny” and te original instructions that are presented from the beginning should come up again.
Can’t wait to use this app.
What happens now that my plant has been put in the gardent, it is still in a plantpot. What do I do now? And I want to change the plantpot of my new plant and nothing happens when I tap the new pot.
Hey, how can I change the scenery? I already unlocked all available scenes in the flower shop, but how do I use them?
I clicked on to the landscape icon and picked one of the downloaded landscapes I wanted and clicked on it and it changed automatically. It will only change for the current plant and not for the ones you have in your garden
Hit the menu icon, then the icon that looks like mountains and a circle (between the wrench and the shop icons) and all the backgrounds that you have unlocked should be there. Select one and the screen should go back to the plant and the background should change to the one you select.
I love this app but I noticed that it is still set on yesterday. This morning I pressed the drink button and it said I had enough water for the day because it is a day behind. How can I fix it?
This app has certainly made an impression on me. It’s very heart warming!
Does coffee count?
No, because it is a diuretic.
Not true. Please see link of Mayo Clunic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/caffeinated-drinks/faq-20057965
thanks so much for the link! I have been having trouble drinking plain water only. Glad to know that I can include my morning cup of coffee.
Thank you so much for circling the place to change your drinking cup/ oz/ml amount. I was going nuts trying to figure that out!!
When I hold down the cup to add water I drank, the app starts to make a buzzing noise and won’t stop until I close it. Is there a way to correct this?
What happens to plants in garden? Can I see them again? And what about the seeds it produces?
I too forget a lot of the tutorial
Hi. How do I undo a drink? Pressed the drinkbutton 2x in a row since its my first time to use this app. Thanks.
Is there a way to put a plant shortcut on my screen without having to bring up the app?
How do I turn off/buy off the Ads?
Can’t wait to start this game.I am terrible for drinking my water. Let’s see if this works.
How do i change from glass to bottle? Just got the app☺️
I started out with 8 water of life drops. I’ve used a few when the app told me my plant was thirsty. I thought they replenished when I completed my goal of water for the day, but they didn’t. How do I get more and what happens if I run out of drops of water of life?
you don’t use water of life, only if your plant is dead, use the bottles in the right corner of your screen, or tap at the floor, you’ll get to change measurements of the water you drink..
Simple question: What do I do with a dead plant? I’ve only done this five days. Do I need to just start over?
you can use water of life drops to make your plant alive again, or start over, don’t give it too much water, and water it everyday enough.. just as your body.. otherwise every plant will die..
At what level is your plant fully grown?
Thank you so much for this! super helpful on how to change my oz size! Thanks again and again.
Hi. I changed phones from a note 4 to s6 and after i synced my account on the playstore my plants didnt show up.. this is quite disappointing since i had 4 plants all grown. Any help is welcome. Thanks
How can you tell the difficulty level of a plant before it’s planted?
I’ve found that the more seeds the plant requires to plant it, the higher the difficulty level to keep it alive.
I lost a plant in my garden after moving it. It’s no longer there
How do I change the scenery? I clicked on the mountain on the far right but it still only gives me the one choice. Carrie.
Why are some my plants on the windowsill on cinder blocks and some aren’t?
Does anyone know what level your plant has to be to move to the garden?
Sorta grumpy about the pot thing…if you can only change pots when you start a new plant then it shouldn’t allow you to buy them while growing one. I wasted 100 seeds on the cauldron but can’t figure out where it went to use it…so I chose it from the shop and it wanted to charge me again…so frustrated.
if you make a new plant you can choose that pot, if the plant you’ve already planted is fully grown and in the garden you can start a new plant to grow again, while getting seeds from the plant that is fully grown.
That happened to me too. Still can locate the darn thing!
How can i transfer my plants from my Nexus 4 to my Galaxy S4?
How do you select an unlocked plant pot?? I couldnt figure out how to select even when planting a new plant.
When planting a new plant, click on the pot and it will flip through them like when you are choosing a plant.
Is there a bug going around for Windows Phone and this app because I haven’t been able to get any free seeds for like a week! and I even reinstalled it but that didn’t work either. It’s incredibly frustrating to the degree that I just want to delete it. BUT it’s so frikkin cute! And it does help me drink more water so FIX IT OKAY!
how can i change the ml/oz of water i drank before i feed my plant????
Just tap the circle with 3 bars on the top right corner. In the drop down menu, click on the wrench. Then choose “Volume Units” and change to oz!
Still waiting on a reply for my question.
Hi, Elizabeth. I don’t see a question from you in these comments. However, if you have a question we can’t answer, we recommend contacting the developer’s support team at http://fourdesire.com/contact. Thanks!
I have downloaded all the flowers and have more than enough seeds to purchase any of them, yet there are flowers that I still can’t plant. When I tap on my plant to view what is available to plant it displays only a few then kicks me out and I end up at my main screen. What is going on? There are flowers I have planted before I can’t plant now.
Does anyone know how many total plants there are to plant? I can see 12.
In the store you can download plants and it’ll say downloaded but how do you plant them after you download them?
I don’t think you can plant them until you have completed your first plant that you started with. Then after you empty the pot and soil it to your garden. Then you can plant another one!
I do. I download new plants, pick one to use, then plant it when it’s time.
Hi, I have Plant Nanny on my Verizon galaxy s5 and I want to get the s6. However, I want to be able to transfer my app, along with all of my plants to my new phone without losing them. I can reinstall the app, but none of my progress is saved… Any help is appreciated!
I have the iOS version, and it has the option to sync to iCloud in settings – does Android have a cloud option?
I’ve synced the app data to iCloud, but I’m not sure how to get it onto the new device. I’ve turned on iCloud on the new device, but there’s no option to transfer data or anything.
in the little ‘store’ it only shows a few rows of plants for me(I have an iphone) but for my sister(an android) she has more. we downloaded it at the same time so they’re both the same version. is something wrong with mine?
I actually discovered 4 more plants in the store a few days ago. I have an Andriod phone. Maybe they show up once all the other plants have been sprouted and moved to the green house?
Is there a way to get new plants once you’ve planted all the available ones? Do we have to just plant the same ones over?
Hmm, I don’t know the answer to that one. Perhaps try asking the developers, their support contact information can be found at http://fourdesire.com/contact
My nanny work great for weeks now when I drink water the number stays the same and does not change I tried reinstalling but it still does not work please help
My plant nanny stopped working I drink ups of water and no change please help it worked fine for weeks
Sorry to hear that! The developers are very friendly and their support contact information can be found at http://fourdesire.com/contact
Thank you so much for posting this! I got the app, and I had no clue how to change the glass of water to 16 oz instead of the original 12 oz I had put in first. I love this app as well. \(^.^)/
So glad it helped!
Can you only grow one plant in the nursery at a time? If no, how do you grow another?
Yes, you can only grown one plant at a time.
Just found your article and I am wondering how do you buy things? They have seeds for $2.99 but I see no way to purchase them…..help?
From what I read, the adult plants give you seeds when you take them outside. Or you can watch some ads
This app is also available for windows phone.
I have to say that the Microsoft Health app is nice for tracking cardio and calories consumed, but i was really upset it didn’t have a way to track how much water you are drinking because I think it’s really important to stay properly hydrated.
This app fixed my problem, I like the reminders, plus it’s super cute!
I was actually looking up tamagotchi/virtual pets, that’s how i found this one :P
Can you change the amount of water for the previous day. I drank the water and forgot to enter it until after midnight, so now it’s wrong for both days.
I’m having the same problem as you have you figured it out? ): i forgot to enter two glasses yesterday and now my plant is yellow and dying.
I go into the setting on my phone and change the date back, add my water, then change the date back to the current day.
love this app
I purchased a new pot, tried to use it but I did not show. it too 50 seeds. where did it go? and how do I get it back? the next plane will look awsome in it.
Is anyone else having trouble getting free seeds? In the last few weeks I am constantly getting the message, “There are no free seeds available at this time” when the icon shows there ARE free seeds available.
I’m having the same problem on free seeds. The notification said there are 8 free seeds but i constantly get the message “Opss,no free seed available”.
Anyone could help on this issue?
Haaaving the same problem as farah. I would also like to find out how to get the seeds. Also what did it mean if I take the plants outside they will grow faster?
Where you able to fix this?? :( I can{t get free seeds either, and the notification about 8 seeds is always on.
No, I gave up on trying to get free seeds by watching videos and have actually given up on Plant Nanny altogether. :( I was tired of planting the same plants and will start it again if they ever create new ones. I did email the creator and they said they were “working on it”.
Please, what is the number in the orange circle placed on the options icon? Thanks!
Looks like it is a notification for new items added to the plant and flowerpot stores.
That’s the number of free seeds that you have available to harvest. Tap on the plant and it’s harvested.
Thank you. No, really. I was going mad trying to edit that glass.
I’ve been looking 2 whole days for how to resize my drinking (and pouring) cup. Thanks a million!
After unlocking a flower pot how do i change it?
You can’t change the pot once the flower has already been planted, but if you are starting with a new one, you can select a new flower pot by tapping on it in the same way you tap the plant to choose a different one.
I just loaded a new plant and tried to figure out how to change the pot. I couldn’t figure it out so now u have to wait again. Do you know what you click on to change it? Thanks!
This is a stupid question but can you change the pot of your existing plant when you buy a new one or do you have to wait to give it to a new plant?
Good question, it looks like you have to create a new plant to use the new pot.
Dear lord, THANK YOU! I have been looking for a place to add a new water bottle size for days. I have been so frustrated haha
You’re very welcome! I’m so glad to see someone benefit from my little diagrams :-D
Is there supposed to be a sound when it’s time to take a drink? My LGG2 phone makes no sound, even though I keep turning the game volume all the way up.
Hmm, interesting. Yes, it should make a swishing sound when you tap down on the glass icon. I know there is an option to disable/enable game sounds in the settings panel, but beyond that I’m not so sure why it wouldn’t be working.
I hear the swishing sound when I record my drinks, but no sound to remind me that it’s time to drink.
I see what you mean. My Plant Nanny notifications don’t make a sound either.