Let’s get one thing straight: a smart water bottle is not in the same family as asmart light bulb. They’re not even in the same universe.Smart home devicestypically connect to your wireless network for customization, automation, and remote control from anywhere you have internet access. Smart water bottles won’t be running anyIFTTT appletsor taking commands from Alexa. Instead, a good smart water bottle incorporates some kind of tech for a useful and potentially novel purpose.

Ultimately, this means a lot of the best smart water bottles have wildly different functions. Some monitor your water intake and remind you to drink more. Others actually track dissolved solids or sterilize your water with UV light. We’ve rounded up the most worthwhile options, avoiding overly gimmicky or cheaply-made stuff in favor of practical or fun hydration gadgets.

waterh-flip-lid-smart-water-bottle

WaterH Flip Lid

iHome Aquio

Icewater 3-in-1

Hidrate Spark 3

Philips Water GoZero

Hidrate Spark Tap

SQUAI Sports Bottle

The most useful smart water bottles

An all-around premium drinking vessel

The WaterH Flip Lid smart water bottle reminds you to keep drinking with periodic phone notifications and a light-up ring on the bottom. It tracks how much water you drink and even analyzes its dissolved solids content. Even without the added tech, its high-quality materials, double-wall construction, and tight-fitting lid make it a great choice for everyday use.

ihome-aquio-water-bottle-speaker

If you want a great water bottle that also happens to have some neat, helpful features, this is the one to get. Built from medical-grade stainless steel, its rugged, double-wall design is perfect for hot coffee, ice-cold juice, and anything in between. As far as smarts, it connects to your phone via Bluetooth so you can watch your intake, set daily goals, and check to make sure your beverage isn’t overly full of the dissolved solids that come along with modern plumbing. There’s also a handful of subtle but good-looking colors to choose from.

Perfect for the beach

icewater-3-in-1-water-bottle

Some gadgets do lots of little things OK, but the iHome Aquio water bottle does two things extremely well. For starters, it’s a super-classy, top-quality 16.9-ounce water bottle. But the real story’s in the base, which contains a removable Bluetooth speaker that sounds better than something so small has any right to.

This one’s not so much “smart” as it is built around a tiny-looking but big-sounding Bluetooth speaker. you’re able to unscrew it for easy listening while you’re relaxing or keep it attached for tunes on the go, and it lasts for up to 6 hours between charges. The entire thing’s slim enough to fit in most cupholders, and its premium construction provides great insulation. The speaker’s even impervious to dust and highly water-resistant, making this perfect for an outing to the beach or river.

hidrate-spark-3-water-bottle

Engaging, if not the absolute smartest

It’s simple, but it’s fun. The Icewater 3-in-1 looks just like an everyday water bottle, and doesn’t cost much more than one, either. Other than insulating your cold beverage, it reminds you to take a sip every hour and sports Bluetooth audio with dancing lights to add some fun to your workout.

philips-water-gozero-uv-c-water-bottle

One way to remember to drink enough water is to make it an interesting experience. The Icewater 3-in-1 uses a simple formula to achieve this, adding lights and sound to a well-built water bottle that doesn’t cost a whole lot. The interior straw is set up for casual sipping, but you can take it out if you prefer to throw your head back and gulp down your beverage of choice. For cleanliness and convenience, it uses a silicone nozzle that hides away inside the lid and pops up at the touch of a button.

Bold and bright reminders

If you don’t want any bells and whistles but want something that looks nice and periodically helps you avoid dehydration, the Hidrate Spark 3 is worth a look. Its entire bright exterior lights up to get your attention, so you’ll never miss a prompt. While it’s a touch pricey, it’s also one of the neatest-looking options.

The Hidrate Spark 3 is an especially good choice if you want something flashy and stylish to pair with your new outfit at the gym (or to show on your TikTok account). It doesn’t do anything smart other than light up at your choice of interval, but oh, boy, does it light up, as the entire body glows to verify you notice. The Coral version we’ve highlighted is especially good for this. The Spark 3’s also one of the few that doesn’t weigh much and lets you replace the battery (although you might not have to for years).

One of the most practical

You won’t find any wireless radios, Bluetooth speakers, or light-up gimmicks on the Philips Water GoZero. This practically bulletproof water bottle’s genius lies in the UV-C lamp in the lid, which fights mold and mildew buildup and keeps your water tasting fresh all the time.

You might wonder why Philips, the manufacturer ofindustry-leading smart lighting, is selling a water bottle. Inside the cap, you’ll find one of Philips' own UV-C bulbs, which uses powerful light rays to cut down on microbes clinging to the inside of the bottle.

To be perfectly clear, Philips doesn’t advertise this product for purifying outdoor live water, which can always be potentially contaminated even if it’s from a clear, running stream. Instead, this bottle eliminates the chore of daily scrubbing to get a perfectly clean, tasteless interior with every fill. So, while we wouldn’t trust it to eliminate pathogens from unsafe water, it’s a godsend if you want to prevent bad-tasting mold buildup.

Cute, compact, and reasonably priced

At 20 ounces, the Hidrate Spark Tap holds a little more than many others but boasts well-engineered insulation that keeps drinks cold for quite a while. Twelve programmable reminders each day keep you on schedule to meet your goals, which the app helps you calculate based on your personal measurements. It’s also super cute.

When it’s not lit up, the Hidrate Spark Tap looks just like a fancy, premium water bottle with a fun design and color schemes that pop. Once you’re connected, you can set when it delivers each of its 12 daily drinking reminders and input stats like height, weight, and age to get a better idea of how much you should drink. Each time you empty it and tap your phone to the NFC reader, it adds the finished amount to your total so you know exactly how hydrated you are.

Precise temperature readout

Tea drinkers, rejoice! This double-walled, stainless steel water bottle not only tells you exactly how hot your drink is, but it also tracks how much tea you drink to make sure you’re getting enough of your favorite heated leaf water. Furthermore, it keeps you from burning your mouth if you haven’t had time to let your morning coffee cool down.

You’re running late for work, so you hurriedly pour the almost-brewed coffee into your portable mug and rush out the door. One quick sip of bean juice later and you’re spitting scalding hot coffee on yourself because you forgot to let it cool down. Or, for those across the pond, imagine you’ve finally got to your desk with your home-brewed Earl Grey, only to realize it’s far too cool to be respectably called tea anymore.

If either situation sounds familiar, the Momax LCD is the one for you. Its display provides the exact temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit (but not Kelvin, sorry), along with an LCD ring that glows red, yellow, or green for a rough heat estimate. Like most smart water bottles, the Momax does a fine job of tracking your beverage intake, too.

Large and in charge

If you really want to maximize your body’s moisture, this 44-ounce jug from SQUAI can help. Its Bluetooth connectivity and proprietary app keep track of how much you’ve already downed, and it glows gently to remind you when you need another sip. While big, it’s also pretty light due to its high-quality Tritan plastic.

Quantity matters as much as frequency when it comes to getting enough water in your system. If you want to keep tabs on your intake without having to constantly refill, this 1.3-liter option is the way to go. Sure, it’s a little unwieldy to lug around, but its size and LED glow make certain you won’t forget it’s there. This one’s especially good for anybody who follows strict fasting schedules as part of a healthy and balanced fitness lifestyle.

What to look for in a smart water bottle

Most smart water bottles track your water intake to help you reach daily goals, and we’ve given preference to the ones that deliver the most consistent results and reliable reminders. But the neatest stuff isn’t always just the health-related part. For example, the iHome Aquio plays music better than any other water bottle (that we’ve heard of, anyway) and gets a lot louder than you’d expect from its small size. The Icewater 3-in-1 is a great low-cost alternative to it.

If you’re into perfectly prepared hot drinks, consider the Momax LCD and its temperature readout. Stylish gym rats will love the Hidrate Sparks since they’re bright and lightweight. Our favorite overall pick, though, is the WaterH Flip Lid. It boasts the best build quality, including practically indestructible stainless steel with excellent insulation. It’s also the most consistent for tracking intake.

We also want to point out an interesting one from electronics mega-giant Philips. The lamp inside produces UV-C light that’s used to sanitize hospitals around the world and even in some backcountry water treatment methods. This is a really neat water bottle that the most dedicated hydro homies will love; just bear in mind that it’s not intended or suitable for treating rivers, wells, or any other natural or contaminated water.

You might see some user testimonies claiming they’ve used it outdoors and had no issues, but the longtime wilderness backpackers at Android Police agree that we wouldn’t trust it to keep us safe from pathogens in the wild. It will, however, do a fantastic job of keeping mold and mildew from festering and making the water taste bad.