App Review: Plant Daddy
Tags: Plant Watering, Indoor Plants, Plants, Gardening, App Review

Adorning your home with plants is great, but maintaining their watering schedule isn’t. And if your green friends are (a bit) too many— it can be a whole new ball game.

While some have the knack to know — when a plant needs watering; as someone new to the world of indoor gardening — I’ve been terrible at remembering the last time I watered a plant.

And this struggle led me to stumble upon ‘Plant Daddy.’

What is Plant Daddy?

Plant Daddy is a free app that reminds you when it’s time to water your plants.

That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less, and that’s the beauty of it.

The 4-year-old app found by a developer and designer named Jordan Hipwell, sizes a mere 2 megabytes (comparatively lightweight than most plant care apps) and is compatible on:

iPhone: iOS 13.0 or later

iPod touch: iOS 13.0 or later

Mac: macOS 11 or later and also which supports an Apple M1 chip.

How to use Plant Daddy?

Using Plant Daddy is a breeze.

1. Open the app

2. Tap the + icon at the bottom of your screen to add a new plant.

3. Enter necessary information about the plant in the given fields.

4. Tap ‘Water Reminder’ to set the time and the frequency you wish to be reminded.

5. Add additional notes if any (change the plant’s position, add fertiliser, etc).

6. Click ‘Save’

And you’re done! Plant Daddy notifies you when it’s time to water your gorgeous plants.

What I love about the app:

1. It’s to the point

Undoubtedly, the best part about the app is its simplicity. It doesn’t complicate the process by including additional features like light detection, plant identification, weather monitor, etc. It does only what it claims (and does it best).

2. Clean design

Plant Daddy has a strikingly neat interface that is minimalistic yet modern. The app’s icons are simple and easily understood. To top it, the default night mode gives you an overall eye-soothing experience.

3. Saves you time

You needn’t open the app every time you receive a reminder, as Plant Daddy lets you mark a plant as watered right from your notification tray (even on your Apple Watch). Also, it allows you to perform Home Screen Quick Actions to add a new plant or mark all as watered.

4. Respects your privacy

The app doesn’t require any sign-ups. As per its privacy policy, the only detail Plant Daddy collects is the data you enter about your plants. It doesn’t hold any of your personal information nor tracks any of your phone activities.

5. No pestering ads

Free and ad-free — quite a rare combination, but Plant Daddy does it!

Room for improvement:

1. Needs a grid view

Plant Daddy’s default list view can be a bit tiring if you have plenty of plants to track. An option to switch to grid view could have been handy.

2. More freedom in water frequency

The app lets you choose a watering frequency from every day up to a month. However, during colder seasons, certain species of succulents and drought-resistant plants can thrive without water for a longer period. The makers should consider increasing the watering frequency (at least) up to three months.

Final thoughts

Plant Daddy is a wonderful app for plant parents who are caught up with their daily grind. Though there are few shortcomings, they could easily be overlooked considering its ease of use at a free cost.

If you’re looking for a plant water reminder strictly without other complex features — then Plant Daddy is the app for you!

Rating: 4/5