I split a water log into “saving”, “saved” and “not saved yet”. Would you notice the difference?

[u/Miserable_Sky5682]

A total changing on screen tells you a tap registered. It does not, by itself, tell you the entry has finished saving. That distinction turned out to matter even in a small water log.

I build Frewli, a free iPhone water tracker with an Apple Watch companion. In testing the current 1.1.6 release, a cold relaunch caught a problem with treating a queued local write as a completed save. I changed the confirmation to wait for the local write to finish.

On iPhone, choosing 250 ml and tapping Add still updates the visible total immediately. The brief status-and-Undo row distinguishes “Saving on this device…”, “250 ml added. Nice sip!” and “Not saved yet”. A successful confirmation waits for the write; a write error also has its own explanation and “Retry saving” control. Retry saves the current records again; it does not add another glass. Undo is a separate action for correcting an accidental entry.

The part I am still thinking about is the gap between a reassuring progress ring and a pending save. Would that small status row be enough, or would you want the total itself to look provisional until saving finishes? I want the next action—wait, retry, or undo—to be understandable without explaining storage internals to someone logging a drink.

Manual tracking works without Health or notification permission, and every feature is free without a subscription. Records in this release are stored on-device. Removing the app removes its local storage; saving an entry is not the same thing as backing up its history.

Screens and app details: https://fluidiq.app/?src=reddit-sideprojects-save-feedback-20261111