Alerts are the part of AlcoLog that talks back to you during a session. They cover pacing, water, motivational nudges, automatic session stop, and consumption thresholds. This tutorial walks through where to find them, what each one does, and which are free vs Pro.
# Step 1. Open the Alerts tab
Tap the Alerts tab in the bottom navigation. The screen has six sections, top to bottom: a How alerts work info card, Log Reminder, Water Reminder, Motivational Alerts, Auto-Stop, and Consumption Alerts.
Each section has a master toggle and one or more sub-controls (interval, threshold). Toggle a section off and its rules are paused entirely; toggle on and the sub-controls drive the behaviour.
# Step 2. Set the basic alerts
Log Reminder nudges you if you haven’t logged a drink for a while. Pick an interval (15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.) and the app fires a soft notification when that interval passes during an active session.
Water Reminder does the same for water. Pick an interval, or switch to By drinks mode to remind you every N drinks instead. Useful for pacing if you’re trying to alternate.
Motivational Alerts drops in a short positive message at random points during a session, drawn from your quotes and notes (see adding motivational quotes and notes).
Auto-Stop ends a session automatically if you go inactive (no new drinks, no app interactions) for a configurable threshold, default 90 minutes. Useful if you tend to forget to tap End Session at the end of the night.
# Step 3. Open Consumption Alerts
Tap Consumption Alerts at the bottom of the Alerts tab. This is where you set thresholds that fire warnings when you’re about to cross them mid-session.
Four metrics are available: Units, Drinks, Calories, Cost. Each has its own toggle and threshold input. Units is free; Drinks, Calories, and Cost are Pro-only. Free users see those three locked with a Pro badge.
The Raise limit after alert control underneath sets what happens when you breach. By default, breaching nudges your threshold up by 25% so the next breach is a separate alert (not a re-fire of the same one). You can pick anything from 15% to 100% in 5% steps, or 0% to disable auto-raise entirely.
Alert at 14u
Alert at 5 drinks
Alert at 800 kcal
Alert at £30
# Step 4. Set your unit threshold
Tap the Units row. A picker opens. Pick a number of units that feels like the line you don’t want to cross in a single session (UK guidelines: 14 units a week is the long-term limit; 6 to 8 in one go is a heavy session for most adults).
When you cross that threshold during an active session, you get a notification. The Home screen also shows a coloured dial visualising your progress against the threshold; it fills up as you log drinks and turns red at breach.
The same alert visualisation appears on widgets, the Live Activity, and the Dynamic Island. Whatever threshold you set here drives all of them.
# Step 5. Where alerts surface
Alerts you set on this screen drive multiple touchpoints, not just push notifications:
- Home screen consumption gauge (the coloured dial above the Add Drink button)
- iOS widgets on your home screen and lock screen
- Live Activity card on the Dynamic Island and lock screen during a session
- Apple Watch complications if you have a watch face with one configured
- Notifications on iPhone and Watch when a threshold is crossed
Most of these are passive (you see them as you glance at your phone or watch face). Notifications are the active part: they vibrate, fire a sound, and need a tap to dismiss.
That’s the whole alerts loop. Pick what you want to be reminded about, set the thresholds, then leave it running. The defaults are sensible if you don’t want to think about it.
# What’s next
For a softer kind of nudge, adding motivational quotes and notes gives you control over the Motivational Alerts content. To customise haptic feedback when alerts fire, see customising display, haptics, and session control.