Award-winning Uruguayan health app heads for Chinese market

An Uruguayan app elected by Google as one of the top newest health and workout apps will soon be widely available in China, media reported Monday.

The app, called Aqualert, aims to increase people's water intake by reminding them when it's time to have a drink.

Already downloaded worldwide more than 300,000 times since it was launched in November, Aqualert was one of a dozen apps to win the Google Fit Developer Challenge, an international competition that seeks to promote creativity among developers of sports- and health-related apps.

The award not only sparked greater demand for the app -- with downloads spiking fourfold, according to its developer Esteban Salsano -- it also garnered the attention of Xiaomi, China's most popular cellphone maker.

Cherry Choi, an engineer with the firm, said he wrote the app's developer to say: "Recently we noticed that more and more users in our market are looking for Aqualert, so we hope we can work closely so the app can become available in our language."

The app has been translated into mandarin and plans are to translate it into 10 more languages, since Salsano hopes to reach at least 5 million downloads.

Aqualert "reminds you to stay hydrated throughout the day and lets you track your water intake," the contest's website said of the grand prize winners, whose apps will be promoted on Google Play.

The app lets users input their height, weight and level of physical activity, and recommends water intake in keeping with those parameters. A friendly reminder to drink a glass of water then pops up every so often.

"When you reach your daily target, the app congratulates you for keeping your body hydrated," said Salsano.