Skip to main content

Ditch plastic bottles with this smartphone-activated water fountain

Bottled water may soon be a waste of the past — that is, if Reefill has its way. The New York City-based technology startup is taking advantage of your smartphone to help you save the planet with a system of phone-activated water refill stations. So as long as you have a reusable water bottle with you, you’ll be able to access unlimited cold, filtered tap water just about anywhere.

As it stands, Reefill can claim eight pilot stations in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. But a new Indiegogo campaign hopes to expand that presence to 100 locations across the city. The goal is simple: to help rid the United States’ most populous city of plastic water bottles.

Recommended Videos

Last year, the Reefill team notes, U.S. bottled water sales topped $21 billion, bringing in more revenue than the soda industry. And while it may be good for our waistlines that we’re choosing bottled water over sugary carbonated drinks, it’s not doing much for Mother Earth. The problem, of course, is that those of us who do opt to carry around our own reusable water containers often find ourselves at a loss when it comes to refills.

There aren’t all that many public water fountains — at least, those that dispense water that you’d actually want to drink. Reefill seeks to solve this problem by providing the public with a convenient water solution without waste and for a low cost.

To use Reefill, members are asked to pay $1.99 per month, which grants them unlimited access to all Reefill stations. Then, simply download the Reefill app (available on both Android and iPhone), and search the in-app map for the nearest station. Once users have arrived at the nearest fountain, they can activate the station using Bluetooth via the app, and fill up their bottles. The app also keeps tabs on how many bottles Reefill user have saved from the landfill, as well as how much money members are saving by opting out of buying bottled water.

“Reefill’s pilot program has been a huge success and we have gotten great feedback from our users who let us know that they are eager to see a citywide network,” said Reefill Co-founder and CEO Jason Pessel. “We are ready to make that a reality and help as many people as possible ditch bottled water.”

Lulu Chang
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
WWDC 2025: Apple announces iOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and more
Major updates to iOS, macOS, watchOS, iPadOS, tvOS and visionOS
WWDC 2025 logo

Apple kicked off WWDC 2025 with its keynote presentation at its annual World Wide Developer's conference, and it was a bumper affair.

We were treated to a raft of updates across all of the firm's software platforms, as we were introduced to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.

Read more
Android 16 is now available to download, and here are 3 reasons why you should
Android 16 logo on Google Pixel 6a kept on the edge of a table.

The wait for Android’s next big platform update is finally over. Google has released the stable build of Android 16 for the masses, and it is now available to download publicly on all devices, starting with the Pixel smartphones. 

Android 16 introduces a whole new design language called Material 3 Expressive, which reimagines the animations and gestures alongside a fresh color take on color theming and haptic response to touch inputs. 

Read more
The iPadOS 26 developer beta has transformed my iPad
4 windows open on the iPad Pro 11 on iPadOS 26 developer beta 1

I somewhat called it! In the run-up to WWDC 2025, I asked Apple to please introduce true multitasking to iOS (and by extension, iPadOS). We didn’t get it in iOS, but Apple did unveil an entirely new windowing system on iPadOS 26. With it, they’ve transformed the iPad for me and likely for millions of customers as well.

It’s not just about multitasking: Apple saved the best till last during its WWDC keynote, and the iPad has a host of other features that are further transformative to the iPad experience. I’ve been using the iPad OS 26 developer beta for the past 24 hours, and here’s how it’s transformed my iPad Pro experience.

Read more