Issue with Libre - blank screen

[T2-2000]

This afternoon I’ve updated to iOS 16.6 with Shuggah disabled, and I’m afraid Libre still does not work except to scan! I have now had to reactivate Shuggah which is working perfectly. I have turned off Bluetooth for Libre and will just scan and use Libre at least once every 8 hours. This is easy to remember, because I still enter my insulin doses, carb intake and exercise in Libre, always doing a scan at this time. Now that I know how to adjust the alarms in Shuggah (where you can actually add extra alarms if you wish) I will choose to make Shuggah my main app and use Libre just where I have to for the sake of data going to LibreView which does give amazing detail. The bonus of having regular readings display on my watch is too helpful to ignore. Did you delete Shuggah before doing the iOS update? I will be interested in whether your alarms go off when you are driving because I think over the last few weeks, when Libre was working correctly, the alarms did not go off on my phone when I was driving, but they did send a notification to my watch and show the reading! This is still not as good as getting regular readings on my watch like I do from Shuggah. I am also still finding Shuggah gives more accurate readings than Libre which continues to be around 0.8/1.5 above finger pricks which can suggest your BG control is not as good as it actually is. Before the crash, Libre suggested by HbA1c was 6.0 when a blood test for the same 90 days showed it to be 5.3.

Make sure you have Libre 2 sensors. Not the Libre 1 sensors.

 

[chaste]

that next time I apply a sensor I will receive continuous updates.. Hooray!!

Is this really the end of physically scanning the sensor folks? I had no idea that was coming!

To answer my own question. No this is not the end of physically scanning as the update only streams continuous readings and does not save them to the log book. Only scanned readings are logged, streamed readings are not logged, shared, or saved.

 

[Jordi77]

I’ve been told lots of times my sensor has lost the signal and get the alarm but the easiest way is to scan it and then go through each alarm and turn it off and back on again and it works perfectly fine after that and I don’t get any problems afterwards unless I go to far from my phone and it will do it again but that’s when it’s on charge and I have to do something in the other room but other than that I’m not really worried about losing the signal or it going off it’s when you get a update and it doesn’t work and you have to inform Libre about it and they don’t have a clue that is what happened with the last update on 2.10 and it sent everything haywire and you lost all of your data and you couldn’t use the sensor

 

[In Response]

To answer my own question. No this is not the end of physically scanning as the update only streams continuous readings and does not save them to the log book. Only scanned readings are logged, streamed readings are not logged, shared, or saved.

I have read a few times how scanning the sensor uploads the readings.
I do not understand this. On a number of occasions, I have scanned my sensor with no internet access (I was flying) for more than 8 hours. I saw no gap in the data on LibreView. This would not be possible if the scan causes an upload.

 

[becca59]

To answer my own question. No this is not the end of physically scanning as the update only streams continuous readings and does not save them to the log book. Only scanned readings are logged, streamed readings are not logged, shared, or saved.

No but the graph is. And readings were never saved before unless you scanned. It records a reading when you input insulin/food.
How could it possibly log continuous streaming. And why would you need it to.

 

[chaste]

No but the graph is. And readings were never saved before unless you scanned. It records a reading when you input insulin/food.
How could it possibly log continuous streaming. And why would you need it to.

becca59 If you put it like that then of course it cannot log continuous streaming but do tell me more about the graph sharing?
To this point I input all my insulin, carbs and food ratios and these are then shared and can be reviewed by my team at annual reviews.

Since the update today; if I understand you correctly, the graph is new information shared in such a way that my health team can review it with or without additonal physical scans? And that this graph along with those additional scans/food/insulin input will provide even more information to the team than previously?

 

[PBarks]

Not sure if anyone else has put this but Abbott we’re having issues with a version of their app rather the latest iOS release.

They have suggested downloading the latest app to resolve your problems.

Email from Abbott
Thank you for being one of our valued FreeStyle LibreLink app users.

We’re pleased to inform you a new version of the FreeStyle LibreLink app for iOS (2.10.1) is now available for download in the United Kingdom iOS App Store. Please upgrade your FreeStyle LibreLink app for iOS to version 2.10.1 as soon as possible. After download, please check your alarm settings and any insulin pen connections, and sign back into your LibreView account to re-establish any connections.

This new version of the FreeStyle LibreLink app (2.10.1) fixes the issue with the previous version (2.10) and includes automatic real-time glucose readings for people who use FreeStyle Libre 2.

In truth, The email from Abbott is nonsense. Please read all of the posts about this. the latest version of the app did not work for many members. It only started working correctly for me when my phone updated its iOS. From what I see in this string there are still many people suffering problems.

 

[PBarks]

That is good to know, I’m pleased that at least the alarms are showing on your watch. Like you, I am very careful about driving. When my Libre alarms were working, it was the high alarm I ‘played’ with, setting it quite low as a test, 7.7. A while back this alarm was sounding on my phone while driving, but I’m sure more recently I was getting a notification on my watch but no sound from the phone. I viewed this is an improvement because the alarm would go off every five minutes when it was sounding on the phone and that was obviously irritating, although it did make sure I pulled over to reset it. I was doing this more out of curiosity. What level do you aim for before driving and what level do you aim not to drop below while driving?

I like to be around 7 mmol/ml when I want to drive and I follow the DoT guidance about not driving if the BG drops below 5. As far as your watch is concerned; if it is like mine it receives notifications from the phone provided Librelink is set to send notifications to the home screen. The app for my watch is set to send all notifications from "other apps" so as soon as texts, emails and Libre alarms appear on the phone home screen there is a vibration from my watch and the notification shows up on its screen. I hope that that helps.

 

[kingsmac]

I like to be around 7 mmol/ml when I want to drive and I follow the DoT guidance about not driving if the BG drops below 5. As far as your watch is concerned; if it is like mine it receives notifications from the phone provided Librelink is set to send notifications to the home screen. The app for my watch is set to send all notifications from "other apps" so as soon as texts, emails and Libre alarms appear on the phone home screen there is a vibration from my watch and the notification shows up on its screen. I hope that that helps.

Yet again, I’m much the same as you. I like to be at least 7 mmol/L but possibly 8/9 if I know I’m going to be driving for over an hour, especially if it’s on a motorway and particularly the M25, which has few service areas and you often spend lots of time in queues. I then set my Shuggah low alarm to 6 and have easily accessible juice in a measured carton that I can drink easily while driving, which I know will generally raise me 2/3 mmol/L in around 20/30 minutes. Having five minute updates on my watch via Shuggah makes this kind of control so much easier. Like you, my watch vibrates whenever the notification comes through. If Libre could provide this, then I would definitely uninstall Shuggah and just use the new Libre app. For the present, especially as I have to drive over 500 miles in the next week, I’m going to continue with Libre Bluetooth turned off and Shuggah turned on, especially as I have found that scanning still works, and the data is uploaded to LibreView. I’m still entering all my carbs, insulin and exercise into the Libre logbook.

 

[Mrs HJG]

To answer my own question. No this is not the end of physically scanning as the update only streams continuous readings and does not save them to the log book. Only scanned readings are logged, streamed readings are not logged, shared, or saved.

It doesn't save every minute to the logbook, but every time you look at the App and/or scan, the level will be recorded. When you look at LibreView online, (you can do this on your phone and/or computer/tablet, whatever), you will see a dot for every time you interacted with the App, but only the actual scans will show a figure. Annoying as I keep within a quite small range (14%), but I am learning to relax about the exact figures now, as they probably aren't that accurate anyway.
It would be nice to get the daily average back on the front screen though.

 

[DEBBIESCOTT]

Libre failed yesterday, said I was hypo all day when I wasn’t
Abbotts are replacing the sensor, call was picked up by an agent in 2 rings
Had to delete & reinstall libre app yet again for it to work
This morning app said signal loss & wouldn’t scan, (phone in hand) just said to try again in 10 minutes, in which time it was working
Libre said 7.7, shuggar 5.3 & meter 5.4
I’ve got Bluetooth on on both apps but not updated by ios
Hard to believe these are reading the same sensor at the same time

 

[Antje77]

and have lost all the history that was held on my iPhone, as I have not been sharing it on the LibreView.

The sharing with LibreView from your phone is automated.
So if you go to libreview.com and log in you'll likely find your history is there already.

 

[PBarks]

I've changed the sensor today and as far as I can tell LibreLink is working properly. On another forum thread on this site I saw mention of Abbott having further modified LibreLink so that the CGM readings from the sensor can be read on a smartwatch. This would be similar to Shuggah. Has anyone heard or read anything about this?

 

[kingsmac]

I've changed the sensor today and as far as I can tell LibreLink is working properly. On another forum thread on this site I saw mention of Abbott having further modified LibreLink so that the CGM readings from the sensor can be read on a smartwatch. This would be similar to Shuggah. Has anyone heard or read anything about this?

When I had both LibreLink and Shuggah, running side-by-side, both with Bluetooth turned on, when a LibreLink alarm sounded it also showed on my Garmin smartwatch, along with the actual reading at the time of the alarm. It also identified whether it was a high or low alarm. I did not get any other readings from LibreLink, but I was getting readings from Shuggah at the interval that I had set within the app, which was every 5 minutes. Since then, I have been unable to run those apps together with Bluetooth turned on and because I was doing a lot of driving, I have been running LibreLink with Bluetooth turned off and Shuggah with it turned on. LibreLink continues to work via scanning, obviously with no alarms, while Shuggah has worked perfectly giving me the data I want on my smartwatch. I am due a sensor change on Sunday and I’m debating whether to remove Shuggah completely and just run LibreLink which I assume will then give CGM readings and allow alarms to work. If, as I suspect, I cannot get regular readings from LibreLink on my smartwatch I will have to decide whether to return to the situation I have got used to while driving a lot.

 

[DEBBIESCOTT]

I’m still running shuggar & LibreLink with Bluetooth on both,
I’m using the alarms on shuggar & haven’t tried turning them on on librelink
I’ve not heard about any more updates from libre

 

[PBarks]

Kingsmac and Debbiescott, thank you both for those responses. I have emailed Abbott about this but it takes them about a month to respond. Its odd that you truly don't know what you've got until its gone but I miss the regular readings on my watch that Shuggah gave. I am trying to work out a way of maintaining the Shuggah type of service without causing LibreLink to falter or fail. Abbott have sent me a Libre Reader and I wondered if the way forward might be to remove LibreLink from my iPhone altogether, install Shuggah and use the reader to start the sensor at each change over. My fear over that idea is that Shuggah needs the bluetooth connection with the sensor and I think that it is LibreLink that establishes the bluetooth link between a new sensor and iPhone. The reader does not use bluetooth and I may find that I have no CGM readings at all and therefore no readings sent to my watch. In addition to that without Librelink on the iPhone I will not be able to recover records from LibreView. Kingsmac, the situation that you describe is what I also had but it all went wrong with the sensor change before last. After uninstalling both Shuggah and LibreLink and then reinstalling LibreLink alone the last sensor and LibreLink worked exactly as it should. Following the sensor change two days ago the system still works as it should. I should be grateful if you would carefully note exactly what you do on Sunday's sensor change and the outcome and let us know that would be of great help in deciding how to proceed. I suspect that there is a way of maintaining the Shuggah type of notifications to a smartwatch without wrecking LibreLink and I think that our co-operation over this forum could find the answer.

 

[DEBBIESCOTT]

I downloaded shuggar on the Friday everything went wrong
Last 2 changeovers I’ve started the new sensor with iPhone on the libre app & then turned libre bluebooth off to connect sensor to shuggar
When I turn the Bluetooth back on on libre I get signal loss & have to manually scan, I then delete libre & reinstall it
I’ve got Bluetooth turned on on both & using the shuggar alarms with no problems
Shuggar is set up to send readings to my garmin fenix 6s pro every 5 minutes

 

[Paulaah]

Hi all,

Here’s what I do. I discovered Shuggah in may before all the libre app problems and haven’t looked back since but I have the best of both worlds….

1) I activate every new sensor with the libre reader.

2) I then make sure blue tooth is “on” the libre app on my phone and start the sensor on the phone as well.

I’ve always activated my sensors using the libre reader and had my alarms on there, not on my libre app on my phone.

3) when the sensor has gone through its hour warm up I start a new sensor on Shuggah

This has always gone very smoothly but the key is waiting patiently for the status to turn to “connected”. It can be an anxious few minutes wait but it does it.

4) when I get a Shuggah reading I then go back to libre on iphone and knock blue tooth off so the Shuggah receiver is not fighting with the libre Bluetooth.

I then get Shuggah readings every minute on my phone and Apple Watch, as well as the ability to manually scan with either the reader (helpful in the middle of the night as it’s quicker than phone), or app on my iPhone. All I have to do is make sure I scan every 8 hours at least on my phone to join up all the graphs. All the data still pops through to the main libre view website even when the Bluetooth is “off” on libre.

I find the alarms are much better on Shuggah as you can change the parameters a lot more. But I do still like to look at the graphs on libre as when I’m troubleshooting I find them easier to navigate.

But I’ve never had to keep deleting and reinstalling the app or faffing around. And when everyone was getting the white screen of death with the update, it fortunately didn’t do anything at all to any of my set up but really did feel all of your pain!

Finally, when it comes to the changeover, I go into Shuggah and tell it to disconnect. I then go back into my iPhone and put Bluetooth back on libre, and then go back to step 1 and start all over again for the next two weeks.

I’ve never lost data, or had a problem and I’ve had it set up since mid may. In fact, the whole thing has transformed my mindset and my control. My Hba1c has come down from 66 to 58 in the same 3 months timeframe.

I also agree with what a lot of other people have been saying about the Shuggah algorithm - it’s much more accurate and in line with finger prick tests that the scan of the libre.

Hope nobody minds me putting my two penneth in. I’m not that techy so apologies if I’ve said the obvious.

 

[DEBBIESCOTT]

Hi all,

Here’s what I do. I discovered Shuggah in may before all the libre app problems and haven’t looked back since but I have the best of both worlds….

1) I activate every new sensor with the libre reader.

2) I then make sure blue tooth is “on” the libre app on my phone and start the sensor on the phone as well.

I’ve always activated my sensors using the libre reader and had my alarms on there, not on my libre app on my phone.

3) when the sensor has gone through its hour warm up I start a new sensor on Shuggah

This has always gone very smoothly but the key is waiting patiently for the status to turn to “connected”. It can be an anxious few minutes wait but it does it.

4) when I get a Shuggah reading I then go back to libre on iphone and knock blue tooth off so the Shuggah receiver is not fighting with the libre Bluetooth.

I then get Shuggah readings every minute on my phone and Apple Watch, as well as the ability to manually scan with either the reader (helpful in the middle of the night as it’s quicker than phone), or app on my iPhone. All I have to do is make sure I scan every 8 hours at least on my phone to join up all the graphs. All the data still pops through to the main libre view website even when the Bluetooth is “off” on libre.

I find the alarms are much better on Shuggah as you can change the parameters a lot more. But I do still like to look at the graphs on libre as when I’m troubleshooting I find them easier to navigate.

But I’ve never had to keep deleting and reinstalling the app or faffing around. And when everyone was getting the white screen of death with the update, it fortunately didn’t do anything at all to any of my set up but really did feel all of your pain!

Finally, when it comes to the changeover, I go into Shuggah and tell it to disconnect. I then go back into my iPhone and put Bluetooth back on libre, and then go back to step 1 and start all over again for the next two weeks.

I’ve never lost data, or had a problem and I’ve had it set up since mid may. In fact, the whole thing has transformed my mindset and my control. My Hba1c has come down from 66 to 58 in the same 3 months timeframe.

I also agree with what a lot of other people have been saying about the Shuggah algorithm - it’s much more accurate and in line with finger prick tests that the scan of the libre.

Hope nobody minds me putting my two penneth in. I’m not that techy so apologies if I’ve said the obvious.

Of course nobody minds
I haven’t got a scanner & don’t want to go back to scanning, if I have to delete the app every 2 weeks & reinstall it I will, not any bother
The only downside of having the alarms on shuggar & not on libre is they appear on my watch & phone but not on my apple car play screen

 

[Jordi77]

Have you installed the new update for iOS because I did and I don't have any problems with it and since I got the first problem I got in touch with Freestyle Libre and told them what happened and the next day the new update came out version 2.10.1 and it works fine just make sure that your phone has the latest updates as well and it should work fine for you all without a blank screen