Freestyle Libre 2 - constant false signal loss alarms

Katieemmahope

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Hi all,

I have been using my FL2 for a little while now, since February I think, available on the NHS as I am just about to start the fertility process for my girlfriend and I to have a baby, which is fab.

What is not so fab is for the last three or four sensors, my phone (samsung s9) has been adamant that I am having notification issues multiple times a day. It beeps (v. loudly) and says that my notifications are not currently available. I can dismiss the alarm, or click the button which takes me to the settings, but, dear reader, in full transparency, let me tell you, there is nothing on my phone not allowing notifications through. I know because shortly before or after, I will have been alerted by an alarm, so it's incorrect!!

Has anyone else had this as a problem, or managed to fix it?

I've called the number to speak to someone in the Czech Republic about it, but they just keep sending me new sensors....
 

In Response

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Unfortunately, you are not alone in having problems with lost signal alarms.
With other applications, I have become aware that more people experience Bluetooth problems with Samsung than any other manufacturer of phones. I understand this is not much help to you as few of us can afford to change our phones.

It is possible to turn off the loss of signal alarm. The phone can still be used to scan the sensor and the high and low alarms can be enabled. However, if your phone does lose signal with the sensor, you have to scan the sensor and, if you don't you may not get the high and low alarms. So, I guess, it depends how important the alarms are for you.
 

Katieemmahope

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Unfortunately, you are not alone in having problems with lost signal alarms.
With other applications, I have become aware that more people experience Bluetooth problems with Samsung than any other manufacturer of phones. I understand this is not much help to you as few of us can afford to change our phones.

It is possible to turn off the loss of signal alarm. The phone can still be used to scan the sensor and the high and low alarms can be enabled. However, if your phone does lose signal with the sensor, you have to scan the sensor and, if you don't you may not get the high and low alarms. So, I guess, it depends how important the alarms are for you.
Thank you for your reply! It's not just the signal loss alarm in my case, although that is one of the issues. The normal error is just it telling me all alarms are unavailable.... loudly and repeatedly, and annoyingly, as, the alarms are working fine and doing their own thing superbly.... sad to see its potentially a Samsung issue. Weird, also, that it hasn't been happening from the start, and it's got worse now....
 

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barrym

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Thank you for your reply! It's not just the signal loss alarm in my case, although that is one of the issues. The normal error is just it telling me all alarms are unavailable.... loudly and repeatedly, and annoyingly, as, the alarms are working fine and doing their own thing superbly.... sad to see its potentially a Samsung issue. Weird, also, that it hasn't been happening from the start, and it's got worse now....

Mine does this too. Solution suggested is remove app and reinstall! Some folk have said this worked for them, but you lose the 90 day history on the phone, which I'm not prepared to do at the moment,

All data is secure on LibreView server though, assuming you are using it.
 
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Katieemmahope

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Mine does this too. Solution suggested is remove app and reinstall! Some folk have said this worked for them, but you lose the 90 day history on the phone, which I'm not prepared to do at the moment,

All data is secure on LibreView server though, assuming you are using it.


No! Dont say that! The lady from Freestyle got me to do it yesterday, and she didnt tell me that! So I have lost everything also, it's made it worse now, so definitely dont do it. Are you on a Samsung?
 

barrym

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No! Dont say that! The lady from Freestyle got me to do it yesterday, and she didnt tell me that! So I have lost everything also, it's made it worse now, so definitely dont do it. Are you on a Samsung?

Not a Samsung, a Google Pixel. I'm not sure it's anything to do with the phone, more likely something set in the database that can't be under by mere mortals. Reinstalling wouldn't fix the phone!
 
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Katieemmahope

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Not a Samsung, a Google Pixel. I'm not sure it's anything to do with the phone, more likely something set in the database that can't be under by mere mortals. Reinstalling wouldn't fix the phone!

Boo! I've turned off both the error notification and the signal loss notification. here's hoping I didnt need them on....
 

barrym

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Be aware that my understanding is that once an alarm has been triggered, whether audible or not, a fresh scan is required to reset the sensor to alert you to the next time. Also the alarm will keep pestering you until you do the scan.

HTH
 

charleym

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I don't want to start a new thread so am adding to this one.

Almost every new sensor it's saying out of range. After 1 or 2 days it stops but I have to put up with non stop notifications until then and then it stops.

Has anyone had this and found an easy solution?

My sensor replacement time is around 11pm so then have to turn everything on my phone onto silent else it constantly alerts me all night.
 

Maggie_Eloise

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Type 2
I have the same problem. Alarm signal lost. It happens constantly. So annoying. So far 3 sensors replaced. But they still have the same problem. I really want alarms to work as I drive for a living and legally need levels to be 5 or above. And I sometimes have hypos when asleep. I have a Huawei P30 phone which they is compatible. I'm wondering whether to get one of their on scanners. Does anyone use one of these? And are they any good?
 

barrym

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I haven't used mine much on L1 or 2 phone is just so much better. The touch screen is rubbish. You get what you pay for I suppose. But to use it to record everything would be horrific.

Just my 2p worth.
 

Hopeful34

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Have had 2 readers for Libre 2, the first one rarely alarmed with high or low alarms, but kept alarming for signal lost. 2nd one constantly alarms for signal lost, although reader is next to me. Have had 2 sensors replaced, but no better. Readers are in short supply, so they won't replace it again.
 

Murrsturr

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Close app if open and restart your phone! I have a Pixel 6. A friend with an Iphone has the same single loss issues intermittently.. New to Libre 2. I started getting single loss alarm about 7 days into Libre 2 usage. Every 45 minutes or so as the phone was within arms reach. Restarted my phone over a day ago and no signal loss alarms since.. People seldom restart phones but rebooting when software misbehaves is the oldest trick in the book and it worked for me. Hope this helps. Friend not currently experiencing issue so can't confirm.
 
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Charlie27530

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Type of diabetes
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Been dealing with inane Libre II sensor issues for a few years now. Latest has been, "Signal Loss Alarm", and prompt to scan the sensor non-sense. Scanning the sensor stops the alarms for about five to ten minutes, and then the pest returns. It had been occurring intermittently for about three months. Nothing seemed to mitigate the recurrence. Then a week back Android pushed out a security update, followed by a new OS release. The Libre II phone app had a melt down. Last night the &#*! phone was alerting me every 15 minutes with a signal loss alarm.

After reading this thread, I tried shutting the phone down and restarting. No joy. The "Signal Loss Alarms" kept coming. Reread the messages here and noted it was necessary to close out the app before restarting. So closed the app and restarted. Again, no joy. The alarms resumed and the Red Bang (red colored exclamation point nest to the three horizontal bars in the upper left of the app screen display) remained. Then suddenly, the Red Bang vanished and thus far (two hours later) I have not been plagued with the recurring "Signal Loss Alarm". Yippee, Ki Yay!

I am not sure if anything I did made the Bang go away. Interestingly, it did vanish about five minutes after the last app shut down and rebooting the phone.

Phone is Pixel 6 - Android version 13
 

Bill_St

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Other apps can interfere. It is also necessary to clear cache as well as restarting everything.
 

bdpnlady

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1
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
I don't want to start a new thread so am adding to this one.

Almost every new sensor it's saying out of range. After 1 or 2 days it stops but I have to put up with non stop notifications until then and then it stops.

Has anyone had this and found an easy solution?

My sensor replacement time is around 11pm so then have to turn everything on my phone onto silent else it constantly alerts me all night.
I have the same problem, but when I apply a new sensor. Is there a delay when a new sensor is applied and it starts working properly? The alarm is very annoying.
 
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have the same problem, but when I apply a new sensor. Is there a delay when a new sensor is applied and it starts working properly? The alarm is very annoying.
I have the same problem having signal loss with Freestyle Libre2 but instead of phone I use a reader.
It took 30 minutes or more to get back the signal. It happened a few times with various sensors. I changed reader and same issue.
Can someone help?
 

Charlie27530

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
I have the same problem, but when I apply a new sensor. Is there a delay when a new sensor is applied and it starts working properly? The alarm is very annoying.
Your Glucose Meter Reader or the Phone app will not display a glucose reading until 60 minutes elapses after the first scan of the sensor with the Libre hand scanner or your phone with the Libre app.

After that initial delay time, my experience with multiple sensors, but not all has been the Libre handheld scanner will irregularly display, "a reading is not available and to try again later." Usually there is a time delay displayed to wait before trying to scan for a reading again. Some sensors operate two weeks without encountering such messages, others are so frequent, I gave up and start a new sensor.

The one thing I notice about sensors that are problematic, they frequently are accompanied with loss of blood following placement. This manifests as blood dripping from the sensor for a minute or so. More frequent occurrence of the error messages when attempting to read the sensor over the following days is correlated with the amount of blood loss. Increased blood loss correlates with increasing frequency of read errors. I can find no rhyme or reason for why hemorrhaging occurs with some sensors and not others.

Over the last few years the frequency of error messages declined dramatically as did the frequency of blood loss when placing a new sensor. I assumed my placement technique had improved or Abbot had improved production processes. Whatever, the issue abated.

Upon buying a compatible phone, the Libre App was installed. About six weeks back the phone app began alerting it could not communicate with the sensor (Loss of Signal alert).

Initially it seemed it was a distance problem as the alert was occurring when I would leave the phone at one end of the house and working at the other. Then during the night with the phone on the nightstand, the alerts started to occur. Scanning the sensor, and other efforts to stop the maddening intermittent midnight warnings of doom failed. Some nights all went well and the phone could be left at a distance without a sudden doomsday alert sounding. Other nights were sleepless or I walked around through the mall beeping like R2D2.

One thing that decreases the frequency of the problem is to close out the app, shut the phone off and restart the phone. Do not use the warm restart, shut the phone down. Soon as the phone is ready, launch the Libre app and scan the sensor. This does not entirely stop the problem with "Loss of Signal" but seems to reduce the frequency of occurrence on my phone. Also when the phone vendor pushes out new OS and Security updates, I recommend shutting the phone down after the update and restarting it from a known state. Again this helps reduce my occurrence of unwanted alarms, but does not entirely eliminate it. At least the phone only goes off every few hours versus every 10 minutes.

When in meetings and not wanting to be disturbed, I turn off the "Loss of Signal" alert in the phone app. This does not stop the "High Glucose", "Low Glucose", or "Urgent Low Glucose" alarms from sounding if the device is able to communicate with your phone,.
Warning: Before using the below instructions, consult
with your healthcare provider. He/she may prefer to
use another method of monitoring or have alternative

information better suited for your situation

To turn off "Loss of Signal" alarms, open the Libre app on your phone.

In the upper left of the app display you will see three short horizontal bars. Tap the bars.

That should open a new screen like the one shown below.

Screenshot_20220927-112640.png


Tap the "Alarms" menu item. That will open a screen like the one shown below.


Screenshot_20220927-113910.png



As you can see I have already turned off "Signal Loss Alarm". On your device
tap the line "Signal Loss Alarm". This will display a new screen where you

can use a slide switch to turn the alarm off or on.


Hope this helps.
 

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MuttNJeff

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To all previous posters in this thread - thanks! I was at a freestyle webinar this morning, then fitted the sensor, scanned it with my phone, got a reading after an hour, ready to see how it goes. Set up alarms. Sensor is on right arm, phone in left pocket or (latterly) within a metre of the sensor. Keeps giving signal loss alarms. Phoned local diabetes, told to phone freestyle if it recurred in next 30 minutes, it did. From my mnemonic you can assume that I'm a bit deaf, and modern digital phone codecs don't help. Spoke to someone, but I couldn't make out what she was saying, advised to try calling back. Got another customer service agent, still difficulty hearing, got details to call them back when I'm with someone who can hear better, local pharmacy was suggested.

Reading what is above, not a unique problem although scanning the sensor seems to work poorly through a warm shirt (ok if I strip and touch the sensor). for the moment I've disabled alarms, will try powering the phone off and restarting it.
 
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Niamh1

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122
talking about freestyle sensor 2 my latest sensors have been useless. my first sensor started bleeding and the second one is peeling off.