Freestyle libre iPhone app

RMSko

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
It asks you want measurement you want to use when setting it up. :)
The UK version didn’t. The app said that since this was the UK it would use the UK unit of measurement. There was no ability to change it. Which country do you have and is it in English?
 

djking

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
The UK version didn’t. The app said that since this was the UK it would use the UK unit of measurement. There was no ability to change it. Which country do you have and is it in English?
Hi there. It was the UK version that I was using - I'm not sure if it's been released anywhere else?
 
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RMSko

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi there. It was the UK version that I was using - I'm not sure if it's been released anywhere else?
Hmmm - Are you sure it asked the unit of measurement? I have the app and it doesn’t allow a change to the unit of measurement. It says “ Your glucose unit of measurement is automatically set based on your country. Your country is United Kingdom Your unit of measurement is mmol/L”. Any thoughts?
 

djking

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hmmm - Are you sure it asked the unit of measurement? I have the app and it doesn’t allow a change to the unit of measurement. It says “ Your glucose unit of measurement is automatically set based on your country. Your country is United Kingdom Your unit of measurement is mmol/L”. Any thoughts?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure. It had two options when first setting it up: mmol/L and mg/dL. I can't change it now though, it says "Your country is United Kingdom. Your unit of measurement is mmol/L. I haven't actually used it yet as I need to wait another 7 days before my current sensor runs out.
To note though, I am used to mmol/L so that was the option I choose and I'm not sure if it would have forced me to mmol/L if I had not had selected it.
 

RMSko

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Unfortunately I definitely didn't have an option - it said it was set automatically. Is there anyone else using the UK version that remembers there being an option for unit of measurement?
 

RMSko

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Unfortunately I definitely didn't have an option - it said it was set automatically. Is there anyone else using the UK version that remembers there being an option for unit of measurement?
As it turns out it won’t matter. I’m using a US version sensor and the UK app won’t work with that anyway.
 

BananaK

Active Member
Messages
33
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Turns out that the sensors are geo locked. I have a UK App Store profile, and downloaded the app, but my sensors are Australian - no go. I’m a bit disappointed.

I’ve looked at buying sensors on eBay from the UK, but it’s even more pricey.

Just have to find my patience pants. I suppose.
 

djking

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Turns out that the sensors are geo locked. I have a UK App Store profile, and downloaded the app, but my sensors are Australian - no go. I’m a bit disappointed.

I’ve looked at buying sensors on eBay from the UK, but it’s even more pricey.

Just have to find my patience pants. I suppose.

Ah. ****. I thought I was golden as I had managed to install the app on my phone but today I've just applied a new sensor and I too am getting the "Incompatible Sensor" message when trying to add it to the iPhone. I'm very disappointed.
When I called Mediray last week, they said it would be within 6 months. OMG. Gutted!! That is way too long. I was told by them last year that it would be released early 2018. They never mentioned that it would only be for the UK!!!!!!!

I guess I could fork out the extra money and use Dexcom G5 again but don't really want the extra expense.... Are there any other CGMs out there that would work with the iPhone that is comparable in cost with the Libre?
 

RMSko

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Ah. ****. I thought I was golden as I had managed to install the app on my phone but today I've just applied a new sensor and I too am getting the "Incompatible Sensor" message when trying to add it to the iPhone. I'm very disappointed.
When I called Mediray last week, they said it would be within 6 months. OMG. Gutted!! That is way too long. I was told by them last year that it would be released early 2018. They never mentioned that it would only be for the UK!!!!!!!

I guess I could fork out the extra money and use Dexcom G5 again but don't really want the extra expense.... Are there any other CGMs out there that would work with the iPhone that is comparable in cost with the Libre?
What country are you in?
 

Scott-C

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,474
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Are there any other CGMs out there that would work with the iPhone that is comparable in cost with the Libre?

Have a sketch at www.ambrosiasys.com It lets you turn libre into cgm.

They do a small reusable transmitter called blucon for about 100 quid which sits on top of libre and bluetooths readings every 5 mins to their inhouse app LinkBlucon which has both android and ios versions.

The transmitter itself is good but the inhouse app is kinda basic. It's come in for some flak on their facebook and twitter sites so maybe check those out, it might have improved recently, don't know.

The transmitter works very well with xDrip+, alerts, calibration, the works, but that is only android. However, google iosxdripreader - there's a guy developing an ios version of xdrip+ and I'm pretty sure he's got it to take data from blucon but you'd need to check.

Also hat-tip to @queenofit who spotted https://spike-app.com/# designed to run on ios, it looks as if it's primarily designed to be used with dexcom but she mentioned on another thread that some users on facebook had mentioned it'll read libre/blucon too. Totally new kid on the block, so have no idea how good or bad it is. Haven't looked into it all as I don't use ios but might be worth a look, although, gotta say, it looked a bit like vapour-ware to me.
 

RMSko

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Also hat-tip to @queenofit who spotted https://spike-app.com/# designed to run on ios, it looks as if it's primarily designed to be used with dexcom but she mentioned on another thread that some users on facebook had mentioned it'll read libre/blucon too.
I'm trying to test the app with Freestyle Libre, but I'm not able to get it to work. Do you need to have a blucon setup to make this work, or will it read the libre sensor without needing a blucon?
 

Scott-C

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,474
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I'm trying to test the app with Freestyle Libre, but I'm not able to get it to work. Do you need to have a blucon setup to make this work, or will it read the libre sensor without needing a blucon?

Sorry, I've never used the spike-app app, so don't know, just mentioned it as something new which might be worth a look at. Don't have an ios phone so haven't tried it.

I get the impression from what I've seen that it's used for cgm purposes, so if it's going to work at all there would need to be a transmitter - whether it takes data from blucon, I don't know. I doubt it's set up to be able to manually scan libre, suppose you could ask the makers.

In passing, I see there's a February 9 twitter post from a user enthusing about getting stuff sent through the inhouse app linkblucon to his apple watch:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ambrosia_sys?lang=en

Ambrosia had a few demand problems meeting orders, but I ordered a spare blucon a week or two ago, and I got a usps tracking number within 3 days, so maybe they're on top of it now. It's worth thinking about getting one - so much more useful having it sent directly to phone than manually scanning. Don't know how good the ios version of linkblucon is, though.
 

RMSko

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Sorry, I've never used the spike-app app, so don't know, just mentioned it as something new which might be worth a look at. Don't have an ios phone so haven't tried it.

I get the impression from what I've seen that it's used for cgm purposes, so if it's going to work at all there would need to be a transmitter - whether it takes data from blucon, I don't know. I doubt it's set up to be able to manually scan libre, suppose you could ask the makers.

In passing, I see there's a February 9 twitter post from a user enthusing about getting stuff sent through the inhouse app linkblucon to his apple watch:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ambrosia_sys?lang=en

Ambrosia had a few demand problems meeting orders, but I ordered a spare blucon a week or two ago, and I got a usps tracking number within 3 days, so maybe they're on top of it now. It's worth thinking about getting one - so much more useful having it sent directly to phone than manually scanning. Don't know how good the ios version of linkblucon is, though.
Do you need a prescription for blucon? It looks like it will cost about $150/month. Is it covered by insurance?
 

Scott-C

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,474
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Do you need a prescription for blucon? It looks like it will cost about $150/month. Is it covered by insurance?

No prescription needed. Not covered by insurance (I'm in the UK, so we're NHS, they've not even heard of it). It's not a monthly cost. I bought mine about 9 months ago for a single one-off cost of $110 plus $25 shipping and it is still working fine. I just replace the cheap cr2032 watch battery every couple of weeks to keep it going. It's just a bit of electronics - an nfc reader and bluetooth aerial - I don't know much about electronics but there doesn't seem to be anything on it to wear out, apart from maybe the on/off button, so I wouldn't be surprised if it lasts for a few years.

Their website is confusing and needs to be updated. They appear to offer two products, blucon nightrider and blucon trans-am. I've got the re-usable nightrider version. They need to remove the stuff about the trans-am version: they're not actually selling it as far as I'm aware - it was meant to be a single use waterproof version which only lasted 14 days, but the monthly cost was ridiculous so it's not surprising that no-one bought it.

The nightrider isn't waterproof (because of the battery cover) so needs to be taken off for showers but it's not a big deal - I just use a cheap sticking plaster, some use armbands.

It's a no brainer for me - my local NHS area has just started doing libre on prescription so I'm getting full cgm functionality on a par with dexcom for nothing apart from that single one-off cost of £96.

I started a thread about it which has more detail:
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/getting-hypo-alerts-with-libre-blucon-and-xdrip.127195/
 

ilicitano

Newbie
Messages
2
Hi Scott

My name is Antonio, I answer from Spain. We have been using GlucoAngel with our son for about a year, and it works very well.