Scanning the freestyle libre

Nat...

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Sometimes when I scan my libre it scans straight away through my clothes and through a phone case. However sometimes it doesnt scan at all even when I hold it straight against it with no phone case on. It's so frustrating when you just want to check your glucose and it's not scanning.
Does anyone have any advice or experience with this?
 

Rokaab

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,250
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
When I first started using the libre (3ish years ago) I had this problem all the time with my phone, it was really awkward needed to be virtually touching the sensor to get anywhere with it (there was a large amount of grumbling involved) - whilst the abbott reader could happily scan it through a big coat (I have both)

Unfortunately I can't tell you how I fixed it though :(, I suspect an app update (you should have the most uptodate one anyway if you have auto-updates turned on) or phone update made it work better for my phone - admittedly I tend to prefer using the reader anyway just because its a lot smaller and more discreet - phones now-a-days are huge - I do still scan every 8 hours with the phone though as its app is much better for looking at the data
 

Jaylee

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
18,647
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Sometimes when I scan my libre it scans straight away through my clothes and through a phone case. However sometimes it doesnt scan at all even when I hold it straight against it with no phone case on. It's so frustrating when you just want to check your glucose and it's not scanning.
Does anyone have any advice or experience with this?

Hi Nat,

I've never used the Abbott scanner. I have always used my phone.

It could sometimes be I bit hit & miss on my old device.. It was easier lining it up wearing a tee.

My old phone was precisely where the camera lense was.
The phone I have now has the NFC arial in the battery, so looking at the back of the phone it's anywhere on the Samsung embossed logo, right hand side of the case.
I rarely scan now except to initialise a sensor. I did invest in a Miaomiao 2 which does all the scanning then sends the data via Bluetooth to my phone, updating every 5 minutes, saving on the "contortion act" & giving a CGM setup experience.

Edited to add, you could try switching off wifi & Bluetooth on your phone to see it that improves consistency in scanning?
 
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