Thanks. I will give that a try.
@SherryAnn I found this that may explain the lack of the data uploading to the watch face. It has to do with battery life. This question is about the Cardiogram complication but the answer is generic.
[Apple Watch] How frequently does the Cardiogram complication update throughout the day?
We update the complication about as often as possible (Apple prevents third-parties from updating the complication too frequently). In WatchOS 3, Apple guarantees the complication will update at least 50 times per day. When the app is open on the phone (even in the background), the complication will update more frequently.
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I believe this wholeheartedly. Apple always is concerned with battery life. I find that tapping the screen to take me to the Dexcom app is no big deal. As long as I can get the reading, I am happy.
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I just wish I knew about this. I bought the watch so I could easily check my BG while on my bicycle. I really wanted to get BG to show up on my Garmin cycling computer but was too dense to figure out SPIKE or NightScout. I am a retired technician but was always about hardware- software applications are just tools that should do what they are supposed to do without a lot of fiddling.
The solution is simple, if you are doing a bike ride or something where you want to see the realtime blood glucose number just leave the Dexcom app open and it will update every 5 minutes just like the iPhone, showing you the big BG number, the arrow, and the graph, at your choice of 3 different scales. You can still see the time in the upper right corner of the screen, so you are not losing the watch function by leaving the Dexcom app open. Itâs much better than trying to see the little complication number on a watch face anyway.
But yes, we all wish the Apple Watch would update the complications more often even if it meant that the battery wouldnât last as long. The battery in mine lasts more than a day so the complications could update more frequently and still probably last a full day. There should be a setting to update more frequently with a warning that it would impact battery life.
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@MrMontag how do you keep the app open on the watch. I havenât found that option. It normally times out.
As far as the screen staying lit up, in Settings you can set the screen to stay lit for 70 seconds before it goes to the dimmed screen, but if you are doing something active it will stay lit anyway.
As far as staying on the Dexcom app, in Settings/General you can set it to stay on an app for 1 hour (it doesnât go back to the watch face for 1 hour)
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Thanks, I did that and used it during my Thursday morning workout. The once in a while update from Dexcom didnât show on workout. I am convinced that the Apple Watch engineers arenât really interested in users tracking metrics like BG, HR and workouts at the same time. I really miss my Garmin Fenix. If I couldâve figured out Spike or NightScout the Garmin wouldâve been perfect and the battery only needs to be charged once a week not every day like the Apple.
Dexcom could do us all a favor and work with other companies such as Garmin. Wishful thinking on my part. I find the extra step to get Watch data to Strava more than a little annoying. If itâs not on Strava it didnât happen!
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