Dexcom app alerts not working properly

Type 1 and LADA
1

does anyone use multiple alert schedule on the dexcom app and find it unreliable in that it does alarm when it’s supposed to?

I have a night profile set to alert me if my sugar hits 7mmol between 10pm and 7am - with the sound alarm, And the default profile for all other times is on vibrate. I don’t want my alarm going off while at work and cause attention.

But I find that when it switches to my night schedule, it doesn’t sound in the time range, and when it sounds it’s several hours later. I’m pretty sure I havent slept pass the alarm.

I also find that the first high I get after the schedule reverts back to normal, it doesn’t go into vibrate mode but instead sounds. So my night settings end at 7am in the morning, and I will still get a sounding alarm at 8am when it’s suppose to vibrate.

It’s so annoying that it’s unreliable.

At the moment I used dexcom g7 app but I found similar issues on the g6 app. Anyone know how to fix this?

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I don’t know how to answer your question (I don’t use the alerts in the app), but I just got myself a SugarPixel last week and I LOVE IT! You can customize alerts and the hours it will sound. It has a vibrating puck you can put under your pillow/mattress and audible alerts as well.
(I’m not a spokesperson or anything, just happy with this purchase!)

SugarPixel – CustomTypeOne.com

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Thanks, for the recommendation.

I’m still surprise how unreliable the alert for the app can be. Judging by the lack of replies I guess I’m probably in the minority bucket who uses the time based schedule alerts.

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I only use the low alarm, and I haven’t monitored the alarm that closely. I use multiple alarms with xdrip because it goes to my watch and I can see by BG there. I mostly use the rate of rise and fall alarms. At night I use the SugarPixel, but also I wake up when I get below 70.
Mike

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I think the problem is only when I use the scheduler the app. If I had just one primary alarm setting then it works but this isn’t ideal because I don’t need it to alarm while I’m awake😕

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I use to sleep thru my alarms too. I still would if it wasn’t for the Sugar pixel mentioned .
Its alarm is so annoying that it would wake a dead person. Besides the varying alarm levels there are different display types. Pictured are the two I use. Straight glucose durning the day and the glucose with time durning the night.

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I love Sugar Pixel and have them everywhere. One on my nightstand, one in the living room, one on my desk at the office, and one on the dashboard in my car. That was over the top, and I removed it after about 3 months. These are so much better than looking at a phone display or a watch display.

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I am using loop software with CamAPS but I turn all alarms off except one that’s a very low alarm at 3.1. I’ve found dexcoms apps are WAY TOO unreliable as to be dangerous and because I LOVE xdrip+ I send all the cgm data to xdrip+ and have that take care of my alarms, it never misses and you can have it “force speaker” meaning it doesn’t matter what volume your phone has on currently xdrip will force it max volume and override any other settings. Xdrip also allows sounds of my choosing and over all is a far better and safer experience. I also have xdrip send data to nightscout and they both send data back and forth to each other. I have my computer monitor all the time and nightscout while I’m at home, you can also use sugar pixel as well. The best idea any type one can do is export your data in real time and have it work for you on things like watches, computers, sugar pixel and phones. There is so much you can do and many ways to do it, so really all you need to do is ask yourself what would make my life easier and then set about to make it happen. If you need a hand configuring anything feel free to ask myself or others on the forum

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What would you say is the easiest way to get some alerts sounding on my iPhone based on a time range? I’m not technical so I don’t know how to go fiddling with xdrip. :sweat_smile:. Is there a relatively straightforward way I can achieve this?

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What software do you currently have on your iPhone, and what version of IOS are you running? As far as dexcom goes usually it won’t alarm because it’s using the Media Alarm so if you (say) watch videos on your phone and turn the volume down, or you have it turned down for some other reason then dexcom will also be quieted. This has always been a problem for myself as I’m constantly using the phone for everything and it’s hard to keep track of what the volume is set at. This is why I like xdrip as it has Force Speaker on it. I imagine it’s the same on iPhone, and if it is you can find out which volume it’s using and put that on max before (say) you go to bed and it will alarm for you. This might be the best solution for you, at least at first we should try that. From a quick search it seems iPhone has a few volumes as well: one for Media, one for alerts and alarms and notifications. Find out which one dexcom uses.

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Happens to me. Frustrating at best. I get up a lot at night to pee and I always check my numbers, cause the alarm at night is unreliable. It simply doesn’t sound. Yes, I have checked and rechecked all the settings.
Perhaps next model will be better. Meanwhile, I just kind of grin and bear it for the good times.

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I’m on iOS 18.5, I have the dexcom and tandem tslim app.

I don’t think this is my problem specifically, I usually wake in the middle of the night and check my reading on the phone and at that time I’m not using the phone for anything

I recall in order to use xdrip, I have to do some tedious configuration, is that not the case?

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I remember why I’m not using xdrip, it wasn’t because of the technical setup it was because it wasn’t apple compatible. Does anyone know whether there is an iOS version?

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As your on iPhone AND G7 this makes things difficult however, you can still use and setup nightscout because you can export in realtime using dexcoms Share facility. This also means you can buy a sugar pixel (looks like a cool alarm clock). I would do this as you sit one next to your bed and put one somewhere else in the house, they are easy to setup because you just add a follower in dexcom share them enter that data into the sugar pixel and now you will have reliable alarms that you can create custom setsups for. Also they have a vibration pad you can put in your pillow if you want to setup alarms that wake you up and not the entire house, additionally these things are very difficult to sleep through. Check out the sugarpixel. John70 and Allison (above) have already posted in answer to you with pictures and links to sugarpixel. Again I can’t recommend them enough.

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Yes, xdrip has been ported to iOS, but installing apps on apple has some drawbacks. Called xdrip4ios, here is some of the documentation: https://xdrip4ios.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

As you will see, you need to join a Facebook group to get any help with installation, and you may need to build the code yourself if there are no available invitations on TestFlight. I’m not sure it is worth the effort if your only interest in xdrip is for the alarms.

I use xdrip on android myself, and think it is a great app if you can deal with the relatively poor documentation and support. This may be easier on iOS if you are willing to join Facebook (I am not) so I don’t know.

That said, I question whether the Dexcom app is as buggy as you are suggesting. Dexcom is in the process of recalling any of their receivers that may have a malfunctioning alarm speaker, and I find it hard to believe they would accept any bug in their app that fails to generate an alarm. Are you absolutely positively sure that you are not ignoring the alarm? Have you talked to Dexcom about it? If you are happy with the Dexcom app and don’t want xdrip for other reasons, then I would start there by calling Dexcom to debug what is wrong with your usage of the app.

If there really is a bug in the Dexcom app that they are not willing to fix, then a simple fix would be to leave your app in silent mode, but use your Dexcom receiver at night with alarm on full while your phone is charging. All alarming would be handled by your receiver instead of the app.

Finally, I have to say that the Sugar Pixel may be a good solution for some, and a single sugar pixel next to your bed does sound like another reasonable solution, similar to using a Dexcom receiver for night use only. But for myself, the idea of scattering them in every room of my house and car would be a non-starter.

Instead of internet connected nightscout devices at fixed locations (sugarpixel) I far prefer to have a single reporting device attached to my body, namely my wristwatch. This makes my BG available on my wrist at all times and in all places, every room or outside of my home and garage, inside my car, work, shopping, etc. I count on my wristwatch and cellphone equally.

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Thanks, I will have a look at this but it would be a pain to have to carry around another item when travelling. So if I can get something working on my phone, that would be ideal. But I may get one for when I’m at home. Thanks for the recommendation. I’m not in the states, does anyone know whether there are any local suppliers in Australia? I read on the website they do ship internationally but would be good if I can pick one up locally.

Can i confirm for sugar pixel I need to get it working on nightscout before it will work? And in order to connect to nightscout i need to subscribe to some sort of database like Heroku/Mongo? Or is it just the dexcom app is sufficient?

Since switching to G7, my controls have gone downhill as I’ve been missing the alarms. I wake up in the middle of the night and my sugar levels are high and nothing blasting from my phone.

Honestly, I need to do a bit more testing while I’m up and awake to be certain. But i do notice the alarm sounds are very soft since switching to G7 so something’s definitely changed between G6 and G7 alarms, and I can see myself sleeping through those. I’ve set it to override my phone settings and still terribly soft. I did a bit of googling and someone pointed out that the volume of alerts on the G7 app is tied to the media volume on the phone and not to the ring/alert volume. This is rather silly and I see this as a flaw in the design, why would you associate a critical alert alarm to media volume settings? If i turn my phone down or even to normal volume, thats not loud enough to cause awareness.

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I’m running iOS 18.5 and Dexcom G6 1.14 with an alert schedule similar to yours. Since you posted I’ve busted my phone for vibrating instead of playing the alert for a low at night. In my experience the high alarms have been mostly, not always, working but give up at some point. So yeah, unreliable.

Playing alerts as media is a change. I helped someone who wanted to run a cable from their kids phone to a speaker in their room to hear the alerts and it didn’t work because apple doesn’t play notification/ringer sounds through headphone/speakers. Tough to know if this was Apple or Dexcom’s change. Here’s Dexcom’s list of things that can affect the alerts What are the recommended Dexcom G7 iPhone settings? | Dexcom

Can you set alerts on a schedule in the Tandem app or on the pump?

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Thanks for confirming that. I have already gone through the dexcom settings previously and none made a difference.

I can set alarms but not by time window which is what I need.

Have you tried this on the G7 app? I actually think it should work because its connected to the media sound not the ringer/alert sound. I tested this by putting on my headphones and causing an alarm, and the alarm sounded via the headphones. But then again, when my phone rings and I have my headphones on, the ringing also comes through my headphones. So I’m not quite sure why it wouldn’t play on the speaker for your scenario.

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I’m close to making a purchase for sugarpixel :sweat_smile: given all the recommendations from all you good folks above. Does anyone know whether they do go on sale?

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This was a couple years ago, before the G7. It’d totally work today. Just saying something changed.

Last time I looked at the Sugarpixel it looked like the “company” was one guy selling direct. They’re neat but depend on an internet connection to get your data from the Dexcom cloud every 5 minutes. Better than nothing but it isn’t guaranteed to work, especially in a travel situation.