I have the first g4 receiver. I don’t have the one with share. So g5 will not work with it correct?
Unfortunately not.
I appreciate all the info you ar giving. I thought that eliminating the receiver was what I wanted to do too, and since my insurance will change (and back to deductible) on 1/1/16, I called Dexcom and told them that my G4 receiver was on ‘low battery mode’ (wink wink, nudge nudge). But now that I see there is no ‘silent mode alarm’ with the G5 when used only on a phone. . .I’m wondering what I should do now. They sent me TWO G5 transmitters, but no G5 receiver because Edgepark (supplier) told me I was not eligible to replace the receiver until 2/16. I don;t want to have my phone ‘on’ while I sleep (or, more correctly - I don;t want to turn off the night-time ‘do not disturb’ on my phone – but I guess I am going to have to if I want to use the G5 transmitter and get slams while I sleep. OR I can just keep using the G4 until it really does die. . .but the truth is that I would prefer to do without the receiver. . . .
I’m a bit confused here. I was told that the G5 transmitter would not work with ANY receivers other than a G5 receiver. I just received the G5 transmitter, but do NOT have the G5 receiver, though I do have the G4 SHARE receiver. How do I update it to receive from the G5 transmitter?
You need to call Dexcom for an upgrade code & instructions on how to upgrade the software of the G4 w/share receiver to work with the G5. Once you do that, the receiver will no longer work with the G4 transmitters.
Thanks. Wow. It get so complicated, especially since I only have the G5 transmitter and not a receiver, and my G4 transmitter is still active. I guess I can TRY the G5 on my phone and decide from there if I want to switch the G4 receiver and stay with the G5.
Mike. . .is what you are showing the G5 ‘follow app’, or the ‘G5 app’ itself?
Is there any discussion about the battery life of the G5 transmitter? I saw a post that said something about it lasting only 3-4 months. . . and I thought it was odd that they sent me TWO transmitters when I thought I was only getting one. Is that Dexcom’s way of saying, “We know the battery doesn’t last that long”?
You are correct. Apparently the change to Bluetooth has decreased its battery life (hence 2)…also the G5 transmitter is slightly thicker than the newest G4.
I had heard the G5 “expires” after 90 days There may be some life after that, but I got the impression it shuts down
This is a pic of the G5 push notification from the G5 app on the iPhone. You get the high, low, and time for a calibration notifications from the G5 iPhone app. What you don’t get is your actual number and/or graph. In order to get that, you need the Follow App.
Of course, once they release the Apple Watch version of the G5 App we should be good to go.
Any timetable on that release, @mikep?
no, all I’ve been told is that they are working on it.
I don’t have an Apple Watch, but I actually use both the G5 app and the Share app on my iPhone. One of my primary uses is to keep tabs on my BG while biking. I have my phone in a holder on my handlebars with the display set to the Share app. The black trend arrows are much easier to read at a glance than that round thing with the teeny little pointer, and I really rely on that trend info when I’m riding as I’m subject to having my BG plummet during medium-heavy exercise.
Update: I will be speaking to the G5 Mobile development team this evening to offer them insight and feedback from an actual long time user. I have much to offer them and hope they will listen.
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How did you arrange that, @Anthony? I’ve often had comments that I’ve wanted to make to the development team/product manager. When I tried, I was kept insulated from them by customer service.
We users have so much to offer but I’ve always felt the product team wasn’t interested. I hope they listen to you, too.
I am a software developer myself and understand the importance of good user interface design. However, bridging the gap between a Developer and a User is often difficult. I have the advantage of being both in this case so I have much to offer them in terms of feedback.
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Wow, that’s awesome. We all definitely appreciate your voice representing us in this! Please update once you’re done speaking with them.
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UPDATE:
I just spoke with the G5 Mobile App team at Dexcom and I feel we accomplished a lot in terms of information exchange. Here are the topics we discussed.
G5 Mobile App losing a connection to the iPhone
I expressed how I often lose my connection to my iPhone overnight. Even though the distance to my iPhone during sleep is 15’ (within the 20’ limit) I still lose a connection every other night. They feel it may be due to a soft reset of the G5 app on my iPhone during the night due to a memory leak. After this reset I lose the connection for the rest of the night. I’m going to work with them this week to narrow down whether the G5 app is leaking memory or if its another one of my apps.
Apple Watch Support
They are in fact actively working on the G5 Apple Watch app. I expressed to them how the G4 watch app was a great first generation, but that the Follow watch app is a poor downgrade. The Follow app is not for the D patient for many reasons. For one, its tethered to the internet and it is not timely. I often look at my watch and either have to start the app or tap the screen or do something to get a real value. These were my suggestions:
- Ensure that when you raise your wrist that a timely value shows up. No hitting a button, tapping the screen etc.
- If for some reason the value is stale, show some color indicator to convey that the value is old. Don’t just show the last value timestamp. Why should we have to do the math? Just show us with a simple symbol that this value is good to go. Glance and move on!
- Complications - currently there is an Apple limitation as to how many times a day a complication can get updated. So, its on their radar, but apple needs to be more lenient there.
- Can the Dexcom talk directly to the Watch? There are things that can connect directly to the watch, like bluetooth headphones, without the need for the iPhone. Not sure if Apple has opened this up to third parties yet.
- Watch alerts - I expressed to them that too many watch alerts can be counter-productive. Alert me when i really need to be alerted, Highs and Lows. Everything else, do not alert and merely show it on the G5 Mobile App. Alerts on the watch are experienced very differently than alerts on your phone. You can become very alert insensitive with the watch if there are too many. Use them sparingly when needed. All else, leave it on the phone.
G5 Mobile App on the phone (any phone)
My main suggestion to them was to use the real estate more aggressively and show us more details. Here are my suggestions:
- Show in a corner how many days/hours/minutes until the sensor dies. And show it All the time so we know at all times. Show it on the watch too - why not.
- Tell me in detail how much longer is the warm up time. Show a countdown timer, in addition to the current clock image. So, I don’t have to guess. Currently its One circle that represents 2 hours which is odd.
- Make that BG graph Interactive! - pinch and zoom - make use of that apple/android API. I don’t want to hold my phone sideways. It’s not meant to be held sideways. Sure, if I want to see detail I will but not minute to minute.
Emergency Extend
My last suggestion was regarding the 7 day sensor shutdown. Yesterday I wanted to hit the gym before the gym closed. Just as I was leaving the house my sensor session was over! I could put on a new sensor but then I would have to wait 2 hours but my gym would be closed. So, I just hit the gym blind like the old days. Wouldn’t it be great if the Dexcom had an EMERGENCY EXTEND feature? We all know that the sensor keeps on ticking like a champ beyond day 7. Give us the option to extend it by 2 hours or more in extreme situations. What if I was stranded in a snow storm and then my sensor session was over??? No way - give the option to extend it - with some disclaimer saying hey you are past the FDA 7 days and you are on your own. I really would like that feature and I’m sure many of you would too. 
Thats it for now - I’ll update more later.
Anthony
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One feature that I really like about the android watch app compared to the apple watch app is that it shows how many minutes have gone by since the last update (especially when closely monitoring a low correction) and the change in points since the last check (-3 mg/DL or +13 mg/DL). I find that although the graph and trend arrow is nice–it is also very helpful to quickly see the change in points. Great post @Anthony! I love what you have done and am glad to have someone close to the source. Keep up the great posts!