For those of you who are now using the latest G5 update you have noticed some nice improvements. However, the decision to override the Mute and Do Not Disturb functions of the iPhone is very worrisome. They have essentially taken something away from us, instead of given us something useful.
Now, we are awoken on many nights for every single alert and alarm on our G5. Do I need to be awoken at 3am to calibrate? Is that an emergency? Or at 4am that my sensor is going to expire? Really?
Dexcom, can you give us on option to turn this new āfeatureā OFF. I was very happy the way it was before. And for those who like this feature they can turn it ON.
The Do Not Disturb function is a VERY powerful feature of the iPhone, and Dexcom has taken that away from us without our consent.
My biggest problem is that the alarm is VERY loud. I understand the point, but we should have an option.
I was at the airport yesterday and the phone was in my pocket, beeping like crazy, despite the fact that I had the watch connected to it.
For better or worse, I suspect the FDA had a hand in this. Iām probably one of the few who is happy about this, as my daughter can no longer blow off her alerts with Do Not Disturb. She, of course, is none too pleasedā¦
I agree with you @anon85331563. The larger issue here is Dexcomās decision to shut down your choice. I do think the 55 alarm should attract our attention, however.
Glad Iām lazy about updating my apps. Looks like current v. is 1.5.1 and Iām still on v. 1.2.4. I may keep holding off. They do tout that you can select vibrate-only for the alarm now, which may help a little. But I agree, this Do Not Disturb feature should be an option not a hardwired default.
I know this is likely an exceedingly remote option, but should mention it just in case it could work for someoneā¦
If youāre willing to switch to an Android phone, you can ditch Dexcomās app altogether and use the hacker community open-source app xdrip (or its variation xdrip+).
The various alarms and notifications are much, much more configurable, allowing for everything you all would like, and a lot more (like, for example, custom ringtones for each alarm type).
Not to mention a ton of other incredible features not available in Dexcomās app, direct reading collection from an Android Wear smartwatch (no phone needs to be present), and a very responsive development group.
If youāre smartphone agnostic, Iād highly recommend the switch. The downside is, of course, thereās no warranty, guarantees, if a bug gives you totally inaccurate readings youāre own your own, etc. etc. etc.
The Vibrate option is very misleading and perhaps malfunctioning. Even alarms set to vibrate will sound a loud alarm if you do not dismiss them on the phone. The sensor expiration alarm is a loud audible alarm regardless of your settings.
Also, if you dismiss an alarm on your watch it has no effect. You have to dismiss it from your phone. Otherwise it repeats every five minutes.
The alarm is SO LOUD now, regardless of vol setting on phone; itās awful. I now have to turn my alerts to vibrate manually if Iām in a meeting, seminar, doing clinical work, or even at a coffee shop working on my laptop, because itās so disruptive. Itās also annoying to have to switch each alarm on/off separately, and to have to locate the right alert to switch back to each time. Ugh. Awful.
Because Dexcom had a few receivers that malfunctioned and did not alarm now we are all paying the price with these rediculously loud alarms on our iPhones. They really need some type 1s to test these releases.
I was an early complainer to Dexcom over this G5 app update. After several calls to guys I know there, they finally admitted they āmessed up and were working on a new update to correct the issue.ā Of course, I lost enough sleep now that I have removed the G5 app from my phone and gone back to the Medtronic Enlite in the meantime.
Such careless untested updates should never be allowed to leave, and rolling back the change should have been easy with an update following immediately. For me, it is a bad mark on Dexcom.
As to other ānice featuresā - they still havenāt addressed the most asked for ones, like event data and scrolling in portrait mode. And the watch update defaulting to 1 hour is not to my liking - especially since they do not save the last selected period, they cheapened the look of the Apple Watch display, and the crown twist to change the period is āiffyā at best.
If they didnāt make such a darned good CGM sensor, I would have eliminated them from my life at this point.
Being safe and keeping oneās mental health while managing diabetes is definitely a tightrope walk. When things get too intrusive, we quit using them.
I hated the previous sound profiles of the G5, but got used to keeping my phone on mute. The idea that muting my phone isnāt enough to protect me from those horrendous alarms is enough to make me quit using Dexcom. Iāll soon be on Medicare with no CGM coverage and I have been wondering what it would be like to go back to no CGM. (Itās been 8 years for me.)
I am currently using an unused G4 transmitter that I had from my free upgrade to G5. It is annoying to carry the receiver, but I am starting to wish that the unused G5 transmitters on my shelf were G4.
I reverted to the G4 Share system due to longer transmitter life and range as well as an easier to look at screen during sleep time. I donāt value the phone app as much as many here, so I know itās easier for me to go back to the G4. It is an option ā Dexcom still sells the G4 Share.
@kmichel I forgot that they changed the watch to one hour instead of the usual 3 hour. These changes are just careless.
Also, even if you are wearing the watch if an alert is triggered the phone still vibrates. And if itās laying on a countertop itās loud. What the point of the watch if the phone still vibrates. This is not how Apple designed their system.
Can you explain briefly the main differences between G4 share and G5? Is it that with the G5 you donāt need to use the receiver at all? I know itās been explained to me before but I forget. This conversation is reminding me of all the reasons I didnāt like cgm when I used it in past. Am now approved for the G5 at negligible cost-- I just have to call and ask them to ship itā¦ but still not convinced I really want itā¦ leaning towards no at this point still
