This was my problem too. iPhone version not compatible with Dexcom6.
@pstud123 I am definitely aware that it’s not a good idea to rely on an unsupported phone for alerts. The problem is that I had no idea I had switched to an unsupported phone.
While the app is unavailable for me to download from the Google Play store, I only discovered this after having gone through this debacle.
When I transferred my Google account from a supported phone (Pixel 3XL) to an unsupported phone (Pixel 5a), all of my apps migrated seamlessly onto my new device without any alerts or indicators that the Dexcom software that installed was incompatible. This is Dexcom’s fault. The rep told me that what should have happened is that the app should not have automatically installed, and I would have been unable to download it. That’s a critical flaw.
The T:Slim X2 is designed to be paired with a maximum of two items. The primary pairing must be either a pump or a Dexcom receiver (but not both). The second item is an auxiliary device like a phone or some other monitor. So I have the pump paired as my primary and the phone as my auxilliary. So through my phone, I use both the T:connect app AND the Dexcom G6 app. T:connect doesn’t use alarms, deferring entirely to the pump for that responsibility (and the pump is not very loud, nor does it differentiate between lows @ 80 mg/dl and urgent lows @ 55 mg/dl) whereas the Dexcom app has the extremely alarming siren which can wake even this vampirically heavy sleeper. That’s why I use both apps.
I know how the dual channel transmitters of the G6 and t:slim work. Both use tech that’s now 5 year old. I use the G6 receiver. It’s software is crude compared to the Libre receiver which costs 1/4 as much. (I’m an electronics engineer with a computer and security background.)
I’ve been burned so often doing thousands of corporate hardware replacements that the first thing I check before I do one is to see whether the hardware is officially “supported” by the sw. We’re doing this now with Windoze 12 and watching the cost rapidly rise with each nearly-new PC that doesn’t meet Microsoft’s spec and each app update that make it no longer work well with others.
The Tandem tconnect app and the Dexcom G6 app have never been tested for full compatibility and interoperability and submitted to the FDA for simultaneous use. I know that the FDA is not staffed to check the code of systems for integrity, that software and firmware isn’t required to be certified by a recognized authority for basic integrity, security or reliability.
The FDA requirement for the t:slim being an acceptable alternative receiver for the G6 receiver was that it had to duplicate or exceed the alarm tone characteristics of the Dexcom receiver, which doesn’t have a siren tone.
There’s no such requirement for auxiliary receivers because they are supposed to supplement, not substitute for the primary receivers.
I’m still amazed that Dexcom can claim they have apps for iOS and Android, but bury the fact that less than 5% of Android phones are “supported”, and only Apple and Windows computers are able to run their reporting software. What’s "compatible " are the few phones separately tested by Dexcom or Tandem - phones with proprietary OSs or proprietary modifications of standard OSs. That’s the kind of hacked-together, not-written to standards software that might have been acceptable 10 years ago but not today.
That any Google brand phone running Google’s own operating system isn’t “compatible” seems like Dexcom and Tandem aren’t trying at all to establish compatibility with Android, but with “premium” phones as they do with Apple.
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I routines see reminders that the Dexcom may me incomparable with the latest OS on my iPhone (12 Pro with version 15.4) but i have not seen any glitches yet. It alarms: 2 two beeps for high, 3 for low, and 5 for very low. It only gives one somewhat quite beep it it loses contact which rarely happens, if I’m lying on the transmitter. I probably don’t wake up to that alarm if it happens when I’m deeply asleep. But I don’t really want to get woken up for that unless it lasts.
My whole mobile system is down for the 5G transition. I’m working on fixing it tonight. Here’s the report a problem page for Dexcom. @SophieCat sent it to me a few weeks ago.
Really?!?! Oh crap. I better find that receiver. Thanks for the heads up that terrible disappointment is coming.
Yeah I’m not exactly happy, but overall the Dexcom has been a game changer for managing type 1 diabetes so I accept it when things go sideways and hope for the best.
As for how Dexcom G6 app ended up on my new (incompatible) phone, I didn’t do anything. I simply logged into my google account on the new phone, and it downloaded all my apps automatically. That’s part of why this all comes as such a shock, both to me and to the tech support rep. It’s not like I sideloaded it in some way to circumvent any protections. Google did it on its own.
Incidentally, for those with iPhones, the local tech I spoke with said that compatibility shouldn’t be an issue with any iOS. Its the variations in Android hardware that cause hiccups. (I’m sure you know this intimately with your experience configuring Windows PCs).
By the way we just bought a new laptop that’s eligible (and capable) of being upgraded to Windows 11, but I’ve not read any compelling reasons to upgrade since it seems W11 is the first step towards “OS-as-subscription service”. I’m still using my product code from Office 2013 (which just worked yesterday on my new laptop, incidentally-- but only because I still had the 2014 email with the download link) because paying $10/month (forever) to use Microsoft Word is nonsense.
I’m gonna try this
Have you considered trying xDrip instead?
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I read this entire thread and was ready to say this exact sentiment.
It doesn’t matter what percent of Android phones work with the Dexcom app, because Xdrip is ridiculously better anyway and works on literally any Android phone still capable of running. Minimum system requirement is something like Android 4, which is now 11 years old. Xdrip has statistics, completely customizable notifications, completely customizable aesthetics, your glucose always on top in your notifications and visible even when the notification bar is closed if you want it, a widget! (did Dexcom ever get one of those?? They didn’t last I checked), visible system information, etc…
I’ve tried twice to go back to the Dexcom app, to see what I was missing, and can’t stand it. I’m not sure how such a big medical device manufacturer can make such a crappy, featureless app.
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But you added all the good stuff I left out.
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Never heard of xDrip. I will check it out.
Lets redirect to existing topic on installing xDrip, since off topic for installation details.
I’ll try that next, @MM1, if this doesn’t work. Thanks for the recommendation. I think it works with xDrip, but I haven’t done a lot of looking around at what I am installing. I got this phone for free, so I am an Android user now. 
If I can get running water this week, on top of Dexcom, I’m back in business!
I’m doing some desperate installations now. I had a low BG last week where I woke up thinking that I was trapped inside the UI from work. I’ve been staring at the UI too much. It was a terrible experience. I need CGM back. Maybe I’m an Xdrip user now.
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So, the build your own Dexcom App works, just make sure your using version 1.8.0.4 if your in the US. I ran it on a Google Pixel 6, which the Dexcom app is incompatible with. But, I think XDrip is still worth exploring.
Current stable build is here. Download the .apk on your phone:
Thank you.
Dave
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty - power is ever stealing from the many to the few. - Wendell Phillips
I was diagnosed with Steroid Induced Diabetes and was started on insulin right away. I didn’t “develop” hypoglycemia unawareness overtime, it was right away. I would be at 43-40 before I suddenly felt slightly off or the top back of my head hurt. Perhaps I’m not the norm in this, since I have read this theory about unawareness before, but that’s how it was for me. That’s why it wasn’t too long before they got me on the Dexcom. I also have MS, and don’t know if that ever plays a part in my not being aware of hypoglycemia symptoms, even from the get go.
Now being able to see readings on the Dexcom, this also is true for me even if my blood sugar drops at a fast rate rather than slowly over an extended period of hours.
I too find it worrisome when Dexcom reads me at a higher level and I do a finger stick and find I’m already 54 or below. Just this morning I wonder if that 90 minutes of readings at “75-74” was actually at 55-54, as when I woke and did finger stick I was at 54. But if I change my alarm settings then I awoken, as is my husband, many more times a night from levels in the seventies which is where I actually want to be. So I don’t know what the answer is, except I wish the Dexcom could be more accurate.
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My husband just got the iPhone 13 pro, before realizing it’s not listed as Dexcom compatible. He didn’t know to check. However, it’s been a week and so far his Dexcom Follow app is working. I hope it continues, as I count on him to wake me at night when I sleep through alarms.
This may be a dumb question but, What happens when DexcomG7 comes out? Do we get notified and upgraded?