G6 receiver died... now trying XDrip

Diabetes Technology Glucose Monitoring
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Dexcom tech support very patiently worked with me for several hours today when I had a hard “Signal Loss” on my Dexcom G6 receiver.

After rebooting the receiver and seeing that it wasn’t blinking the bluetooth icon in the upper left corner they had me find a Cellphone that could run the Dexcom app and that turned out to be my high school-age daughter’s iphone. Which pretty much instantly connected with my Dexcom transmitter. This troubleshooting showed the problem was the Dexcom G6 receiver.

My G6 receiver was over a year old so Dexcom wouldn’t replace it under warranty.

New G6 receiver is being processed by insurance and my pharmacy… not clear yet if it’ll be covered by insurance or if I’ll pay full list price for a G6 receiver.

In any event I took my newest portable device, an Android tablet that must be 8 years old now, and it’s not compatible with the official Dexcom G6 App, so I put xDrip on it. It installed and set up and paired up with my sensor/transmitter quite efficiently and seems to be working fine.

Now the question: Is there any way I can upload to Dexcom Clarity with xDrip?

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I love Xdrip! It’s got so much more information and customization options than the Dex G6 app.

Click on the hamburger menu in the top left corner. The three stacked lines to open up all the options.

Settings > Cloud Upload > Dexcom Share Server Upload.

Just enter your Dexcom login info, and it will send all your info to the Dexcom servers.

I’ve never used the Dexcom Clarity app, but I assume that’s where it gets it’s data from.

FYI, back in the hamburger menu items, there’s also an option to view statistics. You can see stats displayed in three different ways for today, yesterday, the last 7 days, the last 30 days, and the last 90 days.

You can also view any particular day from within the history.

You can also add treatment notes to Xdrip using the dropper icon near the top right corner, just under the BG number.

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OMG, Tim12. My BT went down on my iPhone Dexcom app a couple days ago. A message said it had to do with updates, but it could also be a dead transmitter.

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The share data is different than Clarity app/report data.
I don’t think Clarity can load from xDrip.
Only option I know is to side-load hacked Dexcom app.

However, if using T:Connect, which has both pump and cgm data, then I no longer use Clarity. Endo has access to my data if we need to review from web.

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Sorry. I thought that was the entire purpose of uploading your data to Dexcom. Since I do restarts, I try to keep as much of my usage data out of their hands as possible.

Where does Clarity get it’s data then, if not from the Dexcom data server where all the CGM data should be? The stupidity of the people who design this software stuff for us never ceases to amaze me. What good comes from making things intentionally more difficult for us to use?

What information can Clarity give that Xdrip doesn’t?

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I really like Clarity (I think the data graph presentations are SUPERB) but for me the deciding factor is that my Endo expects to see my Dexcom data in Clarity.

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The share server is used when followers are set up, which is different than the report data shared with doctors or your own reporting.

I loaded to Clarity by connecting receiver to laptop USB, after installing uploader pgm, I think starting with G4, but also G6.
But now no longer use G6 receiver, since using X2 pump.

On my non-supported android, I loaded Clarity app and the hacked dexcom G6 app, which worked. But before X2, I preferred using receiver to upload to Clarity via computer.
But now I just use T:Connect.

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You can check the instructions here, which is a different hacked version than what I used. But this should be similar.

https://androidaps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/EN/Hardware/DexcomG6.html

Check this section.

If using G6 with xDrip+

  • The Dexcom G6 transmitter can simultaneously be connected to the Dexcom receiver (or alternatively the t:slim pump) and one app on your phone.
  • When using xDrip+ as receiver uninstall Dexcom app first. You cannot connect xDrip+ and Dexcom app with the transmitter at the same time!
  • If you need Clarity and want to profit from xDrip+ alarms use the patched Dexcom app with local broadcast to xDrip+.
1 Like
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Okay, I’ve been doing some research…

First things first, I would uninstall Xdrip so it doesn’t interfere, but don’t don’t delete the file if you still want to use it

Basically you have to go to GitHub (just like where you found xdrip) and download the file for the patched G6 app.

If using G6 with patched Dexcom app

  • Download the apk from GitHub - dexcomapp/dexcomapp, and choose the version that fits your needs (mg/dl or mmol/l version, G6).

  • Folder 2.4 for users of the current version, folder 2.3 is only for the outdated AndroidAPS 2.3.

  • Uninstall the original Dexcom app.

  • Install downloaded apk

  • Enter sensor code and transmitter serial no. in patched app.

  • After short time patched app should pick-up transmitter signal. (If not you will have to stop sensor and start new one.

That whole bit about clicking on that link from a computer, not a phone or tablet, is so that you can figure out what your region is and pick the appropriate file from the long list: Version 2.4/mg or mmol/region 1-3

If you try following that link on an Android device, if will just take you to the Google play store where you can’t see the region in the address bar. Of course, you cutie just trial and error which of the 3 works for you, like I did when I tried the patched app myself a few years ago.

I doubt you’ve developed an attachment to Xdrip yet, so if you’re happy using the G6 app you’ll be all set.

What I found interesting… I learned in the Xdrip Facebook support group that you actually CAN run both the Xdrip app and the G6 app simultaneously. (If you want complete control over when and how you get alerts including turning some off at night, custom alert sounds, a widget you can customize the colors to match your phone’s color scheme, constant BG visible in the notification bar so you can always see it on your screen no matter what you’re doing, etc…) You would still set up the patched G6 app to be the main receiver, but disable all notifications in the Android settings. It will simply run as a collector in the background.

Now you can re-install Xdrip. When you’re asked for your device at setup, instead of choosing the G6, you can choose “other”, then choose 640/670 or Eversense instead. Somehow it magically gets the data from the G6 app. I have no idea why anyone would do that, though. I would think the easiest way is to setup Xdrip as a Dexcom Follow device. When asked to choose your device, choose “other” then Dexcom Follow.

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This deal with the “Patched G6 app”, will it run on a decrepit Galaxy 4 tablet?

Running both xDrip and a patched G6 app sounds like it is getting complicated. Right now I just want a working dinky Dexcom G6 receiver back, with a user interface no more complicated than a big black button.

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Maybe… I think the hack is it fools dexcom app that it is running on a supported phone.
Try it.

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Yeah, I didn’t figure you personally would be interested in running both. You haven’t used it enough to grow attached. But for someone who has, it’s hard to give up. I used the official G6 app on my Google Pixel, the only supported phone that’s ever been in this house, but voluntarily switched to Xdrip. When I changed phones, I decided to give the patched app a try, and was REALLY irritated with it. Took me all of like 5 minutes to go running back to Xdrip. LOL

I don’t know for sure, but I think so. If there’s any limiting factor, it’s the Android version. I don’t know how far back it’s compatible. It doesn’t hurt anything to try, though. It’s pretty much your only option at this point, if you want Clarity.

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Yep!!

Do you have an old G5 receiver? The newer model G5 can be updated to G6.

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You may have discovered this by now but the patched Dexcom app needs to be updated to BYODA which works very well and is very simple.

"I f using G6 with Build Your Own Dexcom App

  • As of December 2020 Build Your Own Dexcom App (BYODA)also supports local broadcast to AAPS and/or xDrip+ (not for G5 sensors!)
  • This app lets you use your Dexcom G6 with any Android smartphone.
  • Uninstall the original Dexcom app or patched Dexcom app if you used one of those previously.
  • Install downloaded apk
  • Enter sensor code and transmitter serial no. in patched app.
  • In phone settings go to apps > Dexcom G6 > permissions > additional permissions and press ‘Access Dexcom app’.
  • After short time patched app should pick-up transmitter signal. (If not you will have to stop sensor and start new one.)"

Full instructions here (about half way down the page) Dexcom G6 — AndroidAPS 3.0 documentation

I’ve been using it with AAPS and Clarity for some time now. Works well.