Discussion of the factors that make non-invasive glucose monitoring challenging: Why is non-invasive glucose so hard? - YouTube
And a review of the companies that are working on bringing ni-cgm to market: Non-invasive glucose in 2023 or 2024! - YouTube
Interesting linksâthanks!
Slightly OT but the first NI CGM I ever saw was in the Jodie Foster film Panic Room. In the flick, Fosterâs character has a daughter with T1, and wears a weird looking watch thingy on her wrist that they keep teasing you with to build suspense. In a big-reveal moment it turns out to be a CGM that is registering dangerously low. For years I thought it was one of those classic Hollywood-being-clueless-about-T1 things, totally made up, but then it turns out there actually was a wrist CGM called the Glucowatch at the time, though not exactly identical to the one in the movie. Apparently it passed an electric charge from the back of the watch through the skin to get the readings, which caused a lot of discomfort and even some scarring, so it didnât catch on and was only marketed for a short time. I think there are a couple of TUD-ers around who actually tried it out back in the day.
Also, the lag time was unacceptable, much more than invasive CGM devices.
I had a Glucowatch. I was in the trials, and they gave me one for my participation. It never worked well. It burned my skin. And it had some terrible features that they should have thought through. For example, it would read low and alarm when I knew (via finger stick) that I wasnât low. And every 15 minutes it would alarm again. No sleep for me that night. And no way to turn it off. Maybe a good first try, but it should never have been approved for sale.
This topic reminded me of the Eversense CGM which is still out there but seems to have barely any users. Itâs the opposite of non-invasive butâŚI tried the Eversense 90 day a few years ago and liked it. Once the sensor is implanted in your arm, the CGM functions sort of like a non-invasive device. You can attach and remove the transmitter, get alerts without using your phone or other receiver (the transmitter vibrates). They now have a 180-day sensor. Unfortunately the CGM does not communicate with Omnipod 5 so I doubt I will be trying it again any time soon.
This article, Apple Watch Blood Glucose Monitoring Likely Still 'Three to Seven Years' Away - MacRumors, cites a couple of reasons, but generally:
In Bloomberg 's âPower Onâ newsletter, Gurman said that Apple âstill needs to perfect the algorithms and on-board sensorsâ to bring the technology to market. Crucially, the company also needs to âshrink it down to the size of a module that can fit in the small and thin package that is an Apple Watch.â Gurman believes this process âwill take another three to seven years at least.â
A somewhat more detailed article:
Apple Watch Blood Glucose Monitor Could Revolutionize Diabetes Care (AAPL) - Bloomberg
trying to put glucose monitoring on an apple watch is silly and completely unnecessary, just think of the battery issues the Apple watch already has, it canât reliably support a glucose meter. No, ni-cgm needs to be a separate device and rather than on the wrist, it should be on the upper arm, which is a much better place to collect bio data. letâs hope Apple understands this and doesnât delay releasing a ni-cgm monitor b/c theyâre trying to cram it into a watch!!
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Yes, It is suppose to save battery life for the reason why the Dexcom complication isnât always on the watch.
android aaps will work with eversense, not sure about loop, but im waiting on the 365 eversense sensor which should be finishing trials soonâŚtheir goal was always the 1 year sensorâŚas far as the Apple watch, they are closer than you think if you research, and years away with a phone size arm prototype trying to make it smaller is a lot better than the vague mentions without any details weâve heard about in the last decadeâŚ
I tried a gluco watch back when they were first released, my doctor gave me a free set up and 3 sensors.
It was brutal. The sensor wrapped around your wrist and if you exercised it would get soaked with sweat.
Then it would electrocute you whoever it took a reading. I developed PTSD around waiting for the next shock. The pain was bad enough but it was the surprise and the anticipation that was hellish. It was also horribly inaccurate. And the original 3 day dexcom came out pretty soon after and it seemed like a dream come true. The transmitter lasted a year or more and you could restart the sensors as many times as they still functioned with no prying off the transmitter or anything. You just started them over. They complicated it with every iteration.
I thought gluco watch never made it. I think it was a Swiss company or something like that.
Did anyone see how garmin watch can display your BG from dexcom? Usually everyone knows about apple but thereâs another alternative, although for the moment it requires constant data connection. The dexcom BG goes through the dexcom app on the phone via share function to garmin watch. I love my watch face which is all the time displayed. If I want to display dexcom widget I can do that also but that only stays maybe 30-60 seconds on screen. This is how it looks like. Forgot to mention that the battery lasts 10 days on a 2 yr old garmin watch (marq first gen). Best part is when ever the dexcom gives low alert or any alert that alert is directly transferred to my garmin watch via Bluetooth and it vibrates. So Iâm aware immediately whatâs going on.
I use a Blose face with an always-on feature on my Google Pixel Watch 2. It is a standard free app on Google Play Store, quick and easy to install, and when you tap on the face of the watch, it gives you tons of extra data, including raw data, graphs for the last 6 hrs, 12 hrs, 24 hrs, etc. There are a lot more alarm settings as well that are not available on the Dexcom widget. This is what it looks like on the watch face. Beats the heck out of the Dexcom widget.
The one above was not the dexcom widget. Itâs a free app also. Itâs also always on without the graph, but only the reading with trend arrow and line changes color green yellow and red depending whether youâre normal, high or low.
And similar like yours showing how many minutes past and how much was the change in BG, just simplified.
I think the major difference is that Google pixel watch requires daily charging while garmin after a week or longer with always display on. If I remember correctly the 2nd generation is good for 16 days until you charge. At the end of the day both give us the data we need 
Yes the dexcom widget is not good, I agree.
I wished the data would be available only with Bluetooth connection without internet.
You are right, there are tradeoffs everywhere. The Blose face also has many different color faces and color changes for high, low, or normal. The one I sent you, I had been normal for the past few days so no change in colors. My BG range is set between 54 and 150. Yes, Pixel has to be charged daily, which is just part of my routine. I have the LTE Pixel watch 2 so I can leave my phone at home or in the car, office or other places and my watch still shows my BG watch faces with all functions up to date. At home or office it works on Bluetooth/Wi-Fi.
I use a fitbit versa watch, with xDrip on Android phone.
Very easy to set up using Glance. Can get vibrate alerts.
What I like about Blose is that it is right out of Google Play store and reads the Dexcom data so donât need any additional apps like xDrip
My BG TIR set at 80-180 because of my requlatory requirements 
but usually 30-90 day period I manage 97-98% of the TIR. But the watch really helps for quick glance. If I need more data I just look at the phone for the pump data, which tells me everything.
Per the description of Blose, it uses Dexcom share for data, and I think there may be delay. xDrip can read direct to transmitter, so no delay.
Good that we have many choices.
So xdrip reads via Bluetooth or data through the phone? If you say direct from transmitter I understand itâs Bluetooth. Can you please clarify this?
Xdrip uses the same Bluetooth communication pathway that Dexcom uses to talk to your phone/receiver/pump. The only thing thatâs different is the display software; communication works the same. Also the same is that wifi/mobile data is used to upload information into the cloud, but you can disable that if you want. Wifi/data use is always optional with Dexcom and/or Xdrip, but nobody else can see your information if you disable that, including watchfaces that require Dexcom Follow access. Watchfaces that get your info directly from the phone, though, donât require the wifi/data pathway.
Also, if you have a watch that runs Android, specifically that WearOS is the operating software, then you can install a simplified version of Xdrip right on the watch itself. That makes the watch act as a âstandalone collectorâ, meaning youâll still get CGM info on your watch when youâre away from your phone. G6 only lets you connect the transmitter to 2 different devices, though, 1 medical device (pump or receiver) and 1 personal device (phone or watch). So you canât install Dexcom/Xdrip on your phone if you install it directly on your watch. You have to choose if you want to be married to your phone all the time. Thankfully, theyâve opened the G7 up to talk to any combination of 3 different devices, with no distinction between medical or personal devices anymore.
