FUDiabetes

Dexcom G6 / Dexcom Follow on Apple Watch

Type 1 & LADA
#1

Hi, new to this forum, but with an 11 years old diagnosed with T1 almost 10 years ago. We have used Medtronic 640G with CGM, but we now give up Medtronic CGM in favour of G6, for multiple reasons.

  • primarily the “Follow” functionality
  • the precision of G6
  • avoid min 2-3 daily calibrations.
    (I know we loose the closed loop functionality, and we will upgrade to the tslim-pump as soon as it is made available to us)

My son has an Android phone, and the plan is to use this phone as receiver for G6 data, and activate Follow-functionality.

QUESTIONS:

  • can he use an Apple Watch v5 (with eSIM) but without a dedicated iphone? I do not expect the watch to function as a Dexcom receiver, but I want him to be able to read his BS values on his wrist, using the Follow app installed on the watch. Will this work or does the Follow app need to be continuously paired with an iphone?
  • The Follow app has received plenty of negative reviews on App Store. Is it working properly now?

Any help or feedback greatly appreciated!

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#2

Welcome @cb1! You ask some interesting questions. There is some reports that you can connect an android phone to an iwatch and get some of the functionality, I couldn’t find anyone who reported that the Dexcom worked in this way, so it would be great if you could test before putting the money out. There are a number of other things that do work that are cheaper i.e. fitbit disply, and even the ability to use the watch as the collector (no need for the phonea app) but these take a bit of work.

We have been using the Follow app for the better part of 5 years with only minor issues. Which behaviors are you specifically worried about with the Follow app?

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#3

Hi Chris, my question is really if the Follow app (used on Apple Watch) depends on an iPhone to display results from Dexcom cloud (i.e. does the Apple Watch only relay info from the phone), or does it have functionality to connect directly to Dexcom servers).

Regarding worries; I haven’t used the Follow app yet, but app store users rate it at only 2,6 (out of 5 stars) which is REALLY low.

I’m considering Sugarmate as well and will test both.

#4

No the Apple Watch will not connect directly to the transmitter, it must have the signal sent from the application on the iPhone. There is a way to directly connect with a non-apple watch using xdrip+ in place of the official app see discussion here:

#5

Hi Chris
and thank’s for your efforts to try to help me out. But you misread my use case. I know that the Apple Watch cannot connected directly to the transmitter (though I’d love it to and I expect Dexcom/Apple collaboration to find a solution for this with Apple Watch 7 later in 2021).

What I want now is the Apple Watch to connect to Dexcom cloud without using an iphone (the same way parents/friends can use the Follow app on their iPhone to monitor the status of their kids).
Does this make sense?

-christophe

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#6

It does make sense, I don’t think that is possible, but if you do find a way, please report it. We would love to use it.

#7

I have been using xDrip with the Android system to work with the Dexcom G5 and G6. My Smart Watch the Sony Smartwatch 3 is used as a standalone monitor of the Dexcom transmitter. This great with the Dexcom G6 since the transmitter has two bluetooth ports. I use the other port to calibrate the transmitter with a Dexcom receiver.

The Smartwatch does relay all of the stored data to my Android smartphone when the phone is in range. This is the perfect setup for my environment since there are many times and environments when I can’t use a smartphone.

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#8

The Sony Smartwatch is the SWR50.

#9

Hi dmac!

My setup is now as follows:

  • Dexcom G6 with Dexcom receiver.

  • Moto G android 9 phone with custom made dexcom app with broadcast to xdrip and Android APS (installed sugarmate & xdrip on phone), used the following link:

[OC] Build Your Own Dexcom App update- base version updates : dexcom (reddit.com)

  • Sony SWR50 with xdrip

The Sony watch works great as a relay of info from the Android phone, but I am not able to set up the watch as stand-alone receiver (so that it works without the Android phone).

I have followed the detailed setup described here:

xDrip-plus/WatchGuide.md at master · jamorham/xDrip-plus · GitHub

The problem seems to be that “Dexcom G6” is not an option in the “BT Collector” in “XDRIP BT settings” on the watch. Only “Dexcom G5” (that does not seem to work with G6), or the Broadcast option.

How did you setup the SWR50 with Dexcom G6?

Any help greatly appreciated!

(I understand that I probably cannot use BOTH phone and watch simultaneously).

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