Loop is working WITHOUT Dex app being open

@Eric I’ve inquired on LoopZulipChat about your procedure and if it’s been this way all along and I’ve just misunderstood. If it’s supposed to work this way, it seems the only downside is the phone separation issue and a lot of people might benefit by the lower battery drain of NOT having Dexcom app active. There also might be a potential programming fix to reactivating Dec reception without the delete/re-add CGM step. I’ll post back when I hear from the builders/documenters.

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Thanks for asking them and verifying it @TomH!

It’s interesting that it is a design feature, and not an “accident”, because I stumbled upon it by myself. Not sure if it was documented anywhere, but glad I found it “by mistake”.

I don’t generally use Dexcom Share (unless either my wife or I are traveling and are apart), and I have never used Nightscout or anything like that.

The main issue I had with the phone alarms was that it requires you to unlock your phone and then acknowledge it. Otherwise it keeps alarming every 5 minutes!

Using the Dexcom receiver also requires an acknowledgement, but it is much easier to do while sleeping. :grinning:

When I am out of the house, any alarm is annoying because I am around other people. So I don’t bring my Dex receiver with me, and I don’t have Dex running on my phone.

This new alarm workaround is so awesome for me. It gives me everything I need. No alarms from my phone at all! And I can still have Loop closed when I am sleeping (I always have Loop open during the day).

:+1:

One other note for @ClaudnDaye, which may help with Liam.

I have tried this, and it seems to work. If you turn Dexcom Sharing on, and then close Dexcom and turn off all notifications, the Dexcom Sharing still works!

I tested this, and unbelievably, my wife was still able to see my CGM number despite the Dex app being closed on my phone!

Totally awesome!

@Eric Got a response from Pete already, he asked if you meant the “swipe up to kill” regarding turning off the Dex app; I told him yes. Another person commented it worked for him too, but he’s also using xdrip4ios which supposedly does the work around. Pete’s last comment was: “iOS is supposed to not wake apps that the user force kills by swiping up, from what I understand, but I do think it actually does in some cases. Regardless, the normal G6 CGManager in Loop will not work without the normal Dexcom G6 app authenticating each cycle, so what this person thinks is going on might not be correct. Adding full pairing, sensor management, and alert capabilities to the Loop G6 CGMManager would be nice, and would allow more control of alerts, and is possible (we do know how to auth with G6), but there’s a fair amount of work to do there.” I’ll continue to monitor to see if anyone has further thoughts, but Pete’s pretty much an expert on the code and I don’t doubt your veracity at all…quite the quandary. Since it isn’t supposed to work, I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t another mechanism at work we’re all missing.

One caution: If this is somehow working and by whatever mechanism, I can see a parent/caregiver trying to use it to extend phone battery life (no Dex app working) without assuring the child/care receiver understands separation of the phone and CGM may disconnect the Loop/CGM connection and the requirement to/how to delete/re-add the CGM to restore proper function. Anyone finding this process works should apply it with due care for the safety and understanding of the T1 it’s working on. @Eric knows the ropes and how to fix things, others may not. I’ve made the same caution to Pete and documenters of Loop.

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Yes. I was not only swiping up to kill, but also going into notifications and turning them off.

But really, in my mind it does not matter too much if the app is truly closed or not. What matters is that it’s totally quiet with my workaround! :partying_face:

Great point! Thanks for calling this out!

And thanks for mentioning all of this to Pete! I appreciate that!

I’m not really a tech guru, I’m just someone who knows how to break things and who likes to take insulin! :joy:

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