DiaBox not working

[Ciderman22]

I can advise, I use a Samsung S20FE, I don't have any connection issues unless I leave the phone elsewhere obviously.
It always reconnects when I come back into range.
Which Phone/watch are you using?

Gary

Hi Gary, I'm using Samsung A50
Thanks Andy

 

[Deleted member 33898]

Yes.
I don't use Diabox but xDrip is similar in that it polls the Libre sensor every 5 minutes for readings.
I have no problems with Libre 2 battery and I often insert it 2 or 3 days before activating. In fact, xDrip gets 14.5 days out of a sensor. Diabox may the same.

Just reading through this thread. I think it was yourself that linked me info on xdrip a while back. The reason was because I needed a way to calibrate readings. Starting to look into it, xdrip along with a modified libre app. Seems to be an additional device is needed to continuously pull data from the libre to a phone or watch. I'm I reading this right that you just use the libre sensor and that is enough. ? I see devices such as miaomiao and I'm wondering what the difference is and if it's necessary. Also what is the advantage of doing this if the libre already alerts me with high and low alarms. Is it really just to save scanning with the phone at least every 8 hours to capture data? If it's literally just to save the odd scan with the phone I'm not sure how it benefits much more. I'm probably missing the point here. At the very least I'd like to be able to calibrate readings.

 

[helli]

Hi @phil90 The Miaomiao is need for Libre 1. It is basically a NFC to Bluetooth transmitter.
As I understand it with Libre 2, although you need to scan with NFC to get the readings for LIbreLink, the Bluetooth signal which is used for the alerts, also contains the blood glucose data.
There is a small app called OOP2 which hi-jacks this Bluetooth signal from Libre 2 and sends it direct to your phone to be picked up by xDrip. There is no requirement for a Miaomiao with Libre 2.
Once a sensor has started, you have no need for LibreLink, you only need xDrip for graphs, alerts, etc. It does not require any scanning as the reading is sent direct to your phone.
xDrip uses a different algorithm to convert the interstitial fluid reading (what you get raw from Libre) to a Blood Glucose reading This incorporates the calibration factor.
It is not possible to send calibrated readings direct to LibreLink. If you want to use calibration, you will need to use a different, unofficial app such as xDrip or Diabox.

 

[Deleted member 33898]

Hi @phil90 The Miaomiao is need for Libre 1. It is basically a NFC to Bluetooth transmitter.
As I understand it with Libre 2, although you need to scan with NFC to get the readings for LIbreLink, the Bluetooth signal which is used for the alerts, also contains the blood glucose data.
There is a small app called OOP2 which hi-jacks this Bluetooth signal from Libre 2 and sends it direct to your phone to be picked up by xDrip. There is no requirement for a Miaomiao with Libre 2.
Once a sensor has started, you have no need for LibreLink, you only need xDrip for graphs, alerts, etc. It does not require any scanning as the reading is sent direct to your phone.
xDrip uses a different algorithm to convert the interstitial fluid reading (what you get raw from Libre) to a Blood Glucose reading This incorporates the calibration factor.
It is not possible to send calibrated readings direct to LibreLink. If you want to use calibration, you will need to use a different, unofficial app such as xDrip or Diabox.

Thank for that, sounds good. Just wanted to clear that up before I spent money on something I didn't need. I could do with a better smart watch if I was to make use of that option.

From the link I was given, it mentioned a patched libre link app.its possible to get a variant that still sends the readings to my health care team. Id be concerned about not being able to do this because it's a requirement to keep using the sensor and display results to them. Not sure if that means them being able to receive results or me simply showing them that I still use it

 

[helli]

Thank for that, sounds good. Just wanted to clear that up before I spent money on something I didn't need. I could do with a better smart watch if I was to make use of that option.

From the link I was given, it mentioned a patched libre link app.its possible to get a variant that still sends the readings to my health care team. Id be concerned about not being able to do this because it's a requirement to keep using the sensor and display results to them. Not sure if that means them being able to receive results or me simply showing them that I still use it

There are a few options to use LIbre 2 with xDrip. One option is a patched LibreLink. I have not used this.
With OOp2, you can continue to scan with LibreLink (although it will not take into consideration the calibrations in xDrip). You will need to ensure that you have disabled Location Services for LibreLink. For some reason, Bluetooth requires Location Services. So, if they are disabled for an app, it cannot use Bluetooth. This is important as the Bluetooth transmitter in the Libre sensor cannot only connect to one app and you need it to connect to OOP2.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

For some reason, Bluetooth requires Location Services.

I think it's because of Bluetooth beacons, though that feels a bit of a theoretical risk too me. I don't think such things are very common at all.

 

[Brava210]

Hi Gary, I'm using Samsung A50
Thanks Andy

With which Watch?

 

[heasandford]

Hi @phil90 The Miaomiao is need for Libre 1. It is basically a NFC to Bluetooth transmitter.
As I understand it with Libre 2, although you need to scan with NFC to get the readings for LIbreLink, the Bluetooth signal which is used for the alerts, also contains the blood glucose data.
There is a small app called OOP2 which hi-jacks this Bluetooth signal from Libre 2 and sends it direct to your phone to be picked up by xDrip. There is no requirement for a Miaomiao with Libre 2.
Once a sensor has started, you have no need for LibreLink, you only need xDrip for graphs, alerts, etc. It does not require any scanning as the reading is sent direct to your phone.
xDrip uses a different algorithm to convert the interstitial fluid reading (what you get raw from Libre) to a Blood Glucose reading This incorporates the calibration factor.
It is not possible to send calibrated readings direct to LibreLink. If you want to use calibration, you will need to use a different, unofficial app such as xDrip or Diabox.

Can I nudge in on your discussion please?! What you say makes sense to me as I started using the miaomiao some while ago, then lost the plot when Apple effectively disallowed it all! Since then I've had a bit of a traumatic time, not important except that I can't remember how to use the xdrip or similar, which I think might now be useful. I'd really like the results on my Apple watch, my iphone NFC stopped working and I just don't want to have to buy another phone at the moment.

SO, what I'm asking is can you tell me in very simple terms how I can begin with xdrip, or anything else, on my watch to pick up the results from my Libre 2!

 

[helli]

Sorry @heasandford I know there is an xdrip4ios bit I have no experience of it. Nor do I wear a watch.
Due to Apple restrictions, I believe you need done sort of "token" to use xdrip4ios.
If you use Facebook, you could try the xdrip4ios Facebook group
However, to use any Libre, you need NFC to start it. You can use the reader if you have one. Otherwise, you need NFC to work on your watch

 

[heasandford]

Sorry @heasandford I know there is an xdrip4ios bit I have no experience of it. Nor do I wear a watch.
Due to Apple restrictions, I believe you need done sort of "token" to use xdrip4ios.
If you use Facebook, you could try the xdrip4ios Facebook group
However, to use any Libre, you need NFC to start it. You can use the reader if you have one. Otherwise, you need NFC to work on your watch

I have a reader which I use with my Libre, but I was hoping I could 'reinstall' my watch somehow! Thanks for the info anyway!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I have a reader which I use with my Libre, but I was hoping I could 'reinstall' my watch somehow! Thanks for the info anyway!

I suspect the initialisation (which uses NFC) also initialises the Bluetooth stuff, so (I suspect) if you wanted to use xdrip you'd need to initialise the sensor with your phone.

 

[helli]

I suspect the initialisation (which uses NFC) also initialises the Bluetooth stuff, so (I suspect) if you wanted to use xdrip you'd need to initialise the sensor with your phone.

That is my understanding if you use the official Libre Link app.
However, with Android (I have no idea about Apple), you can start a sensor with a Reader and then use xDrip on your phone for receiving data and alerts via Bluetooth as long as your Reader is not close by as xDrip works by hijacking the Bluetooth signal which is en route to the official Libre starting device/app.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

However, with Android (I have no idea about Apple), you can start a sensor with a Reader and then use xDrip on your phone for receiving data and alerts via Bluetooth as long as your Reader is not close by as xDrip works by hijacking the Bluetooth signal which is en route to the official Libre starting device/app.

Oh, OK. I was assuming more security in the Bluetooth connection, but maybe that's not even possible with BLE.

 

[Proud to be erratic]

This a long post about Diabox, apologies! I arrived at Diabox, shortly after I'd purchased a mini-bubble, expecting the bubble to pick up the Libre 2 transmissions and relay those to the Diabox app - thus giving me CGM on my android phone. But as I was setting this up it became apparent that Diabox could receive the L2 transmissions direct, by BLE, so the mini-bubble became obsolete, before being used in earnest.

At this time, mid 2021, Abbott were using their muscle to force Apple to discontinue supporting Diabox and get Google to remove Diabox from Playstore; Diabox were still developing their app and a few weeks later released a patch (August 2021?) that removed many of the earlier Diabox gremlins on Android. But development of an ios Diabox version got frozen, with the Diabox developer temporarily having his Apple credentials revoked. Since I only have android, I stopped monitoring that situation, but think there is still no legitimate ios Diabox app - but the Diabox team were working on sorting that out.

Since Jun 2021 I had Diabox successfully running through my Samsung A5 phone and later into my Samsung Galaxy 3 watch from my phone. Since early April this year I have not been able to get Diabox working again, after having to uninstall and reinstall Diabox because of a phone problem.

However, when all was working well I encountered 2 significant issues:
Firstly, periodically Diabox would stop working, clear all stored data and start afresh. This was tiresome, but not a huge problem; after the second or third time I deduced (but could be wrong) it was maxing out in data storage after 90 days, hence clearing out and restarting as if newly installed. Since my Libre is NHS funded and is used by my Endo when he reviews and guides me, I had (still do) put all useful data into LibreView on the Web through the LibreLink app on my phone. So my core need from Diabox was having the rtCGM really easily (and in my opinion in a friendlier and more useful format than on LibreLink) without having to scan; although I did scan L2 several times daily to get mealtime readings and to input insulin and carbs eaten details into LibreLink & thus onto LibreView.

Apart from providing rtCGM the other big advantage of Diabox was having 2 low and 2 high alarms. So I could have an initial low alarm as high as 6.8 (vs 5.6 for Libre) to alert me that my BG was falling and a second Urgent low alarm closer to 4 that warned me I was close to hypo - but not quite there. Likewise a normal high alarm near 10 and an Urgent high alarm to warn me that my high was more serious; I used 14.5. The choice of alarm sounds in Diabox is very good, so I had a low siren for Urgent hypos and a high siren for Urgent hypers; a string of rising notes telling me my BG was rising and a string of notes going down, for when my BG was falling. And other useful sounds for other scenarios were available. Diabox provides a quantitative assessment of rate of rise or fall, from at least 1-7, so you can assess when a fall is a gentle change or really quite serious and needing prompt attention. The Diabox calibration is useful, but needs doing every couple of days and, of course, only when one's BG is in a steady state; if I got that wrong Diabox gets very confused and provides misleading alarms. Then calibration became positively unhelpful. Since Diabox is taking Libre transmissions, but using its own algorithm to create Diabox readings, Diabox data sometimes varied slightly from Libre, but finger pricking is still necessary when not in range (4-10).

To get Diabox alarms, the Libre alarms must be deactivated. So I often activated Libre on my reader, thus having that functionality (convenient for me when gardening) and not needing to pull a sleeping phone out of a pocket, etc; plus full CGM with alarms on my phone.

Overall I found Diabox far superior to Libre in the way data is displayed and alarms created, never mind being rtCGM.

The second significant issue for me was that although my Galaxy Watch 3 was useful, I never got it behaving smoothly and consistently. It would relay a slightly different BG from that showing on my phone; the watch display functions weren't quite as expected and the huge number of permutations from various menus I found quite confusing - all done through the Galaxy Wear app. I was in the middle of steadily adjusting each permutation, when it all went wrong and I lost Diabox completely. I miss it - a lot!

I haven't given up on reinstating Diabox, but been heavily distracted for the last week by our not so old Volvo unexpectedly 'becoming a huge problem' and needing a very time consuming search for an affordable replacement as well as salvaging the dying car from becoming an outright 100% loss; still in the balance whether it will raise £100 as scrap or a little over £1,000 with a complicated but honest sale!

If I didn't need to put data into LibreLink for LibreView as part of the NHS remit, then I understand that Nightscout is the database app to use to store the accumulation of data from Diabox and for wider analysis of trends and stats etc. But Nighscout needs a techie skillset that I don't have and since I must populate LibreLink, I would not want to be keeping 2 different apps populated with data; it's a chore (but necessary) to put data into LibreLink, which I find on my Samsung A5 is slow and "clunky". Personally, I found MySugr far superior to LibreLink for usability; but until there is a better option within the NHS remit - LibreLink it has to be!

I need to explore Xdrip and see if that is an option as an alternative to Diabox; but I imagine I'd still need to populate LibreLink for the NHS remit. So I'm not sure what I would gain.

 

[helli]

I am reluctant to use xDrip and librelink because one of the primary reasons for xDrip is to calibrate the readings. That means, the readings in LibreLink/View are wrong and of limited value
Thankfully, my DSN accepts this and dies not feel the need to check up on me

 

[Proud to be erratic]

I am reluctant to use xDrip and librelink because one of the primary reasons for xDrip is to calibrate the readings. That means, the readings in LibreLink/View are wrong and of limited value
Thankfully, my DSN accepts this and dies not feel the need to check up on me

Thank you @helli . As I read this, my surmisal that 2 sets of data population would be needed is correct - should I consider using xDrip for analysis purposes, as well as LibreLink for NHS criteria. I need the NHS overview at present; I'm still a fair bit away from feeling my DM management is good and I want to get onto a pump anyway, hopefully funded by the NHS.

But could I use xDrip principally for the rtCGM it displays minute by minute (or 5 min intervals) but didn't depend on it for insulin or carb statistics? Does xDrip have the dual alarms of Diabox? Presumably xDrip stores all readings for longer than 90 days and presumably xDrip will display TIR stats, albeit with whatever calibration I might apply?

 

[helli]

Thank you @helli . As I read this, my surmisal that 2 sets of data population would be needed is correct - should I consider using xDrip for analysis purposes, as well as LibreLink for NHS criteria. I need the NHS overview at present; I'm still a fair bit away from feeling my DM management is good and I want to get onto a pump anyway, hopefully funded by the NHS.

But could I use xDrip principally for the rtCGM it displays minute by minute (or 5 min intervals) but didn't depend on it for insulin or carb statistics? Does xDrip have the dual alarms of Diabox? Presumably xDrip stores all readings for longer than 90 days and presumably xDrip will display TIR stats, albeit with whatever calibration I might apply?

I can only say what I do which is not necessarily what your DSN would advise.

For me, there are two advantages of xDrip (or Diabox) over LibreLink
- the rtCGM functionality
- the ability to calibrate

Due to the second point, I am much much happier to depend on it for insulin dosing than the "factory calibrated" Libre.
Therefore, the only use for scanning LibreLink is to provide (uncalibrated) date for my DSN. It is possible to get the data from xDrip if your DSN would accept that instead.

xDrip provides all the alarms that LibreLink ... which is lucky because using xDrip will stop LibreLInk alarms for the reasons I mention above.

Another advantage of xDrip (or Diabox) could be to send the data to your watch. I don't wear a watch so I have never tried this.

 

[Benny G]

Thank you @helli . As I read this, my surmisal that 2 sets of data population would be needed is correct - should I consider using xDrip for analysis purposes, as well as LibreLink for NHS criteria. I need the NHS overview at present; I'm still a fair bit away from feeling my DM management is good and I want to get onto a pump anyway, hopefully funded by the NHS.

But could I use xDrip principally for the rtCGM it displays minute by minute (or 5 min intervals) but didn't depend on it for insulin or carb statistics? Does xDrip have the dual alarms of Diabox? Presumably xDrip stores all readings for longer than 90 days and presumably xDrip will display TIR stats, albeit with whatever calibration I might apply?

I have been using xdrip+ for 5 years.
All 5 years of data is still on my phone. This can be manually adjusted in settings.
You can set as many alarms as you want, and combine them as you see fit.
The time in range displays as expected.


The main reason I use xdrip+ is CGM. I really appreciate having CGM on my watch, it makes such a difference. A few years ago at work, I was not allowed to carry a mobile phone, but I was allowed to use a smartwatch. So xdrip and smartwatch (and the reader for Libre 1) got me through the working day.
For the first two years I paid for my Libres, and filed all my notes in the xdrip app. But when I got Libre added to my prescription I was asked to put the data into Librelink for sharing with NHS.
I am not putting data into two different apps, I record all notes into the librelink app, but use xdrip to judge my actual glucose levels.
xdrip is calibrated and so gives more accurate readings. If the librelink is reading too high, or too low, I will use xdrip or finger prick readings for dosing corrections and record those actual readings as notes in Librelink.

I hope this helps mate.

 

[Deleted member 33898]

So I am applying a new sensor in a few days and I am going to start using the xdrip+ app. I've got the general gist from a well written guide

How to setup FreeStyle Libre 2 and OOP2 to use a native Bluetooth connection in xDrip+

A method of connecting a FSL2 sensor via native BT using xDrip+ and OOP2 to provide a minimal CGM system without the need for 3rd party NFC.

www.minimallooper.com

Just some questions, sorry if you answered these already but need to be sure.

Does xdrip+ have alarms like librelink?

I see I can still nfc scan with the librelink as long as it doesnt have the ability to make a bluetooth connection with the sensor. So does this mean libreview will still be getting some data for my clinic? ( i know like others I was told the first time I got the sensor that if i don't scan it 3 times a day they'll cancel my prescription)

Don't think I read this in the link above. Does the bluetooth ability of the librelink app need disabled before doing the initial nfc warm up scan? The instructions I think say the bluetooth connection isn't established until the 2nd scan ( which is with the xdrip+ app enabled)

xdrip+ doesn't allow for nfc scans or that I have to choose between xdrip+ or librelink to continue some form of nfc scanning?

Thank you

 

[Benny G]

So I am applying a new sensor in a few days and I am going to start using the xdrip+ app. I've got the general gist from a well written guide

How to setup FreeStyle Libre 2 and OOP2 to use a native Bluetooth connection in xDrip+

A method of connecting a FSL2 sensor via native BT using xDrip+ and OOP2 to provide a minimal CGM system without the need for 3rd party NFC.

www.minimallooper.com

Just some questions, sorry if you answered these already but need to be sure.

Does xdrip+ have alarms like librelink?

I see I can still nfc scan with the librelink as long as it doesnt have the ability to make a bluetooth connection with the sensor. So does this mean libreview will still be getting some data for my clinic? ( i know like others I was told the first time I got the sensor that if i don't scan it 3 times a day they'll cancel my prescription)

Don't think I read this in the link above. Does the bluetooth ability of the librelink app need disabled before doing the initial nfc warm up scan? The instructions I think say the bluetooth connection isn't established until the 2nd scan ( which is with the xdrip+ app enabled)

xdrip+ doesn't allow for nfc scans or that I have to choose between xdrip+ or librelink to continue some form of nfc scanning?

Thank you

That is the same guide I used to set up Oop2 and to change the settings in my xdrip.
The guide itself covers many possible configurations.
I used the Oop2 + xdrip + Libre link (not patched)
I set up the Oop2 first, then the xdrip.

I think I spent a couple of hours setting everything up and double checking before starting the sensor.


The trickiest part is starting the sensor which requires a single NFC scan with librelink to begin the 60min warm up, at the end of the warm up period a single NFC scan with xdrip and a second scan a minute later with xdrip to capture the Bluetooth connection.

After that you can use nfc to scan with both xdrip and librelink. Librelink stays as NFC, and the xdrip keeps the Bluetooth connection but also uses NFC.
If you lose the Bluetooth connection you can do an NFC scan with xdrip to recover missing data and reconnect the Bluetooth.

It will take you some time to master the xdrip, but there are several members on this forum and a wider community on facebook if you need assistance.

There are alarms that you can set in xdrip. I show a screenshot below. I currently have 3 high alarms and 3 low alarms.