I got very angry yesterday after installing the latest software release from Abbott for the Libre 2 which is supposed to correct the problems caused by the previous update. Now I am not only getting the slooooow reporting of the actual number after a scan (up to 4 minutes) that I had before, I am also getting the "scan failure, try again in 10 minutes" notice frequently. So I rang them. I obediently re-booted my phone after clearing the cache as instructed. This made no difference at all. So then the conversation went on with me telling the agent that my phone worked perfectly before the update at the end of November prior to the latest one, which was supposed to cure the problems caused. I asked if there was any way I could revert to the original software version and was told NO. So after me telling him I am using a Moto G6 Play phone using Android 9 he tells me it's not one of the compatible phones. He was nice enough and obviously sticking to his script. I then said, "so is it your recommendation that I buy a new phone?" Apparently not... it is his recommendation that I use the reader. I tell him that means carrying reader, phone and PDM at all times, when I can hardly carry a small handbag due to a wedge fracture of my vertibra which causes pain. He then says yes, that's what you'll have to do. In conclusion he says "so can I report that you are complaining because your phone does not work with the sensor". I said "NO you can't" You can report that my phone which previously worked perfectly with the Libre 2 now doesn't work due to Abbot's so called 'upgrade' which was forced upon your users without notice or choice. The problem lays with your software which is unfit for purpose"
FWIW this is what their website says on compatible phones:
So my phone meets their recommendation. I'd like to take this further... any ideas on how this can be done?
I really do sympathise with what you say. If it is any consolation (and I know it probably isn't) there are many people who are also experiencing identical problems on both Android phones and iPhones, if other forums are anything to go by.
My phone isn't on the list of "official" smartphones listed as compatible with Libre 2 and Librelink. However, if you go into the Freestyle Librelink app on Google Play store, there is a section that tells you whether the Librelink app is compatible with your mobile. It says mine is.
I've checked my phone using the diagnostic tools provided by my mobile manufacturer. According to those diagnostic tools there is nothing wrong with my phone and particularly its near field communication and low energy bluetooth, both of which are working "normally."
My Android phone's operating system upgraded itself from 12 to 13 in the last 5 weeks. I don't have a problem with that. When you buy a new mobile you pay for operating system updates and security patches for a period of time which are supposed to make your mobile more "stable," more secure and less prone to being hacked. Google and mobile phone manufacturers are entitled to update their mobile operating systems and phones.
Around 15 November 2022 Abbott put in Google Play store its first update to Freestyle Librelink. The primary purpose of the update was to allow the smart insulin pens Novopen 6 and Novopen Echo Plus to communicate with Librelink, but also to fix some bugs in Librelink.
My phone downloaded and installed that update. Since then the high and low glucose alarms don't work on my phone. Neither does the signal loss alarm. And my phone now registers constant false "scan errors."
Thankfully I am not hypo unaware. But what are you supposed to do if you are hypo unaware, you've gone to sleep and you are relying on Freestyle Libre 2 sensors and the Librelink app to issue an alarm to wake you (or a partner/friend/carer) up so you are alerted to your sugars potentially going low, so you can double check and have a fighting chance to do something about it?
I've contacted Abbott Customer Services on many occasions and gone through their checklist of things to try (all permissions allowed; turn all alarms off and on again; delete cache; restart phone; uninstall and reinstall Librelink; Abbott sending out replacement sensors on the basis that the sensor you're wearing is faulty). None of these "solutions" has solved the problem permanently.
Abbott put out a further update around 1 December 2022 which was supposed to fix the issues caused by the first update. But the second update still hasn't fixed the problem on my phone permanently.
There's a limit to the number of times I'm prepared to turn my mobile phone on and off again each day to make Librelink work properly.
I don't want to carry around a separate reader in order to get alarms. I remember when Abbott first began promoting the Libre 2 in the UK. At that time they were proactively encouraging users that everything could be done on one's smartphone using their Librelink app.
This issue has been going on for the best part of 6 weeks now and Abbott don't appear to be any closer to sorting the problems with Librelink out permanently for a number of users.
For me Libre 2 is unfit for purpose at present.
And I agree, it is monumentally stupid that there isn't a simple process where you can simply remove the updates so that Librelink is put back to the state it was in before the original upgrade issued in mid November 2022.
It also extraordinarily disappointing no one in the NHS appears to be liaising with Abbott to encourage them to sort this problem out asap. Being able to get replacement Libre 2 sensors isn't enough.
I feel sorry for the customer service staff at Abbott. They will have been given a script and are forced to stick to it.
The Dexcom people must be rubbing their hands with glee though (notwithstanding that apparently the number of prescriptions for non-Abbott glucose monitors in England is reported to be comparatively very small since NICE updated its glucose monitor eligibility guidance in April 2022 and there was some "umbrella" guidance/edict issued by NHS England in August 2022 allowing a wider number of flash and/or continuous glucose monitors to be prescribed - which most integrated care boards/integrated care systems have either ignored or been tortoise-like in implementing).
It will be interesting to see how long it takes Abbott to fix this mess and how many customers they will lose in the meantime.
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