LinkBluCon Reviews

by Dufusdawg

After being inundated with emails touting the direct to watch connectivity, I bought a Night Rider. After some back and forth about delivery with customer care, I received delivery. Luckily it was received after the software update a few days ago to support the US 14 day sensor. If not, it would not have worked at all. Per customer care, the direct to watch functionality for the US 14 day sensor should be available in a few weeks. Nothing about this is mentioned anywhere in their marketing materials. I only bought this for the direct to watch function. Charging $25 for shipping a $9 priority mail envelope is also obscene.

Update July 17,2020

Decided to give it another try. The direct to watch functionality works. LinkBluCon was installed with the complication. I added the complication to my watch face and it works as expected. Then LinkBluCon pops up on your screen. I have still to find a way to see my watch face on wrist lift or crown press.... the open app is always displayed. It appears to run as an ACTIVITY which on Apple’s software is always displayed with wrist lift on. A crown press to required to get back to your watch fact.... which displays your data via the complication. Dear developers, what am I missing?

by The GOD☀️Life

I am a student nurse and I am not allowed to have my telephone on the unit so I cannot utilize it to scan my Libre. My husband purchased the Ambrosia NightRider system. It worked for all of two days. The Bluetooth connection to the Apple Watch Series 7 worked for only a few hours. Got 3 readings. The device remained locked and the battery which quickly died could not be changed as the device would not release the cap that holds the battery. I also ordered an arm band to hold the device on top of the Libre sensor. I ordered black and it was sent in white. It was a polyester fabric that was unraveling upon arrival and quickly deteriorated every time I handled it. I am becoming a nurse to work with patients that have diabetes. I will be sure to mention to every diabetic patient that I encounter to STEER CLEAR and to NEVER even consider this product! SAVE YOUR MONEY!!! NO RETURN SLIP OR CONTACT PHONE TELEPHONE NUMBER FOR ASSISTANCE.

by TallFred

Have been waiting over a month after retuning the BluCon device to Ambrosia. Almost impossible to contact other then random messages from them via Facebook Messenger. Just a few canned responses from them via e-mail. Hardware did not work consistently from day one. The Sony battery that they provided did not last a week. Most I ever was able to get was eight days. After a six weeks the device got really flakey. Had to remove and then reinstall battery to get it to work part of the time. Eventually it just stopped working mAfter getting an RMA to return I have been waiting over a month to get a replacement. The software has consistently gotten better with each update. If the hardware worked and customer support was available I would highly recommend this product. Until then possible buyers need to run from this product.

by Krazy Glue

I purchased the Nightrider device to provide continuous read out of my freestyle libre sensor, to avoid loss of data if I go more than eight hours between readings, and to upload the glucose data to Apple Health

The iPhone app accesses the sensor data OK. more or less. It is a very noisy app. After connecting it complains that the Nightrider battery is low, correcting itself only after a few five minute cycles before it reads correct data. It regularly loses connection to the device, and then regains it five minutes or so later. From time to time it provides urgent alarms every 30 seconds or so, so much so that I had to disable the notifications completely.

At first managed to upload data to Apple Health, which is why I bought the device. But then, after I went for a walk without carrying my phone, it disconnected, and never manage to connect to Apple Health again. Even after multiple resets, repairing, uninstalled and reinstalled LinkBluCon . I managed to get it to read data from the sensor and displayed on the iPhone, but never again to get it to upload to Apple Health.

I tried to connect it to my watch, which I pretty much always wear, even when I leave my phone behind. But I have not yet succeeded in doing so. I don’t care about seeing my blood sugar or receiving alerts on my wrist since I have controlled my diabetes via diet more or less, but I was hopeful that pairing the device with my watch would avoid these complaints about being disconnected

So far, mediocre software quality, but I could live with it if the Apple Health upload problems were solved.

The scary thing, the thing that makes me think that this might actually be malware/spyware, is that LinkBluCon insists on being able to read many many metrics from Apple Health. Almost all of the metrics, if not actually all. Why would a device that I use to read my blood sugar need to know my cervical mucus quality (I am male) or my sexual activity, or my biotin levels?

Like I said, either they are stupid, reading much more than they need to, or they are selling your Health data. probably both.

I suspect that my problem reconnecting to apple health is that after a while I denied the this app app access to all of my Apple Health data, except for the right to write my blood sugar data. However, even when I later restored them access to all of my Apple Health data in an attempt to reconnect to Apple Health, it still refuses to work.

anyway, they have had access to all of my health data, i.e. have potentially completely invaded my medical privacy. I took that chance in the hope of uploading my blood sugar data to Apple Health. It did not work. I am not at all sure that it is worth working with them to get it to work, certainly not until they fix their privacy implementation. If you value your privacy, I suggest that you not use LinkBluCon, and possibly not the nightrider device, unless you can find other software that it works with. A further red flag is the password management they provide on their website for affiliates: it gives every indication of them keeping a copy of the password. This is well known to be poor security practice - UNLESS they intend to spy on you.

Like I said, they are either malware/spyware, or not very good programmers, unaware of best practices in security and privacy. Frankly, I am surprised that Apple allows LinkBluCon in the iPhone and watch app stores.

by CrabbiPatti

Since the update, your app doesn’t read anymore. WTH?!? It was great before. Can I get the old version back?

by BIOFEED01

While I had high hopes of successfully using the night rider for CGM monitoring with the link blu app, after a few weeks the device stopped working. Support was either non responsive or gave inadequate directions. Of course, LinkBluCon is useless without a working device, and the remedy to get a functioning device is problematic at best. While I can complain about a battery life half of the sensor battery life, or the difficulty in getting the watch app to work, the worst part is the significant expense for such a cheap and poorly functioning product with terrible support.

by BayouSharon

I cannot register in LinkBluCon because it won’t let me enter or select a birth year. There is also no place online to register. LinkBluCon is close to useless if I can’t share the data with my doctor! Also applying the Nighrider to the Libre 2 sensor was NOT as easy as the video suggests. Mine fell right off no matter how hard I pushed on it. I had to use the arm band that came with it for it to stay in place (also took a while to wrangle it in the right place and tighten almost as tight as a blood pressure cuff). Then even though it was reset and paired with LinkBluCon on my phone, it wouldn’t connect to the sensor and pull a reading, at least that’s what it looked like. After 10-15 minutes pushing it in over the Libre sensor it FINALLY started posting readings. Update just 15 minutes later: now it’s not posting readings again. I think when I left the room for 5 min or so LinkBluCon just stopped the readings and won’t start again when I got back.

ZERO APP SUPPORT!!!!!!! If you click on app support you you get a page not found error on their website. My review is NOT showing up.

by Gabe B Real

The device has a flakey connection that only works 70% of the time (I bought the night rider)

The batteries only power the device for 5 days then you get no readings even though LinkBluCon said the battery is full and is still connected. I thought maybe cheap batteries so I bought duracell but the problem persists.

I think the device is poorly designed and that makes LinkBluCon useless.

When it does work with a new battery for the first 5 days it is nice and displays values in apple watch

by DEMojica

It has to run consistently to get the readings. Which you expect. But, on my Xr it takes so much of the resources, of the phone, that 50% of the times other apps will not even start!

I have to shut it down to run another app and then restart it after I’m done. Most time I forget to restart LinkBluCon and there will be X minutes w/o readings. The most was an hour before I noticed it was not running.

LinkBluCon does NOT work with Apple Health. Hey, it 2020. Get with the times.

LinkBluCon will not replace the FreeStyle app. You still need it. So now I’m managing two apps!!!

The unit does not attach to the FreeStyle. You have to apply tape to keep it in place.

Plus, the battery does not last two weeks! It last approx 12-13 days.

Not ready for prime time. Will try to get my money back.

by LunaLunaire123

If I could leave less than one star I would. I have been thoroughly disappointed with the night rider. Didn’t work from the moment I took it out of the package. Tried with multiple sensors, have removed and redownloaded LinkBluCon , forgot device and re entered, disconnected and reconnected and changed the batteries. Just keep getting a battery alert and it saying that “patch reading error” is occurring. After 140$ I would’ve hoped I could’ve used it 🥺

by Bobby T.

Following a recent update my watch app no longer gets updates.

This includes the complication alone (background updates are enabled), and running the watch app outright (as of now my results are over 25 minutes old).

From what I can see the phone app is updating, but only sends the results to my watch after opening both the phone and the watch app at the same time. Tried rebooting both my phone & watch, but that seemed to have no effect.

Everything was working fine yesterday (before updating).

by Type 2 Doc

Had the device for 3 months and when it connects to Bluetooth it works as promised but connection issues abound and battery life is about 7 days average. Unit required new battery when it reaches 50% battery life by volt meter readings. Customer service is unwilling to assume issue. With more work it my get there.

by Susie Null

Only 3 days in, but LinkBluCon needs a readily accessible snooze - like on the home page! OTW, a 5.

by BeckiMomof3

LinkBluCon would be great IF it would stop crashing everytime I try to calibrate it. I would also LOVE to have an option for “calories” in the food section. Some of us need to gain weight and some need to lose it so being able to keep up with how many calories we’re taking in is beneficial.

by Cetruax

I have the NightRider waterproof model. While it is a bit bulky (thick) I have gotten past that with an armband and a Velcro strap to secure the sensor and NightRider in place. The this app app works well on my iPhone and provides good records and alarms which will wake you out of a sound sleep for readings out of the range you preset. As a bonus, I find that the sensor will continue working after the 14 day period. I’ve used it two days past with no problem, not sure how long it will actually go.

by Meegsees

I had the Eversense implant CGM, but the transmitter technology wasn’t the best. I recently changed back to the FreeStyle Libre sensor, but missed the constant glucose values. I got the NightRider to supplement that continual reading technology, and it’s pretty darn good. The UI is better than some glucose apps, the connection between NightRider and my phone was easy.

The only thing I don’t like about LinkBluCon is that it either doesn’t connect to Apple Health, or if it does, I can’t figure out where to turn that connect on. So... developers... if you could, PLEASE get LinkBluCon to connect with Apple Health!

by Mary Durr

I am using the night rider over 2 years , last July I used Dexcom for 4 months but it was not as good as Libre and nightrider. I use it on my Apple Watch series 4(with cellular) without the phone

by Etmom Too

Love the new 14 day one. Used the 10 day since it first came out. Easy to set up and if you have a problem the support chat is great for solving any problems. Can’t imagine having to live without it now.

by Mia's Twin

LinkBluCon is such greatly improved. It is good and strongly connection to my NightRider. There is no issues around.

by Electrophonic-totophonic

With each update LinkBluCon gets better, more reliable and stable. I rely heavily on LinkBluCon.

My only request, and please pass this on to the developers. Pretty please add a 3 hour snooze. 3 hours will allow insulin to take full affect. When an alarm goes off and insulin is taken LinkBluCon needs to give 3 hours without any alerts.

If that was added LinkBluCon will be one large step closer to perfection.

by Cadman56

The ios version works much better than the android version. Still has a problem with disconnects.
Since the last update it disconnects a lot more. I think the last update has caused more problems than it fixed