Dexcom Follow Reviews

by Lionesheart

I came back to update my review. While this may not be for DexcomFollow , which I am still apprehensive about, I used to feel that even though with DexcomFollow shortcomings, such as not having the watch complication,I thought that DexcomFollow was at least manageable to deal with especially since my daughter has adjusted nicely to it and has given her more freedom. This review is for the device itself. Recently my daughters transmitter has been giving sensor errors. Quite often the sensor just quits as much as a day before it's supposed to be changed. Other times it was just drop connection. I can't keep calling tech support every time this happens and I really don't think they want to be sending replacements all the time. If you're considering the Dexcom - which when it functions like its supposed to it's great- know that we've had more and more data disconnections and sensor errors which prevents us from monitoring her glucose levels. Very disappointed.

... does its job when you're awake and can see and hear the urgent/low/high notification alert. There should be an option as an alarm that keeps playing until you stop it. Or a repeat every so many seconds until you tap the notification. I would also suggest a "medial" setting so that users can set an alert at a number to give time to treat a possible low with a slower acting carb. Dexcom support is also very good. DexcomFollow can be better.

by TQuilla

POOR DEVELOPER RESPONSE. I have followed the link in your response below. There is no way I am going to fill out the form on that page in order to submit the issue. It asks a series of personal questions, including the patient name and date of birth, that are completely unrelated to the Apple Watch issue and are PRIVATE-NONE OF YOIR BISINESS. Send me an email address to use.

UPDATE: Lowered rating to one star. Come on guys, the issue with the Apple Watch has been going on for MONTHS. Please restore the reading and directional arrow and not just the graph on the Apple Watch. It WAS showing reading and arrow up until a few months ago, so we know you CAN do it. Read all the reviews. Your users are begging you to fix this! I loved DexcomFollow up until a couple of months ago. It has been a literal lifesaver. Suddenly, the reading and direction arrow stopped showing up on my Apple Watch. It is fine on my iPhone. I have checked all settings per the website, and I have updated my devices and DexcomFollow . I can see only a graph on my Apple Watch, but I cannot see the number or direction arrow. I have to go to my phone to see that information. This is new. Up until a couple of months ago, it all worked fine. I would love to get help from technical support, but they don’t make it easy. I just want full functionality restored to my Apple Watch.

by Mode336

I have been using dexcom for a few years now and I have to say the quality and performance of the follow app has really gone downhill for me! I will get high or low alarms but when I go into DexcomFollow it it looks it blank like we lost connection. I have to open and close DexcomFollow a few times and then it finally will update and tell me a number. How can I be getting high or low alert if it doesn’t even know the number??? Then when that finally works and I’ve cleared the alert not even 2 minutes later I will get another alert... all day!!! I’m not even going to get started about the watch issues not updating or taking forever to update. The last thing I’m going to talk about is when I have my air pods on and my volume down very low listing to music at work and I get an alert that nearly blows out my eardrums!!! I have a iPhone 7s plus, iOS 11.2.5 and I have the notifications turned off for loss of signal. I just restored my phone and reinstalled DexcomFollow and I continue to have the same issues.

by Mikosrt

I love DexcomFollow, but it needs some obvious updating. Sometimes it feels that the developers never did end user testing for it.
For example:
If you get an alert on the Apple Watch, the alert comes up on the screen but it doesn’t say the BG reading. It should say it in the alert, that way users don’t have to press it to get the number. It only say HIGH or LOW. Also, the alert says dismiss, but it doesn’t dismiss the repeat setting, you have open DexcomFollow on the iPhone to dismiss the repeat. If you have a repeat of every 5 minutes for low because you don’t want to miss a low on your child, the alert should not repeat after you acknowledge that you have seen it on the watch.
The complications don’t work as fast as they should update. I use sugarmate complication. They have a very creative way of displaying the BG and refresh by using a calendar entry every 5 minutes that deletes itself. Check it out.
I use DexcomFollow on an old iPhone and charging stand on my night table and in dark mode, which is great. When an alert comes in, the alert pop up window comes right on top of the BG number. You have to touch the alert to see the number. It would be a lot better if the alert would be the top of the screen, not the center. It makes it a lot easier for parents watching their kids BG all night.
Dexcom should do end user testing if not doing it.

Thank you and good job!!

by Greeneyes1496

Two stars because Dexcom as a product is amazing and has changed my fiancé’s life. However, it seems pretty clear that the company’s product strategy focuses only on the hardware and not their mobile apps. Least of all, the Follow app which hasn’t been updated beyond minor bugs fixes possibly ever. But even the Dexcom G6 app is basic and limited.

There are major bugs, inconsistencies, grammatical errors, and even duplicates of the exact same question on the FAQ page. Dexcom releases app updates maybe once a year, if we’re lucky, and they certainly don’t have anywhere in their apps or on their website to report bugs or give feature suggestions. There is so much potential for the Dexcom apps, but it’s wasted (it doesn’t look like they even employ a software product manager).

Thankfully, they have open APIs, so there are some great third-party apps that are way better than Dexcom’s app, but it’s really disappointing that they don’t put more focus here. While their hardware is much better than their competitors due to being so hands-off, it’s not that huge of a competitive advantage and the mobile space is definitely where their competitors can quickly gain some ground on them. I hope Dexcom puts more strategy behind their entire product solution in the future instead of only focusing on the hardware.

by Diabetic Momma

DexcomFollow is great in that I can follow along with my son’s BG readings. However, the graph is extremely outdated. I have no way of knowing the exact reading of past points on the graph. It would be nice if the follow app had the same graph as the sharer app: in that we can see the events entered by the sharer and the details of each reading by pressing each point on the graph and rotating the phone to see a more detailed graph.

Also, it would be nice to have an admin or super user access to the sharer’s data. My son is a juvenile who doesn’t always enter his events. Therefore, I would like the ability to enter events on his behalf without having to get his phone and go into his app. It would be easier if I could either have a version of the sharer app or have access from the follow app (just a suggestion, as a parent of a juvenile).

DexcomFollow is great for the school nurse and for grandparents/caregivers who watch over kids. But as a parent or someone who assist with the administration of insulin and carb counting and who are a little bit more hands on with the sharer, DexcomFollow is simply not enough.

by LeslieMoon

Thank goodness for Dexcom. Seriously some remarkable life changing technology. I have no issues with the graph or the color of DexcomFollow icon. (Seem to be common complaints of other reviewers)
Everything is fine with me WHEN IT DECIDES TO WORK! It seems that for at least a year now (maybe 2?) there has been a notification when you open DexcomFollow that they are currently working on DexcomFollow . When my husband shares his information with me usually it works at first. Then I’d say 80% of the time later that day and the days to follow, I don’t get any numbers and a graph with nothing or dots that ended hours ago. It just reads “NO DATA”
Kinda frustrating ESPECIALLY when my alarm will go off letting me know he’s high or low but then won’t tell me any numbers when I get into it. If he’s asleep and I have to wake him, I go to his phone to check and ...same deal. Wha?!? How can it alert me and then tell me nothing? This has ALWAYS been an issue with DexcomFollow. I love when it does work but I wish it was more than 20%of the time.

by Dallas68

Granted, generally DexcomFollow works the way it should. However, I am one to keep up with iOS updates and there have been a few times when I have called in with a problem and they have told me that that they can’t help me because their development team have not released a version of DexcomFollow compatible with the current iOS. This goes against all logic. I painfully explained to the last support agent how app developers are given access to new releases ahead of the general public in order to prepare DexcomFollow for that release. Clearly, keeping up with iOS is not a priority and they have difficulty executing in DexcomFollow development part of the solution. I called because the widget won’t work when I added it. The agent went on to explain that there are lots of customers with similar complaints. If I can’t trust the development team to release timely updates, how can I trust it is reading my daughter’s glucose level accurately?

by Bad Action Bob

It’s called “ Follow” app. So, you can follow your dependent loved one, in this case- a special needs child and monitor readings of their glucose. when it works, it works. However: Early this morning, I get an alert if his low reading. We call him on the phone and tell him to eat a sugar pill right away. Then, 10 minutes later we can’t get a reading. Keeps saying “No Data”.
This went on for several HOURS! This has happened several times since installing this monitor on our child and using the new programs and apps to watch and monitor his glucose levels. This is a very scary situation. He is hundreds of miles away and now, we have to battle in hopes of getting a reading of his glucose while he’s away from home. This has been failing us too many times. I am hoping that DEXCOM will take note of this review because it is a serious problem when DexcomFollow / meter just does not show information for no valid reason. Internet connection is good. Wi-Fi connection is good. At both ends of the spectrum. Therefore, I cannot see a reason for the failure in this product at this point. DEXCOM: PLEASE, address this right away!
Thank you.

by HMommaH

My husband and I just got Apple Watches 95% reason being that we can easily view our son’s dexcom info super easily. That jaded excitement came to a crashing hault when after a middle of the night low of 49 (very bad for my son) the alarms did not wake us. If your Apple Watch alarm goes off (a small 1 beep with a tiny vibration) your phone alarms (crazy sirens for lows in the night on our phones) do not go off. So we were not woken up. That small beep with tiny vibration was not enough to get us out of our REM cycles. I wish I would have known this would happen. Thank God he is okay. When I realized what happened and figured out the phone loud alerts would not go off at the same time as tiny watch alarms, we immediately took dexcom off our Apple Watches. Now I don’t even care to have the watch. That was a terrifying experience. I can’t believe it happened.

by Ben Hammy

As many have said, DexcomFollow needs some love. While it’s helpful sometimes, I’m most often referring to Nightscout instead, because it has a faster response and loading time. That’s kinda a problem. I’d hope that Dexcom could provide a more responsive product than the open source method. But I think it’s mostly due to the fact that the Follow app isn’t getting the love that the G5 app gets. And I just want to remind the devs that the support team surrounding someone with T1D needs to be just a quick as the person themself. My wife works at night and I’m often watching her blood glucose when she’s sleeping, and having a watch complication or clear/helpful notifications would make a huge difference. Kudos for adding the 1/3/6 hr increments. That was another big feature missing. But DexcomFollow still needs better notifications and more fast and consistent load times to make it my go-to app.

by Mtnmers

Similar to the request of the previous reviewer, I would love to see the “widget” version of the Dexcom follow app so I can just right swipe my phone in lock mode and see my son’s blood glucose levels. They added this for the Dexcom app he uses on his phone so it seems like it would be an easy add for the share version. Additionally, I would love to see the option of choosing alarms to go off more often than every half hour (ie: every 5 minutes).. I understand that can be too much for some people and hence why setting your own time frame to repeat alarms is great, but as the parent of a T1D toddler, I do not want to risk sleeping through an alarm just because it went off once and then didn’t alarm again for another half hour.

Otherwise we love this software and are so grateful for the technology of the Dexcom and its integration with our phones!

by Dexcom Follower

I love DexcomFollow...but would like to suggest a few upgrades that would make it even better for the dexcom follower. I saw that dexcom recently did an app upgrade to the 'user' app so they can have their sugar readings displayed as a 'complication' on their Apple Watch. This would be a great improvement for the follow app also! Please update this so a follower can have it on their Apple Watch just as easily. Also, please please please do an upgrade so that the sugar readings from the iPhone can be directly Blue-toothed to the Apple Watch without having the "go between" of the iPhone with you at all times. It would be so much more beneficial for both the user and follower if it would Bluetooth directly. I called Apple directly to see if this would be an upgrade they would need to do and was told that it would need to be an upgrade on Dexcom's side so that it can Bluetooth to the Watch directly, like it does the dexcom receiver and the iPhone. This would be a huge improvement in my eyes and could potentially save lives in the future! Thank you!

by Ben.jam

I am changing my review, because it seems that Dexcom has at least partially fixed the Apple Watch app. It still crashes frequently, but it does show the blood sugar value, trend arrow, and graph for 1h, 3h, and 6h.

The alerts still seem to not follow the schedule that I set (I receive more alerts than I request, but that is far better than fewer) and the display still needs to be optimized for the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

But DexcomFollow does what it is essential - it reliably shows the status of the Dexcom sensor, and that allows my family member to live much more independently than she could otherwise.

I do wish that when there is “no data”, DexcomFollow would be precise about whether it is because of a sensor failure or because the sensor is just out of range of her iPhone. That would be very helpful to know so that I only have to worry when the sensor has failed.

=====

DexcomFollow does not work on the Apple Watch despite the illustrations in the description. Dexcom has had 5 months to catch up with the most recent OS. It is very disappointing. I bought an Apple Watch only so that I could keep track of my cognitively impaired mother’s Bg without having to always carry my phone.

by Jfrias93

DexcomFollow is fantastic in allowing me to keep track of my SO’s sugar levels. I tend to be on it like a hawk...one thing that I would like to see in future updates is more detailed banner notifications on the lock screen. It would be great if I could see on the lock screen if the notification is for high or low sugar. It would also be great to receive notifications for rapid drops and rises even if they are within the designated range. For example, if she goes from 180 to 120 in 10 minutes that’s within her desired range but a drop that quickly is probably going to be bad news. I think DexcomFollow already has the ability to have multiple alarms for each type of notification, but for a person like me who has his phone on silent all the time those alarms aren’t very helpful. Please consider making the banner notifications more detailed. Thanks!

by DreD0319

Okay so I absolutely love this new update so far with a small exception. Only 1 issue but it’s really an important one. If the below is fixed then DexcomFollow would definitely be a 5star.

I went to change my daughters settings in my phone (my follow app on newest iOS) and when I go to change the setting (example notify me after 20min instead of 30min) it allows the change but there isn’t a “DONE” or “ok” button. There is only the “Back” button so it’s not recognizing that I made a change so if I change it and hit back it defaults back to my original settings.

Please add a “Done” button to the settings so I can change it, press done then it should take me back to the previous screen at which point “Save” should light up and allow me to press save.

Also one thing that I had a problem with PRIOR to the update was the No Data Notifications. When I cleared the alert to have my daughter check her Dex and app I would not get any other notifications if it wasn’t fixed. Regardless of settings. HOWEVER I AM NOT SURE IF THIS IS STILL A PROBLEM since the update. I will let you know if it happens.

Otherwise great app and We absolutely love the G6. We started on g4 then went to g5 and they just keep getting better and I absolutely love that it works together with her TSlim!
Great Job Dexcom!

by Unreal Big Fish

I started CGM with Medtronic (I’m T1D), and had to constantly calibrate and change out the sensors, which was nice to know of alerts, but in comparison to Dexcom, is really painful. Dexcom still gets out of range sometimes, but when I set it up, after checking that it’s accurate, unless it’s knocked loose from the skin it reads great. I started with Dexcom almost a year ago with the g6, and have loved it. My 3yo son was diagnosed last week with T1D. We were able to get him a prescription, and have set him up with one of mine while we wait on it and try to figure out good set points for his insulin dosages. The follow app has been great for me. My wife stays at home with him while I’m able to go to work, which takes me away from home about 2 days a week, with peace of mind. Thank you for your hard work Dexcom team! I’ve read several of the reviews and have noticed that the team has fixed -nearly- all of the issues with the follow app. I’m sure that y’all will continue to do so to keep this device as the best for monitoring t1d. I’m excited for the Dexcom to be partnering with omi-pod because I’m wanting to get that for my son. I already use t-slim, but he’s on the pump and doesn’t go through nearly as much insulin as I do. Plus he’s 3…. An insulin cord isn’t feasible for him. God bless you all and thank you for your innovation. ❤️

by Awesomeness0269

We absolutely love DexcomFollow! My brother-in-law is 15 and has a CGM. Me, his mom and dad, grandma, and girlfriend all have DexcomFollow . It is such a comfort to know when he is high or low. Especially when he is playing a sport or is asleep and can’t feel when it drops or rises. One thing I wish they could do is maybe add a chat in or something. In the middle of the night his mom and dad may have him drink a juice or something, but the rest of us don’t know. Early this morning DexcomFollow was only registering LOW. I woke up to my phone going off that it was an urgent low. I texted and called my mother and father-in-law, but they wouldn’t answer me. After a few minutes my husband and I drove to there house in a panic that no one knew he was that low. Thankfully they only live a few miles away. Long story short, they were all asleep but had given him a juice an hour earlier. So his sugar wasn’t as low as we thought, it was just registering with DexcomFollow a lot slower. If there was some kind of chat or a way to leave a notification I think that would be great. That way the rest of us will know that they got him, or gave him a juice at a certain time. It would give us some peace of mind if nothing else. And be a lot easier than just texting each of us. I love DexcomFollow though! It’s a real blessing to have!

by Es94028

When my son first started using a Dexcom CGMS years ago, it was godsend in terms of both safety and freedom. Still, overnight stays away from home were a nerve wracking experience.

Now that he is headed to college we have started using Follow. So far, it works very well — much better than when we tried a few years ago. Updates appear promptly, alarms sound without delay, the graph is easy to read, and in landscape mode you can drag your finger over the chart to see specific individual values. In fact, between the Dexcom app on his phone and the Follow apps on our phones we almost never use Dexcom receiver. We keep it active as a backup, but the apps are more convenient.

One additional feature would be nice: the ability to know if my son has responded to an alert. The protocol we plan for college is that if there is an alert, he will deal with it then text us. It would be nice to know, though, if he is at least awake enough to acknowledge the alert and is therefore capable of addressing it.

by Jturner3

We recently got the G5 mobile die to my wife having DM1 and just giving birth to our first child. I wanted a way that while I was at work at night I could monitor her blood sugars to make sure she was ok, especially with being home alone at night. Now not only do I follow them but we are setting it up on her mothers iPhone so she can too. (They live 3 miles away) now not only will I know but someone else that can get home quicker than I can will too.

The only no data we have gotten is when she left her phone on the other side of the house. No biggie it picked right back up.
People complain about the frequent notifications of lows and highs, umm hello!!! That's what it's for!!!! Highs can be just as dangerous as a low. Please dexcom notify me when my wife's blood sugar is low every 5 minutes. I won't care because it helps me make sure she can take care of our child.

by D Fitness Newbie

So overall, I love DexcomFollow but recently I upgraded to an iPhone 11 and DexcomFollow keeps glitching and exiting off the screen. It works great on other iPhone models and iPads. Super handy way to stay on top of my daughter’s glucose levels. It’s just that now I have to tether another Apple device to my phone to monitor her because of DexcomFollow glitching on the iPhone 11. Hopefully an app update can fix the issue.
Another issue is that if Apple products are on “Do not Disturb”, the alarm does not override that feature... there needs to be a way that it can override and sound the alarm the same way Apple allows its clock alarms/timers to sound regardless of the DND feature. It’s scary to realize you slept thru a critical low especially the person that’s diabetic may have been too weak to get or respond to their alarm sounding off.