I have type-2 diabetes, diagnosed a few years ago. I have it well under control and I don’t need insulin before meals – just the long form each evening. But I like to keep an eye on the glucose in my blood, especially 2 hours after eating something. Just to see what the meal did. I can anticipate, or if it’s higher than normal – I can change the order of what I ate, try more fiber to start with, etc. I normal wear a mechanical watch, but for sleeping and when I’m curious, it’s Apple Watch time (a first edition Ultra).
The normal range for blood glucose levels is typically between 70 and 110 mg/dL for non-diabetics. Just so you have a reference.
Anyway, to get my reading on my Apple Watch, I did the following.
- I have a prescription for Libre 3 CG sensors. So I have to activate them with the Libre 3 application on my iPhone. Each reading is about 15 minutes behind the actual reading, just so you know that. The data is not available to Apple Health, and there is no official comparison complication for an Apple Watch. After this is squared away…
- Install the official Libre LinkUp app on your phone. This allows you to share data with family members, doctors, etc. What you do is invite yourself using the app – and note your login credentials. Once that’s set up and you see data in the LinkUp app, it’s time to get it to your Apple Watch.
- Install an app called GlucoseWatch – go through your Apple Watch’s App Store, it’s not for your phone. When you log in, you supply the SAME CREDENTIALS you did for the LinkUp app in the 2nd step above. This allows the watch app to access your glucose data.
- Add the complication to a supported watch face. You won’t get readings very minute, but it’s not horribly out of sync with the Libre 3 app. So now at a glance you can see your glucose level. You will beed to keep your phone nearby since the data is being piggybacked off the Libre 3 application.
Done. You now have your glucose number (and trend) on your wrist as long as you have your phone nearby (BT distance). It’s a little odd – it would be nice if Abbott added multi-connect to new sensors so your watch could read the data directly and officially, but until then, this works pretty well. And if someone at GlucoseWatch wants to spy on my glucose readings, I’m really not worried about it.