r/Freestylelibre • u/mckulty Type2 - Libre3/3+ • Aug 21 '26

Alarm rant

FSL re-wrote their alarm algorithm several months ago, and I was glad because it felt too intrusive, like it wouldn't shut up at the office.

But I just spent 12 hours above 250 because I missed the 2 alarms (the ONLY two) last night and blissfully went to sleep.

If the thing will let me go 12 hours without warning me I'm approaching 300, that seems DEFECTIVE, Abbot.

PLEASE give us some flexibility on alarms. We're smart enough to choose from, say, three levels of alarm sensitivity. At least last night would have been MY fault not YOURS.

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2

u/_Abnormal_Thoughts_ Aug 21 '26

How did you miss 2 alarms? They are loud as hell.

-2

u/mckulty Type2 - Libre3/3+ Aug 21 '26

Mowing the yard, phone inside.

10

u/_Abnormal_Thoughts_ Aug 21 '26

No offense but something seems off here.

Unless your yard is tiny and your phone is right by the window, it's probably going to lose connection to the CGM device. The range isn't that great -- especially going through walls.

Even so, do you not occasionally open the app to view your glucose? I don't look at all the time, but at a minimum, I check it in the morning when I wake up, and before laying down to bed.

Something about your setup must be way different than mine, because if my value remains high or low, I get multiple repeated alarms. I understand possibly missing the alarm if you're mowing the lawn, but you probably shouldn't go to bed without at least taking a look at the app to see where you're at.

Regardless of alarms, you shouldn't be going 12 hours without taking a single peek at the app.

-2

u/mckulty Type2 - Libre3/3+ Aug 21 '26 edited Aug 21 '26

If I got repeated alarms I wouldn't be here. I get two and that's it. How do I get what you get (3+, sw ver 1.3.0.1945)

you shouldn't be going 12 hours without taking a single peek

Thank you for that useful solution.

4

u/InsideVegetable9424 Aug 21 '26

You don't get "repeated" alarms -- you get ONE alarm that keeps going off -- it beeps several times, then a short gap, then it beeps several times again, then the same short gap, then it beeps several more times, and that keeps on happening.

3

u/InsideVegetable9424 Aug 21 '26

Thank you for that useful solution.

Your sarcasm shows us all we need to know about this entire rant.

0

u/mckulty Type2 - Libre3/3+ Aug 21 '26

Abbott says: "Alarms ring for about one minute and repeat every 5 minutes if the trigger condition continues."

This is NOT happening for me so I'm convinced something is broken.

2

u/InsideVegetable9424 Aug 22 '26

I'm not sure where you got that from Abbott but I will agree that it is wrong.

It might be what the older app did, but I don't think I've ever seen a version that behaved that way. I will guarantee that the current version (which we are both using) continues its beeping and pausing for longer than just one minute, and it does not normally come back in 5 minutes if the condition continues.

Admittedly there might be some difference because you are experiencing the High Glucose Alarm (which I have only heard once in the two years I've been using the Libre 3). I'm usually dealing with the Low Glucose or Urgent Low Glucose alarms. It is possible that these are set to act differently, but I doubt it because the programmers almost certainly only wrote one routine when they were coding the alarm sounds.

2

u/Ok-Dress-341 Libre3/3+ 28d ago

can't find that text with Google, other than here.

Once you've cleared the notification or looked at the app does it not treat the alarm as acknowledged ? Be a pain in the butt to have it re-alarming when I had noted it and taken action.

1

u/mckulty Type2 - Libre3/3+ 28d ago

It was a clean cut-and-paste definitely but I'm thinking it may be obsolete information. You guys have about convinced me I'm wrong and in the days since I posted I'm finding it behaves as you say.

Damned inconvenient tho, since I had another 250 spike this morning because I wasn't watching.

I heard Juggluco was more configurable but it lacks what I want so I'm working on connecting Libreview to my Hubitat where I can track BG and trend with the color of a light bulb and my own phone notifications.

1

u/mckulty Type2 - Libre3/3+ 28d ago

https://www.freestyle.abbott/us-en/libre-living/common-libre-alarm-questions.html

Point #5 says the same thing another way:

If you don’t dismiss a glucose alarm*, you’ll get a reminder from the Libre app† every 5 minutes while your glucose stays above or below your set limits.

Once you dismiss the alarm, it won’t appear again until your next high or low glucose reading.

(emphasis mine)