Disappointed
I originally was very excited about this product. I had lost a few sensors due to the battery of my Apple 6s dying prematurely but I thought if I bought a new Apple phone this would correct the issue. I went and purchased a Apple XR after many tech support calls with medtronic and today they tell me even though I went from a Samsung phone I loved to an Apple 6s then to a Apple xr that is not enough. The lack of their it team to update software months before the release of The new iOS is causing me to have to repeatedly have to restart sensors and stay up to 400am restarting sensors and calibrating them. Calibrating twice a day sounds great except you have to restart them way to often which leads to calibrating every few hours and being up all night ugh!!!! Starting to regret this choice!!!
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Ridiculous
I upgraded my phone from an iPhone 6 (doesn’t update to iOS 13) to the iPhone 11 because I was having system crashes. Well evidently the app doesn’t work with iOS 13 whenever I called about the app not working the lady asked if I called apple and had the most up to date software (obviously I do I purchased my phone yesterday at the apple store) and whenever she finally got in contact with someone else they told her to tell me to call apple back and have them downgrade my software and if I didn’t want to do that to call and order an insulin pump instead. I just got this CGM 4 days ago. I do not have interest in an insulin pump quite frankly if I did it wouldn’t be a Medtronic one. Why is it so difficult to update an app? And yes I asked if there was an update that was coming to work with iOS 13 and she said they don’t have a plan for that at this time and they are trying to work on making the app better but if it works out they have no idea when it is going to be out.
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I don’t see what the Problem is!
When I first went to download this app I read the reviews and I thought “Just great! Look at all the negative reviews.” Well this one is not going to be negative.
I was a little skeptical about using The Guardian Connect after reading these reviews. Not pairing properly with your phone, draining your phone battery so you have to charge your phone 2 or 3 times a day, having to calibrate 4 or 5 times a day, not getting accurate readings and so on and so on..... none of that has happened to me. Maybe it’s not the device but the user.
I was trained to use my Guardian Connect by a Medtronic Company Representative. She explained how the app numbers and your meter numbers can differ because one is using tissue fluid and the other blood. The higher the number the bigger the discrepancy (as much as 30 points).
As for the drain on the phone battery, I noticed that I have to charge my phone by end of each day where as before my battery lasted a day and a half. iPhone 8+.
I have been using this for a month now and it really gives me peace of mind knowing I am going to be alerted when I go low. It also made me hyper aware of the impact certain foods have on my numbers. I have better control and I feel this device is a game changer.
Been a Diabetic for over 25 years, Type 2 Insulin Dependent. So glad that my Diabetic Pharmacologist recommended The Guardian Connect!
I was a little skeptical about using The Guardian Connect after reading these reviews. Not pairing properly with your phone, draining your phone battery so you have to charge your phone 2 or 3 times a day, having to calibrate 4 or 5 times a day, not getting accurate readings and so on and so on..... none of that has happened to me. Maybe it’s not the device but the user.
I was trained to use my Guardian Connect by a Medtronic Company Representative. She explained how the app numbers and your meter numbers can differ because one is using tissue fluid and the other blood. The higher the number the bigger the discrepancy (as much as 30 points).
As for the drain on the phone battery, I noticed that I have to charge my phone by end of each day where as before my battery lasted a day and a half. iPhone 8+.
I have been using this for a month now and it really gives me peace of mind knowing I am going to be alerted when I go low. It also made me hyper aware of the impact certain foods have on my numbers. I have better control and I feel this device is a game changer.
Been a Diabetic for over 25 years, Type 2 Insulin Dependent. So glad that my Diabetic Pharmacologist recommended The Guardian Connect!
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Volume silence is a big issue
1) At every alert it turns the phone volume to zero causing you to miss phone calls, text messages, and emails.
2) App drains phone battery at a very fast pace. You better keep a portable charger near because this will cause you to charge your iPhone 3 times a day, every day.
3) Calibration needed far too often. If I have to check my blood sugar 8-10 times a day what is the point of a continuous glucose monitor? I’m basically doing it manually as it is.
I have lost total faith in Medtronic and their products. They are far behind in diabetic advancements. They’ve had variations of the same pump for 15 years with no sign of improvement. Their customer support is basically non existent and they constantly have problems in their billing department. When you confront them about it they become very defensive and make you believe that you are wrong.
I’ll stay far far away from Medtronic after this pump. Nothing but headaches with this company and their employees for 15 years. It’s a total disservice to those that rely on these products to stay alive.
2) App drains phone battery at a very fast pace. You better keep a portable charger near because this will cause you to charge your iPhone 3 times a day, every day.
3) Calibration needed far too often. If I have to check my blood sugar 8-10 times a day what is the point of a continuous glucose monitor? I’m basically doing it manually as it is.
I have lost total faith in Medtronic and their products. They are far behind in diabetic advancements. They’ve had variations of the same pump for 15 years with no sign of improvement. Their customer support is basically non existent and they constantly have problems in their billing department. When you confront them about it they become very defensive and make you believe that you are wrong.
I’ll stay far far away from Medtronic after this pump. Nothing but headaches with this company and their employees for 15 years. It’s a total disservice to those that rely on these products to stay alive.
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This app deserves zero stars
This app is the absolute worst! I wish I would have gone with the Dexcom CGM. Here’s why:
1. The app drains my phone battery like no other! It might be the frequency of the Bluetooth call to the transmitter, but I shouldn’t have to charge my phone 3 times a day to use.
2. You can’t change the alert tone. I would just like a quiet vibrate while at work. I don’t need an obnoxiously loud noise. You should be able to chose. It startled me every time.
3. While the app’s alert is obnoxious, it conveniently manages to make my text messages and phone calls be completely silent. They used to vibrate. This is a huge problem since my phone now spends more time away from me charging because of the battery drain.
4. It even manages to impact Apple car play! When the phone is plugged in for google maps, it will override the radio in the car and play no music at all. Complete silence. I’ll switch back to radio and get out of Apple CarPlay only to have the car/phone switch back to Apple CarPlay silence every 5 min. I’m guessing this is every time the Bluetooth makes a call to the transmitter. Basically I have to chose music and no maps, or maps and silence!
To summarize...this app is the absolute worst and needs major fixes! It’s like the app hacked my phone (and kinda my life for that matter).
1. The app drains my phone battery like no other! It might be the frequency of the Bluetooth call to the transmitter, but I shouldn’t have to charge my phone 3 times a day to use.
2. You can’t change the alert tone. I would just like a quiet vibrate while at work. I don’t need an obnoxiously loud noise. You should be able to chose. It startled me every time.
3. While the app’s alert is obnoxious, it conveniently manages to make my text messages and phone calls be completely silent. They used to vibrate. This is a huge problem since my phone now spends more time away from me charging because of the battery drain.
4. It even manages to impact Apple car play! When the phone is plugged in for google maps, it will override the radio in the car and play no music at all. Complete silence. I’ll switch back to radio and get out of Apple CarPlay only to have the car/phone switch back to Apple CarPlay silence every 5 min. I’m guessing this is every time the Bluetooth makes a call to the transmitter. Basically I have to chose music and no maps, or maps and silence!
To summarize...this app is the absolute worst and needs major fixes! It’s like the app hacked my phone (and kinda my life for that matter).
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Had to give it a star to rate it
Why does it take so incredibly long for Medtronic to update it’s software apps relative to others. To me, it’s so unreasonable to take so long having been in the diabetes game so long (along with other technologies). Working bugs out of an app in no way compares to the rigorous checks and balances I would think are in place for research and development of the actually equipment. I have spent years waiting for software to communicate with my sons pump for years. With every rollout, an update to my hardware’s OS renders the tech useless for sometimes more than a year. It’s just unreasonable for the type and size of company Medtronic is. You need to do far better far faster in regard to the tools you provide for diabetes management you offer. I picture comfy app developers giving lip service in meetings that isn’t appreciated by superiors or other departments. My son’s life has been largely affected by the lack of those promised features never or inconsistently being realized. Now into adulthood, he will struggle to manage his diabetes as it has been a laborious experience confounded for him by the other health issues he happens to have have. Being less likely to face his diabetes consistently as a young adult will cost healthcare a lot more and diminish his quality of life. This app represented years of waiting thru U.I.s and extra equipment only to be let down by bugs!!!!!
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Too little too late?
As opposed to most of the reviewers, I did not have any issues with transmitter pairing and setup — thought it was pretty smooth with straightforward explanations within the app to guide me . . . But that’s about where the positives end.
The audio alert settings do not follow what you set them to which is annoying and disruptive(hopefully a quick bug fix). The battery usage is absolutely unacceptable. For a phone that typically uses about 30% of the charge on a typically day, I am now running on fumes at the end of the day with the app installed - I don’t have time for that. Dexcom used about 15% of my battery, Guardian uses 50+%. A broader look at the guardian sensor overall is also not great — the first 6-12 hours of each sensor are awful, often off by 30-50% (this is compared to Dexcom G6 which I wore for 10 days and had only two fingersticks out of more than 30 that were more than 15% off) and seemed accurate immediately after warm-up.
The fact that this thing requires 3-4 calibrations per day for second-rate glucose data, doesn’t last 10+ days (all other sensors can) and it’s going to drain my phone battery makes it a pretty big burden to use. I don’t see this having any advantage over other products. It was probably a nice idea when they thought of it in 2014 but it’s already outdated. This product is ‘too little too late’ from Medtronic.
The audio alert settings do not follow what you set them to which is annoying and disruptive(hopefully a quick bug fix). The battery usage is absolutely unacceptable. For a phone that typically uses about 30% of the charge on a typically day, I am now running on fumes at the end of the day with the app installed - I don’t have time for that. Dexcom used about 15% of my battery, Guardian uses 50+%. A broader look at the guardian sensor overall is also not great — the first 6-12 hours of each sensor are awful, often off by 30-50% (this is compared to Dexcom G6 which I wore for 10 days and had only two fingersticks out of more than 30 that were more than 15% off) and seemed accurate immediately after warm-up.
The fact that this thing requires 3-4 calibrations per day for second-rate glucose data, doesn’t last 10+ days (all other sensors can) and it’s going to drain my phone battery makes it a pretty big burden to use. I don’t see this having any advantage over other products. It was probably a nice idea when they thought of it in 2014 but it’s already outdated. This product is ‘too little too late’ from Medtronic.
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