Comparison

Tidepool Mobile vs nightguard

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Tidepool Mobile

This app allows users to upload data from various diabetes devices and Apple Health to a central web platform. It also enables users to add contextual notes and comments to their glucose, insulin, and activity data for better tracking and analysis.

Highlights
  • Upload data from Apple Health
  • Tag CGM, pump, and meter data with notes
  • Track meals and exercise
  • Search noted events
  • Comment on data
  • Donate de-identified data
Read full description

Tidepool Mobile is a companion uploader and notes app for Tidepool Web, a free web app where you can see data from your insulin pump, continuous glucose monitor (CGM), and blood glucose meter, all in one place. Create your free Tidepool account at tidepool.org/signup. As an uploader app, Tidepool Mobile allows you to: * Upload data automatically from Apple Health to Tidepool. This data may include blood glucose, insulin, food, and activity data collected by Apple Health from your authorized apps like Dexcom, Companion InPen, MySugr, OneDrop, SugarSense, OneTouch Reveal, Accu-Chek Connect, and your manual entries. * Opt in to donate your de-identified uploaded data to the Tidepool Big Data Donation Project. Find out more at https://www.tidepool.org/bigdata. As a notes app, Tidepool Mobile allows you to: * Tag your CGM, pump, and blood glucose meter data with a note for context. * Track your favorite meals and your regular exercise, and learn from what you see. * Search for events you've noted before so you can use your data to help you in real-time, like seeing how your glucose responded to a #walk or #popcorn the last time you used that tag. * Comment on your data. You and your care team can add comments in Tidepool Mobile and see them in context in Tidepool Web’s more comprehensive visualization and, vice versa, any notes you add in Tidepool Web will then show in your Tidepool Mobile app as well. Tidepool’s suite of tools is compatible with Dexcom, Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre readers, Medtronic, Tandem, Insulet Omnipod, and Animas insulin pumps, as well as many blood glucose meters. Learn more at tidepool.org/devices.

About

nightguard

Monitor blood glucose levels from your Nightscout backend. Receive alerts for out-of-range values, track historical data with overlay charts, and tune basal rates with statistics. Optionally sync data to Apple HealthKit.

Highlights
  • Blood glucose value display
  • Customizable glucose range alerts
  • Alert snoozing and reactivation
  • Rapid rise/fall alerts
  • Historical overlay charts
  • Basal rate tuning statistics
  • HealthKit data sync
Features
Read full description

Disclaimer! Don't use this App for medical decisions. It comes with absolutely no warranty. Use it at your own risk! You can use nightguard to submit your bg values to the Apple HealthKit. This is disabled by default but can be enabled in the nightguard app. Nightguard is an app that displays your blood glucose values from the Nightscout backend. It is a native iOS App with support for the Apple Watch. Features are: - Define a range of acceptable blood glucose values. - Whenever your values are out of range you will be alerted. - You can snooze the alerts all the time and for a defined time period. - You can reactivate the alerts all the time. - You can activate alerts if the values are rising or falling too fast. - The app displays yesterdays values as an overlay chart. This way you have a hint about how your values could behave in the future. - Tune your basal rates with the statistics function to overlay different days - Sync your bg values to HealthKit (optional) For the alarms to work the app has to be active. So you can enable a screen lock that keeps the app running all night long. Have a look at www.nightscout.info for more information about how to setup your own Nightscout backend.

Screenshots

Tidepool Mobile4 screens
nightguard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: nightguard at 4.5 against Tidepool Mobile's 2.8. nightguard also leads on review sentiment (70% vs 28%) and update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). Tidepool Mobile's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. nightguard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Tidepool Mobile asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

nightguard holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: nightguard has 882 ratings behind it against 70, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of Tidepool Mobile's written reviews are positive against 70% of nightguard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tidepool Mobile ships an update every 3 months, nightguard monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Tidepool Mobile versus nightguard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTidepool Mobilenightguard
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.8 (70 ratings)4.5 (882 ratings) — better
Positive reviews27.7% of reviews70.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings70882 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB13 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperTidepool ProjectSPORTMEO

Customer experience

Tidepool Mobile

All ratings64 ratings
Positive39.1%
Neutral9.4%
Negative51.6%
Written reviews47 reviews
Positive27.7%
Neutral10.6%
Negative61.7%

nightguard

All ratings882 ratings
Positive86.1%
Neutral4.1%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews221 reviews
Positive70.1%
Neutral13.1%
Negative16.7%

User reviews

Tidepool Mobile

From 70 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for notes and context
  • 👍 Centralized data aggregation
  • 👍 Helpful for care teams
  • 👍 Useful for DIY loop data
  • 👍 Good for communication

Room to improve

  • 👎 Cannot view data on mobile
  • 👎 Limited mobile functionality
  • 👎 Desktop-only data viewing
  • 👎 Outdated app, no updates
  • 👎 Confusing purpose

nightguard

From 882 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app for monitoring glucose levels
  • 👍 Helpful for managing diabetes
  • 🤖 Integrates well with Apple Watch
  • 📊 Provides useful data visualization

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Alarms/notifications not working properly
  • 🔄 Inconsistent data sync/refresh issues
  • 📱 Apple Watch app crashing/not functioning
  • 🔢 Issues with unit conversions (mg/dL vs mmol/L)

Bugs and requests

Tidepool Mobile

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • App has not received updates in years
  • Desktop website is glitchy
  • Desktop website doesn't show accurate CGM readings
  • 400 errors when uploading data
  • 401 error after first hour
Show 9 more
  • Notes disappear after upload
  • App does not connect to online database
  • Login issues for new users
  • Cannot see data on the app, only blank screen
  • App only shows 8 hours of data
  • Cannot sync Dexcom G6
  • Uploader fails to upload Omnipod data
  • Cannot connect Dexcom to Uploader
  • App is not compatible with certain browsers/OS

Requested features

12 requests
  • View data on mobile
  • Update app with new features
  • Support for more devices (e.g., Medtronic, Omnipod 5)
  • Sync with Apple Health for exercise data
  • Manual entry for long-acting insulin
Show 7 more
  • Upload pictures of food
  • Upload temp basals
  • Background app refresh for uploads
  • mmol/L display option
  • Dark mode
  • More intuitive UI/UX
  • Offline use or draft saving

nightguard

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Readings stuck or not updating
  • Nightscout URL not recognized
  • Glucose data not syncing to Apple Health
  • Sudden disappearance of Apple Watch app

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to view/scan graph data points
  • Improve Apple Watch complication and widget
  • Allow custom high/low alert thresholds
  • Provide more detailed user manual/documentation

In-app purchases

None

Tidepool Mobile

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

nightguard

Subscriptions2
  • Nightguard Pro$1.991 Month
  • Nightguard Max Subscription$3.991 Month

Questions

Is Tidepool Mobile free?
Tidepool Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is nightguard free?
nightguard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Tidepool Mobile or nightguard?
nightguard is rated higher. Tidepool Mobile averages 2.8 out of 5 from 70 ratings, while nightguard averages 4.5 from 882 ratings.
Do Tidepool Mobile or nightguard have ads?
Neither Tidepool Mobile nor nightguard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tidepool Mobile or nightguard?
Tidepool Mobile ships an update every 3 months, and nightguard monthly. Most recently, Tidepool Mobile was updated on October 20, 2026 and nightguard on October 19, 2026.

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