You can view blood sugar and diabetes data on Apple Watches and other smartwatches, including continuous glucose monitor readings. The setup may vary based on the watch brand, CGM, and software version.
Viewing blood sugars with just a quick glance at your wrist is no longer a futuristic dream for people with diabetes, but is now a reality for many who use this technology.
Wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) sensor that can beam near-real-time data to a smartwatch is becoming a cornerstone of daily care.
The smartwatch itself doesn’t check your blood sugar with a sensor. Rather, the watch acts as a bridge receiving diabetes data from your insulin pump or CGM or smartphone mobile app and displaying that on the watchface.
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Here’s a look at how currently available CGM systems connect to smartwatches.
The California CGM company pioneered the industry’s ability to view glucose data on a smartwatch.
The company first enabled limited Apple Watch connectivity in 2015 with its G4 model, and later expanded that capability with its G5 model in 2016, continuing it with the later G6 and G7 models.
Now, the Dexcom G7 mobile app is compatible with both Apple and Android watches with various watch faces. It displays your current glucose number and arrow trend, as well as graphs for 1-, 3-, 6-, and 24-hour periods.
Whenever you wake up your Apple or Android watch, it syncs with the current CGM data from the app running on your iPhone or Android phone, or the G7 sensor itself.
The G7 is the first Dexcom generation that allows for direct-to-watch connectivity, meaning you don’t need a phone to serve as the intermediary to receive data and access alerts on the smartwatch.
One aspect of the Apple Watch feature is that you can customize the Dexcom to change the watch face color to reflect your glucose status — red, green, or yellow — to draw attention to your current reading.
You can see the full list of compatible devices for the Dexcom CGM. Remember, just because a phone or watch isn’t initially listed now doesn’t mean Dexcom isn’t working to add it down the road.
One of the smartwatches compatible with the Dexcom is the Garmin watch.
This development in 2021 made headlines, as it marked the first time that “real-time” CGM data could be streamed directly from Dexcom to a particular smartwatch.
Previously, this hadn’t been possible without a do-it-yourself (DIY) workaround, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2021 gave the green light for this type of partnership to occur. It opened the door for other companies to use Dexcom’s real-time software in creating apps or other wearable options for data display as well.
This was the first time another company, outside of Dexcom, was able to use the CGM maker’s real-time software to develop and integrate its glucose data into its own apps and devices.
They even made a polished 74-second commercial highlighting the development, featuring some high-profile celebrity athletes who live with diabetes themselves.
An at-a-glance ‘Connect IQ’ widget can be displayed on a compatible Garmin smartwatch, so you can view real-time glucose levels as well as a trend arrow and a 3-hour history CGM line.
There is also a field that allows users to see glucose data on a compatible Garmin smartwatch or bike computer while working it. It displays glucose levels as well as trend direction along with other performance metrics you may be tracking during physical activities.
One benefit of this — aside from viewing data on the spot during exercise — is being able to later review your CGM data along with activity data, to see how your glucose levels were impacted by a particular exercise event, such as a run or bike ride.
Although you can access real-time Dexcom CGM data on these Garmin devices and monitor trends, Garmin intentionally does not include any of its own alerts or alarms for when glucose levels drop too low or rise too high.
However, the Garmin technology still communicates with other mobile apps and data platforms while the Connect IQ widget is in use.
That means notifications sent to the Garmin device from another app, such as the Dexcom CGM mobile app’s high or low glucose alerts, will be active.
In recent years, other companies have integrated their diabetes devices with various smartwatches to enable data display and interaction.
This includes Medtronic, with its Minimed Mobile app, and Abbott’s Freestyle Libre CGM technology that works with various watches and third-party apps.
These technologies, along with other diabetes devices, can be used on various watches, including Apple and Samsung, Garmin, and Galaxy watches.
For many years, the only option for data connectivity on smartwatches was limited to the DIY space.
Around 2013, tech-savvy developers and coders began hacking into their diabetes devices and building mobile apps to transmit data to smartphones and smartwatches.
This became known as the #WeAreNotWaiting movement, which paved the way for smartwatches and remote connectivity more broadly for CGM and other diabetes data.
You can view blood sugar and diabetes data on Apple Watches and other smartwatches, including continuous glucose monitor readings. The setup may vary based on the watch brand, CGM, and software version.