LibreLinkUp App Launches in Europe, Enabling Remote Monitoring of FreeStyle Libre Sensor Readings
By Adam Brown
By Lynn Kennedy and Adam Brown
Abbott’s free Android app for caregivers is now available
Abbott just launched LibreLinkUp in Europe, a caregiver app for remotely monitoring glucose values from FreeStyle Libre. The app is available for free on Android devices in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK (Apple iOS version expected to launch in 2017).
Following a wearer’s scan of the FreeStyle Libre sensor with their own LibreLink Android app, a caregiver will immediately be able to see the result and receive high or low glucose notifications in LibreLinkUp. Along with the most recent glucose reading, LibreLinkUp will share a trend arrow (i.e., Is glucose increasing slowly? Declining quickly?) and data from up to the last 100 scans.
FreeStyle Libre data can be shared with up to 20 “connections” – people using the LibreLinkUp app, and each LibreLinkUp user can view data from up to 20 FreeStyle Libre users at a time. While most people will likely only share their sensor data with a few people at most, the ability to monitor up to 20 FreeStyle Libre users may be helpful for people such as healthcare professionals or coaches.
Since the FreeStyle Libre sensor does not continuously send data to the user’s phone (like traditional CGM), the person with diabetes will need to manually scan the sensor (with LibreLink) for results to be sent to caregivers.
The launch of LibreLinkUp for remotely monitoring glucose data gives people with diabetes and caregivers another option for data sharing, in addition to Dexcom’s G5/G4 Share and Medtronic’s MiniMed Connect. Both products have been well-received by many parents of children with type 1 diabetes in particular, although the LibreLinkUp app is a great option for anyone – type 1 or type 2. Another advantage of these products is they can send data automatically to the Cloud, eliminating the need for annoying download cables.
FreeStyle Libre is currently approved in Europe for people with diabetes ages four and older, no prescription needed (read diaTribe’s Test Drive of the FreeStyle Libre for more).
