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Warning: continuous glucose monitor safety alerts on smart devices, such as smartphones or smartwatches, may not work as expected

Issued March 19, 2025
Issue
Some people who use continuous glucose monitors have reported not receiving or hearing safety alerts from their smart devices, such as their smartphone or their smartwatch. If you miss a safety alert, you may fail to treat your low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) or high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), which could cause serious health issues requiring medical treatment, such as severely high or low blood sugar, loss of consciousness, seizure, coma and death. Check your alert settings and refer to your device’s manual to ensure safety alerts are working as expected. The safety alert volume may be affected by: phone settings, such as sleep mode, focus mode, or do not disturb mode; connections with other hardware that can change the default volume of alerts, such as Bluetooth, wireless earphones or car audio; and operating system updates, battery saving features, and “deep sleep” mode (caused when the user does not use the device for long periods of time) can also cause malfunctions. This issue only affects safety alerts from smart devices such as a smartphones; it does not affect other parts of your glucose monitor. Health Canada will continue to work with the manufacturers of diabetes device apps to identify and reduce the risks of safety alerts being unintentionally silenced.
Hazard description
Inaccurate test or measurement results
What to do
If you feel unwell, check your glucose levels using your continuous glucose monitor or an alternative method, and seek medical attention if necessary. Actively monitor your glucose levels until you have determined whether the app is alerting you properly. Review the instructions provided with your continuous glucose monitor when installing, setting up, and updating glucose monitoring apps on your smart device. Check your alert settings and volume, and refer to your device’s manual to ensure the safety alerts are working as expected with all of your smart device settings (including do not disturb, focus or sleep modes). If you notice an issue with your alerts, contact the manufacturer for help troubleshooting your smart device settings. Report any issues with your diabetes monitoring devices to Health Canada.
Product
Product name
Continuous glucose monitoring smart device software applications
Reference
ID
RA-77131