Dexcom G7 & Geofencing: Travel Alert
If you are a Dexcom G7 user or using MDI with connection to phone app, PLEASE READ:
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- you are planning travel shortly away from your home country, and
- you use open-source DIY app or MDI or Mobi or will use O5 with G7
Dexcom G7 is GEOFENCED which prevents you from updating or installing the G7 app when outside your home country. What does that mean for you as a Dexcom G7 user?
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- If your phone is lost, stolen, or broken, you cannot load the G7 app on a new phone.
- If the app stops working (which has been happening lately), you cannot delete and reinstall the app to fix it.
- You also cannot update the app or will lose access until you return home.
We have heard about military families overseas losing needed diabetes equipment, about vacations ruined, and about so many other issues due to geofencing. Dexcom is working on a fix to eliminate geofencing that should be out later this year. As an interim measure, Dexcom is working on educational materials on geofencing to be released soon.
Geofencing is only an issue if your app or phone goes south while traveling outside your home country. Until Dexcom fixes this, travelers be prepared, as follows:
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- Bring G6 sensors and G6 transmitter supplies. The G6 app is not geofenced.
- The G7 controller also is not geofenced. So you can use your controller but it will not share your CGM data to your closed-loop insulin delivery system.
- You can use a VPN and an app that changes your location. But this is a complicated workaround and may not be legal in all places in the world.
- Bringing a backup phone with the G7 app loaded and active is not a solution, as you cannot have 2 active sensors with one G7 app.
Here’s a link to FB Loop and Learn group’s recent documentation on the issue: https://www.loopandlearn.org/g7-geofence/
Read more on the issue below: who might potentially be impacted, and some still as yet unanswered questions we have for Dexcom (when will you announce the problem and what are the exact fixes until the problem is resolved), Tandem (what about Mobi and G7?) and Insulet (what about O5/G7?). We do not know if Eversense is geofenced. We do not know if Abbott Libre is geofenced. If you are using either Libre or Eversense, please contact them directly.
I feel that this issue needs to be, urgently, shared across the entire G7 user community. This is peak vacation/travel season. I would hate to hear more stories of stranded T1Ds whose trips are challenged or ruined. The odds of experiencing loss of G7 app access are not high … until it happens to you!
Read more:
Sensulin Is Developing a New Type of Freedom from Diabetes by StartUp Health, 16 July 2024, recorded at the ADA Scientific Sessions, June 2024.
“Glucose-responsive insulin basically is like a chemical pancreas. It sits in the subcutaneous tissue and releases more insulin when you need it and less when you don’t. So the hope would be that from a patient’s perspective it’s very passive and helps them manage their blood sugar throughout the day without too much effort,” says Mike Moradi, CEO & Co-founder of Sensulin. Sensulin is in the pre-clinical stage, finalizing its candidate formulation and preparing for first-in-human trials.
Bill Ervin, CEO & Founder of Bulsai, is on a mission to ensure safe and effective site detection and management for all people living with insulin-dependent diabetes. For individuals living with diabetes, Bulsai – a member of StartUp Health’s T1D Moonshot Community – uses a portable infrared sensor, AI, and a supporting mobile app to ensure proper placement for insulin injections.DIY Insulin Algorithm with Deniz Cengiz, Episode #1243 on JuiceBoxPodcast.com, 3 July 2024.
Dan Cengiz, left, at DiabetesMine DData with FB Loop and Learn admins
Read more: #1243 DIY Insulin Algorithm
“We’re building AI for insulin delivery systems. More broadly, we’re a contextual intelligence platform. So what our system does is it learns about your lifestyle, learns about where you are, and then it provides that information in formats that can be used by insulin delivery systems or, more broadly, drug delivery systems,” says Sam Royston, CEO & Co-founder of Replica Health, at the recent ADA Scientific Sessions. For people living with diabetes, Replica Health – a member of the StartUp Health T1D Moonshot Community – turns mealtime guesstimating into data-driven decision-making. The system links CGM, insulin pump, Apple Health, and location data to create a new model for understanding, analyzing, and searching metabolic history.How To Get a Free Lifetime National Parks Pass by April Hopcroft for diaTribe.org, 15 July 2024.
One perk of living with diabetes is the ability to obtain a free lifetime National Park Pass to access recreation sites across the U.S. Called an Access Pass, this is a free lifetime version of the National Park Service’s (NPS) America the Beautiful Pass, which costs $80 per year. The pass provides access to over 2,000 federal recreation sites, from iconic National Parks – such as Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite – to historical sites, battlefields, and other landmarks.
You can apply in person (free), online ($10), or by mail ($10) and you’ll need to show evidence of disability, such as a statement by a licensed physician.
People with diabetes who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents can apply for an America the Beautiful Pass, which offers access to over 2,000 parks, monuments, and landmarks.
Interesting to read about the geofencing. I have had big (and different) problems with both the G7 and Omnipod 5 every single time I have left the U.S. I get a different answer from every person I talk to at each company and they have never been able to help in any useful way. They won’t send you a new PDM while overseas and I’ve experienced problems with the G7 receiver too. Omnipod even suggested I use the app instead and didn’t seem to know the iOS app hasn’t been released. I never had problems with any of the previous Omnipod versions nor Dexcom. Something is fishy. Bring backups and alternative means of testing and delivering insulin every time you go, especially when the new version of something is released.
Oh thank for the update on the issues with G7 and Geo fencing. Do people not understand it is important to allow international travel these days? I mean come on. This is one of the worst decisions I have heard. Do they not understand that PWD’s hate restrictions?
I mean hate hate hate descriptions.
I mean Hate hate Hate restrictions