All mobile and desktop-friendly diabetes data apps—-otherwise known as diabetes management platforms (DMP)—-offer a unique set of benefits, features, capabilities and purposes. They also vary in price (though most are free) and device compatibility.
DMPs are intended to help people easily manage their diabetes and coordinate with their care teams more effectively. There are many reasons you may consider using a DMP while living with diabetes. For example, you may want clearer insights into your day-to-day and long-term management or be able to organize your life with diabetes more seamlessly.
In this guide, we explore some of the most popular diabetes data apps available today and highlight their key benefits, all so you can decide which may help you the most.
About: With the Dexcom G6 app, you can log your insulin, exercise, carb intake and track important health information, such as the date of your last menstrual cycle or alcohol consumption—all while collecting data directly from your continuous glucose monitor (CGM).
The Dexcom G6 Clarity app is a Dexcom-specific mobile and desktop-friendly app that works with your Dexcom G6 app to show trends in your blood sugar data and other essential stats like time in range, blood sugar patterns (such as if you experience daytime highs or lows, etc.), standard blood sugar deviation and glucose management indicator (GMI). You can see a breakdown of this data over a 2, 7, 14, 30 or 90-day period.
Benefits: The Dexcom G6 and Clarity apps work most powerfully together, helping you use your blood sugar data to develop personalized care plans with your diabetes care team. For example, the specific trends shown can help you identify if you need to change your insulin regimen or nutrition plan. You can enable sharing in your Dexcom G6 app and add up to 10 followers, usually close friends or family, your endocrinologist, certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES) or other primary diabetes healthcare provider.
About: You might still be transitioning from Freestyle Libre 2 (FSL2) to 3 (FSL3) as new products take a while to hit all marketplaces. If you’re still on the FSL2 app, don’t worry! There is a lot of valuable information across Abbott’s suite of applications.
Here’s what you will find on Freestyle Libre’s mobile (and one desktop-centric) apps:
The Freestyle Libre and Dexcom apps are some of the most popular diabetes management platforms available to the community because they work closely with existing CGMs. For people with diabetes who check their blood sugar levels with blood glucose meters (BGMs), there are also free apps that pair directly with your devices like:
About: Glooko is a mobile and desktop-friendly app that enables you and your healthcare provider to connect more closely remotely on your diabetes data. You can connect a range of BGMs, CGMs and insulin pumps with Glooko, using different upload methods (depending on your device). Instructions are featured in the app when you sign up on how to use it!
Benefits: On top of being able to work with your diabetes care team digitally in between routine appointments (primary care provider, endocrinologist, CDCES, etc.), you gain access to thorough charts that feature detailed data on your blood glucose levels, insulin use, trends in blood sugar patterns and more. See your diabetes data in a summary, graph, logbook, history, insights and device-specific format.
When using the desktop version of Glooko, you can also export your data in a PDF format to share with your provider if you’re unsure or have yet to share it with their healthcare portal.
About: Sugarmate is a unique mobile and desktop-friendly app on this list in that lets you opt-in to receive automated calls from the system when your blood sugar levels are below normal or urgently low. You can also add more customized alerts if you like! On top of this feature, Sugarmate provides similar data as other apps. It lets you connect with Dexcom G5 or G6.
Benefits: Sugarmate is supported by Apple Watch. You can also connect it to Amazon Alexa Skill. Using Sugarmate, you can ask Alexa: “Alexa, what’s my blood sugar at?” and she’ll tell you! (The future of blood sugar management is here!) If you consider yourself tech-savvy, Sugarmate is a good option for you. It offers voice recognition and dictation and the ability to track your activity, nutrition and exercise.
This guide touches the surface of the diabetes management platforms available today. Others include:
The future of DMP is exciting! Gone are the days of pencils and writing down blood sugar readings in a logbook. Diabetes technology is constantly evolving, which means we are likely to see improvements to existing apps and see new apps hit the space as time goes on.
Beyond Type 1 is keeping a pulse on upcoming diabetes management platforms and will update this list as new technology emerges.
Editor’s notes: This article mentions Dexcom, Abbott, Medtronic and Roche Diabetes Care, all of which are active partners of Beyond Type 1 at the time of publication.
Educational content related to diabetes management platforms (DMP) is made possible with support from Lilly, an active partner of Beyond Type 1 at the time of publication. Editorial control rests solely on Beyond Type 1.
