![]() ![]() I’m suspecting that the app wants me to dismiss the dialog underneath the error message first, but you can’t do that when the error message is on top of it. The dialogs and error messages appear at the same time. These dialogs can’t always be dismissed and you’ve got to quit and restart the app instead. I’ve no idea what these errors mean as they’re represented with meaningless error codes that aren’t documented anywhere. Dismissing the dialogs too quickly after they open can also cause the app to crash.įor a bit of variety, the app also throws up some internal error messages from time to time. Like when you try to quickly open a chart so you can peek at it before the app inevitably interrupts you. The app crashes frequently if you press too many things too quickly. For the best user experience, you just have to sit and wait patiently while it syncs, wait for the dialog to pop up, dismiss that, and then you can explore the app. If the measurement is outside your target range it will suggest you call someone or otherwise prompt you to annotate the reading. The app doesn’t care that you’re looking at a chart or reading about a measurement trend and will throw up full-screen dialogs for the most recent measurement. ![]() Ideally, the data should help you manage your diabetes better. The Contour Diabetes app does a good job of visualizing readings and analyzing trends from your measurements. You might think that this would be a good time to explore your charts, trends, and data in the app and you’d be wrong. So, you’ve to sit there and wait for it all to do its thing and try to guess when the app has finished reading all the new data from the meter so you can turn off the meter. The app also can’t instruct the meter to power down when it has completed syncing. The inactivity timer on the meter doesn’t seem to be unaware that the app is actively reading data from it and beeps anyway. By default, the Contour Next One beeps loudly if you leave it turned on for more than a few seconds to remind you to turn it off. The app and syncing experience can be quite annoying. The documentation available from Ascensia doesn’t specifically mention whether background syncing is supposed to work or not or whether you’re required to routinely open the app when you use the meter to get pull in up-to-date data. I tried disabling power management policies for the app (Battery Optimization) and made sure that Bluetooth background scanning was enabled on my Android device. I bought the Contour Next One specifically because I hoped I wouldn’t need to turn on the meter and navigate its menus on a tiny screen to find my previous reading. It’s hard to remember these things when it has become a routine you’ve been doing every day for years. I wanted to have background sync from the glucose meter so I could pull up my phone and quickly check on “what was the last reading? and when was it?”. Just about every cheapo fitness device on the market support reading off their data without requiring the user to open an app first. The meter uses Bluetooth Low Energy ( BLE), a subset of the Bluetooth standard designed for background communications, but the app doesn’t support background sync. In order for the meter and app to sync, you need to have the meter turned on and leave the app open at the same time. The app gave accurate instructions and then things worked afterward. I was pleasantly surprised when the initial pairing of the Contour Next One and the Contour Diabetes app on my Nokia 7 Plus with Android 8.0 worked on the first attempt. ![]() The app experience on Android is just depressing, however. Its easy to use and gives quick results (though it takes eight seconds and not five as advertised). The Contour Next One glucose meter itself is fine. It’s a relatively modern glucose meter (the model is only two years old) with an “optional” companion app for Android and iOS. I did find one exception though: The Countour Next One by Ascensia Diabetes Care. Most of them have the same aesthetics as pagers of the early 1990’s. There are a handful of uninteresting glucose meters to choose from on the market. Glucose meters seem to have been left behind while the rest of the technology sector has zoomed along with sleek minimalist designs of ever-increasing technological complexity and capabilities. My old glucose meter model was discontinued earlier this year and I needed to find a replacement model. I thought my new Contour Next One glucose meter with a companion phone app would work like a modern connected fitness tracker and give me convenient access to my blood sugar levels. ![]()
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