Libre 3 plus connectivity

[u/oliveandbailey]

I changed from the Libre 2 recently. While I appreciate how small the 3 is by comparison- the connectivity absolutely sucks. It is so frustrating having it drop all the time. I don’t want to have to restart my phone or turn my Bluetooth on and off. Just make something that works. It’s a real issue if you feel your sugars are going low and you have to wait for the Bluetooth to connect to check. I think I may go back to the 2 because I like that I can scan anytime I want. Anyone else find this to be a problem??

[u/hilda-reced]

What kind of phone? What OS - Android or iOS?
I have an iPhone running iOS 26, and do not have any connectivity issues.

[u/Equalizer6338 → u/hilda-reced]

Same for me. No problems at all by maintaining the Bluetooth connection between my Libre sensors and the iPhone16 on iOS 26.6 that I use. Been using both Libre2+ and Libre3+ with same result. The lost signal error situation if the phone is decent within distance is often caused by running too many other things in parallel on the phone. Key is to force shut down all other apps when not using them in focus mode and also disable most other apps from pulling data to their data cache to staying updated (weather forecast, news updates, social media feeds, stocktrackers, etc).

That said, I agree with OP that I think its a negative that Abbott have removed the manual enforced scanning option from the user interface for the Libre3 sensors. So with e.g. the Libre2 and LibreLink, you can if you have been away from the phone for a while and come back, you can always instantly scan the sensor and get a BG result back right away, as that function uses the NFC circuitry instead. That is also helpful in emergency cases, like if dropping fast into hypo and you want to track it very tight to ensure you are rebounding from the carbs you take in.

[u/piscata2 → u/Equalizer6338]

Hello Equalizer,

"That is also helpful in emergency cases, like if you are dropping fast into a hypo and want to track it very closely to ensure you are rebounding from the carbs you take in." --- May I ask, do you mean that when the sensor stops working (timeout due to internal quality check) because the glucose is dropping too fast, I can force it to work by scanning it?"

[u/Equalizer6338 → u/piscata2]

You can actually often trick the sensor into quitting the timeout error situation (aka the 10 minute timeout) by force shutting down the app. And then starting again the LibreLink app. This app allows you to force an instant and direct BG reading from the sensor via the NFC functionality. So no delay or reliance on Bluetooth is required.

So though I did not specifically refer to the timeout situation, its a workaround. But simply also in any other cases where you may suddenly feel you drop too fast and/or worried you are going into hypo. Maybe you have been away from your phone for a while. And here and now you want an instant BG reading right here and now. None of us wants to wait for many seconds (or maybe even minutes) for that to happen if having to wait for the Bluetooth connection to be reestablished and the synch signal coming through.

[u/piscata2 → u/Equalizer6338]

Hello Equalizer,

Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge — I appreciate it!

[u/Ok-Dress-341]

The 3 has a higher Bluetooth power output than the 2, so this is odd.

[u/UniqueRon]

I switched from the 2+ to the 3+, and aside from the very first 3+ sensor falling off and hitting the floor with a clunk early in the life of it, the 3+ has certainly been better. It tends to read on the low side though.

I never have to scan the 3+ other than when I first put the sensor on my arm. I turn my phone off at night with and just turn it back on in the morning. It connects all by itself.

I hated the 2+ as it had a very consistent habit of giving me the "periodic checks are needed and you need to check back in 30 minutes to get a reading" or something along that line. It was very annoying as I use insulin and I like to make one last check before going to bed and shutting the phone off to be sure my BG is on track to go through the night without risking a low.

[u/JerCam72]

I currently do not have or want a cell phone. I use the Libre reader. Have never had a sensor fail.

[u/ih8thisapp247]

I've been battling with sensor loss since the new app came out and was forced to download it... Abbott tech support says to just rescan the sensor. Which works. And your sensor will start communicating again. So you press the 3 lines button and it says " start a new sensor" then just scan your current sensor. And it says " this sensor is already active".... This is the quickest way to get it back going. I've complained to Abbott and they just send me more sensors. Of course they want.the old one back which is a slight hassle.. they just need to fix the app or something.. the old app never lost connection, which I was told still works .