Compare
CGM follower apps compared
Glide, Dexcom Follow, LibreLinkUp, Sugarmate, Gluroo, xDrip4iOS (and its App Store build Zukka), and Nightscout with LoopFollow. Checked against each maker's own documents on 6 October 2026.
Glide's maker wrote this page, so read it as one vendor's comparison. Each claim links the document it comes from: the maker's help pages, user guide or App Store listing. This is a review of documents, not a hands-on test. Where those documents say nothing, the cell says not stated, which does not mean the app cannot do it. US versions unless a cell names a country; features differ by country, sensor and app version. If a cell is wrong or out of date, write to [email protected] and we fix it.
Which apps. The table covers apps that show a family member the live CGM readings on their own phone and alert them. Dexcom Follow and LibreLinkUp are the sensor makers' own follower apps; they are here as the baseline. The others are two widely used companion apps (ratings and user counts under “Where Glide is weaker”) and the two open-source routes, xDrip4iOS and Nightscout. Apps we left out are named under the table.
The short version
- The official, free apps, Dexcom Follow and LibreLinkUp, come from the sensor maker and need nothing else. Both let each follower set alerts, and both offer a no-data notification (LibreLinkUp's depends on the sensor).
- For Android, a computer or a watch other than Apple's, look at Sugarmate, Gluroo or Nightscout. Glide runs on iPhone and Apple Watch only.
- For alerts that sound on a muted phone without a call, Sugarmate can make any push a Critical Alert, and xDrip4iOS and LoopFollow can override the mute switch while they run.
- For a text to family on a low, Sugarmate texts on an urgent low, and Gluroo on lows (Sugarmate, Gluroo).
- For full control, and looping data, LoopFollow with Nightscout, if you can build an app and run a site.
- Glide's two differences: My Lab, which finds the repeats of a meal and puts each one's dose and pre-bolus timing beside its result (the first two rows of the table); and a phone call when the readings stop, not only on a low. Both are Premium.
Side by side
| Feature | Glide | Dexcom Follow | LibreLinkUp | Sugarmate | Gluroo | xDrip4iOS / Zukka | Nightscout + LoopFollow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find repeats of a meal | On its own, from the words you log for each meal (My Lab, Premium) source | not stated | Not stated; the logbook shows glucose events source | Not stated; food entries show on the graph source | Search past meals, or ask the Roo chatbot source source | not stated | Nightscout's Loopalyzer report lines up meals in a time window you pick source |
| Each repeat's dose and timing beside its result | Yes: carb ratio and pre-bolus minutes beside time in range after the meal; meals that cannot be compared are marked source | not stated | not stated | not stated | Each meal's chart shows insulin; a side-by-side of repeats is not documented source source | not stated | Insulin and carbs on board in that report source |
| Price | Free. The call, photo carbs and My Lab are Premium: $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year for the whole profile source | Free source | Free source | Free source | Free to use source | Free. Zukka is a free App Store build by another developer and can differ from xDrip4iOS; xDrip4iOS you build yourself (a free Apple account signs it for a short time, a paid one for longer) source source | Free software. LoopFollow you build yourself; a Nightscout site you host free or rent (T1Pal lists $11.99 a month) source source source |
| Phones and other screens | iPhone and Apple Watch. No Android, web, widget or CarPlay source | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android source source | iPhone, Android. A paired watch shows the phone's notifications source | iPhone, Android, web. Apple Watch and CarPlay through Apple Calendar source | iPhone, Android, Apple Watch, Wear OS, widgets, web source source | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, widgets, Live Activity. No Android source | LoopFollow: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch. Nightscout: any browser source source |
| CGMs | Dexcom G7, G6 (through Share); Libre 2, 3, 3 Plus (LibreLinkUp); Medtrum EasySense (EasyFollow) source source source | Dexcom G7, G6 source source | FreeStyle Libre, Libre 2, Libre 3 source | Dexcom G6, G7, ONE+; Tandem Source; Nightscout source | Dexcom Share, LibreLinkUp, Nightscout; Eversense experimental source | Dexcom Share, LibreLinkUp, Nightscout, Medtrum, CareLink source | LoopFollow: Dexcom Share or Nightscout. Nightscout: a bridge or an uploader app for each sensor source source |
| Followers per person | No limit (invite codes) source | Up to 10 source | Up to 20 source | Up to 20 source | Any number source | Each follower runs the app; the followed service sets the limit source | Anyone you give the site, or a read-only token; it can be private source |
| Follow more than one person | No: one profile per account source | Up to 25 (US listing) source | Up to 20 source | not stated | Yes, switch between GluCrews source | not stated | LoopFollow: up to 3, as separately named builds source |
| Low and high alerts | Low. No high alert source | Urgent low (fixed at 55 mg/dL in the US), low, high; the follower sets the levels source | Low, high, urgent low (US, depends on the sensor); the follower sets the levels source | No plain low or high push. Lows: a push after an hour of falling, a text on an urgent low, a call in sleep hours. Highs: a push after a long rise or 2 steady hours source | Low and high; a low not handled goes on to the family source | Urgent low, low, high, urgent high; each phone sets its own source | Urgent low, low, high, urgent high source source |
| Rise and fall alerts | Falling fast, rising fast source | Not in its documented alarm list (urgent low, low, high, no data) source | Not in its documented alarm list source | Extended rise, extended fall (an hour of change) source | A “Saw Food” reminder when glucose rises with no logged meal to explain it source | Fast fall, fast rise source | LoopFollow: fast drop, fast rise source |
| Alert when readings stop | Banner after 15 to 120 minutes, your choice (30 by default) source | “No Data” notification, off until the follower turns it on source | “No Recent Data” notification on US Libre 3; for other sensors it varies source | “No New Glucose Values” push after 15 minutes, unless a sensor change is logged source | The number is crossed out when it is old; an alert is not documented source | Missed-reading alarm source | Stale-data alarm; LoopFollow missed-reading alarm source source |
| Sound on a silenced iPhone | Banners: no, but they show during a Focus that allows Time Sensitive. Call: rings through Silent and Focus with Emergency Bypass source | Follows the phone's settings; can be allowed in a Focus source source | Not stated; the manual says to turn off Do Not Disturb source | Any push can be a Critical Alert source | not stated | “Override Mute”, while iOS keeps the app running source | LoopFollow can override the volume while it runs in the background source |
| Phone call | On a low and on lost signal, in the night hours you set, to US, Canada and Europe numbers (Premium) source | Not in its documented alarm list source | Not in its documented alarm list source | On a low, during sleep hours, in the countries Sugarmate lists source source | On a low, with sleeping hours source | Not in its documented alarm list source | Not built in; Nightscout can send to other services source |
| Text message | No source | Not in its documented alarm list source | Not in its documented alarm list source | Urgent low text to friends or family source | On a low source | Not in its documented alarm list source | Through IFTTT source |
| Log meals and insulin | Meals, insulin, notes, fingersticks, from any family phone source | not stated | Not stated; a read-only logbook of the last 2 weeks source | Food, insulin, notes and 7 other types source | Meals, insulin, exercise, notes; Omnipod 5 and Loop data source source | Insulin, carbs, exercise, notes source | Nightscout Careportal: carbs, insulin, notes. LoopFollow shows them with Nightscout source source |
| Photo carb estimate | Yes (Premium), with published error numbers source | not stated | No: Abbott offers photo meals only in the wearer's Libre app source | Not stated: a photo attaches to the entry; food database and barcode source | Yes source | not stated | not stated |
| Setup | The wearer's Dexcom login, or a LibreLinkUp or EasyFollow follower account source source source | Invite from the Dexcom G7 or G6 app source | Invite from the Libre app; a LibreView account source | Your Dexcom account, or a Nightscout site source source | Dexcom Share or LibreLinkUp login source | Install Zukka, or build xDrip4iOS; then pick Follower and the service source source | Build LoopFollow and point it at Dexcom Share or a Nightscout site; Nightscout needs a site and a bridge or uploader source source |
Not in the table. Follower apps: xDrip+, the open-source Android app that can follow Dexcom Share or Nightscout; Nightguard, a Nightscout viewer for iPhone; Juggluco and GlucoDataHandler on Android; and the sensor makers' own apps for other sensors, Medtrum EasyFollow and Eversense NOW. Meal apps that are not follower apps, which compare meals in their own ways: Undermyfork (time in range after each meal, repeats found by keywords you tag), CarbCam (stacks the curves of your closest past meals; needs Nightscout) and SNAQ (“similar meals”, matching method not published).
When the readings stop
Most of these apps document an alert when data stops; Gluroo's documents describe a crossed-out number. The difference is how the alert reaches you. Dexcom Follow, LibreLinkUp and Sugarmate send a notification. Dexcom's is off until the follower turns it on, and it follows the phone's sound settings (G7 user guide, Follow chapter). Sugarmate's can be a Critical Alert, which sounds on a muted phone (setting up alerts). xDrip4iOS and LoopFollow sound an alarm on the phone while the app runs (xDrip4iOS, LoopFollow). Sugarmate and Gluroo call on a low; their published documents describe no call when the readings stop (Sugarmate, Gluroo). Glide places a call for both, from its server, so it rings with the app closed (how it works).
Where Glide is weaker
- iPhone only. No Android, no web page, no home-screen widget, no CarPlay.
- One person per account. A parent who follows two children needs two accounts; Dexcom Follow, LibreLinkUp and Gluroo let one follower follow several people.
- No high alert and no text messages. Glide alerts on lows, fast rises, fast falls and lost signal.
- It is not the sensor maker's app. Glide reads the same sharing services that Dexcom Follow, LibreLinkUp and EasyFollow use, with the wearer's Dexcom login or a follower account. If a maker changes its service, Glide stops until we adapt.
- My Lab takes weeks and a logged bolus. It compares meals only once you have eaten them a few times and logged the bolus each time. It shows past results, not a dose to take, and one meal on its own says little, because the same meal can land differently on different days.
- The call costs money. It is part of Premium, $7.99 a month. Sugarmate's and Gluroo's low calls are free.
- Glide is new. It has been on the App Store since 14 September 2026. Sugarmate shows 15,000 App Store ratings; Gluroo says nearly 250,000 users (checked 6 October 2026).
Glide displays data from a third-party CGM and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Dexcom, Abbott, Medtrum, Tandem, Gluroo or the Nightscout project. Product names belong to their owners.