Android 13 update - Issues with Freestyle Libre 2 sensor & Bluetooth Low Energy

[AJKohl]

Merry Christmas!

My Samsung Galaxy A53 5G updated from Android 12 to Android 13 sometime in November 2022/early December 2022.

I have a piece of medical software on my A53 called Freestyle LibreLink. 

Freestyle Librelink is supposed to receive Bluetooth Low Energy signals from a Freestyle Libre 2 sensor attached to my arm and trigger an alarm on my A53 when my blood glucose has gone too low, or too high.

Both the Freestyle LibreLink app and Freestyle Libre 2 sensors are made by Abbott Laboratories.

Since the update on my A53 from Android 12 to Android 13 I no longer receive low or high glucose alarms. 

The update of my A53 from OS 12 to OS 13 also coincided with the manufacturer of the Freestyle LibreLink app updating the LibreLink app twice: the first time on or around 15 November 2022 and the second time around 1 December 2022.

This failure to receive low and high glucose alarms can be very dangerous.

The Internet suggests the issue of Android phones with OS 13 having the Freestyle LibreLink app on such phones not being able to receive low and high glucose alarms was known about and reported on Google's Issue Tracker as early as August 2022. 

Clearly the issue has still not been fixed yet.

Abbott Laboratories's customer services have suggested every possible permutation to try to resolve the failure of low and high glucose alarms on my A53 (checking all app permissions are granted, including overriding "do not disturb"; clearing cache of Freestyle LibreLink; force stopping and restarting Freestyle LibreLink; uninstalling and reinstalling Freestyle LibreLink; switching Bluetooth off and on; switching A53 off and on).

No solution suggested by Abbott Laboratories has resolved the issue of no low/high glucose alarms permanently, only temporarily and only for a few hours at best.

The Internet also suggests that this problem may be unique to Samsung mobiles (although I have read that it has affected dome Google Pixel mobiles as well as iPhones).

Does anyone know when the issues with Android 13 disrupting Bluetooth Low Energy signals stopping high and low glucose alarms being received and given off via Abbott Laboratories's Freestyle LibreLink app on Android phones, (and my Samsung Galaxy A53 5G specifically) will be resolved permanently?

Thank you!

[AJKohl]

Is it possible to downgrade to Android 12? My understanding is that once downloaded and installed, Android 13 is "embedded" in Samsung phones, even if you do a factory reset.

[Ben1836]

There are videos online showing how to do it, i believe Android 13 is fully replaced. As to whether someone with my limited tech skills can do it, that's another thing.

[Members_lLHmfT3]

A52S user here that has been going crazy with my alarms working on-and-off since an android update late november. I usually use my alarms in combination with 'do not disturb' and have turned the 'override' permission for that for LibreLink on and off a dozen times in the past weeks, sometime with the alarms working again for a while as a result, but never for long.

Sorry to hear many of you have not been receiving alarms at all, but happy to see I am not the only one that has been fading issues with their alarms since the last Android update. I'll call my local Abbott helpline this week to bring the issue to their attention too (maybe at some point we reach a critical mass that will make them feel the urgency of this thing)

[Ovr]

Fold4 here, this doesn't seem to coincide with android13 to me, but two updates "ago" for the libre app.

If I cycle Bluetooth on/off every couple of hours it keeps working, but it's less than ideal. Actually I went massively high and didn't realise it (sleeping on a train) and could have been a lot worse, based on expecting an alarm intervention.

I hope they sort this quickly, as with most things from Abbott, they're half finished. Awful company.

[Tony from Burnley]

Hello, I would like to tell everyone who consider the Android 13 update is responsible for all the problems reading Sensors that I had an old LG phone which was running Android 8. The phone worked fine up to November 2022 and then suddenly stopped. The LG phone was about 5 years old and software support for this phone stopped a couple of years ago. I did think that the problem was my old LG phone so I upgraded to Samsung A13 5g running Android 13 - I get exactly the same problem, so I still have to use a separate Reader 

Hope this helps

[Ovr]

It's coincidental as far as I can see, as the app needs to integrate the new protocol for Bluetooth low energy.

Here's hoping...

[Big_Rick]

My phone was exactly the same. Within half an hour of updating, signal loss alarms and no way to guarantee it would work reliably. I'm pretty competent with technology so tried everything O could to no avail. In the end I used Odin to reflash my phone back to android 12 and it has worked perfectly ever since. You can do it yourself if ypu feel up to it but a good phone shop should be able to do it (at a cost of course).

[garidan]

Samsung A53, Android 13 and Dexcom G6. I have the same problem, app works for 5-6 hours than no connection even if the same sensor reads on Tandem micro.
I found this other thread:
https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-a-series/galaxy-a53-bluetooth-connection-issues-after-and...

Here they write about BLE sound system connection and they got it solved by a securitu patch dated december, one reports this as working version:
Details of this update:
Galaxy A53 5G (SM-A536B)
Build Number : A536BXXU4BVL2
Android version : T(Android 13)
Release Date : 2022-12-28
Security patch level : 2022-12-01

I'm in Italy and still don't have this patch available, mine is of november. Waiting eagerly

[AJKohl]

Thanks @garidan.

I guess all we can do is hope Samsung apply the patch in Italy, the UK and every other country where there are problems and pray that it will resolve the issues we have with the Freestyle Librelink (and Dexcom in your case) and not just connectivity with earphones.

Abbott who make the Freestyle Libre system have been extremely slow and unhelpful generally. They have basically refused to acknowledge officially that there is a problem.

I've read a few quite frightening stories on other forums over the last few months, where people who are "hypo unaware" and rely on the low glucose alarms provided by the Librelink app to alarm if their glucose is going low, who have received no alarms. In a few cases some people have woken up to find themselves being treated by paramedics for severe hypoglycaemia.

[AJKohl]

I just checked my phone. It received the exact same security patch you refer to (A536BXXU4BVL2) in December 2022.

And Freestyle Librelink on my A53 still can't maintain a stable bluetooth connection with a working Freestyle Libre 2 sensor on my arm.

That's why I don't just believe it's an issue with Android 13, but it's also got something to do with the two software updates Abbott made to the Freestyle Librelink mobile app in October/November 2022 and December 2022.

Did Dexcom update its own software app in the last few months?