Technology

59979 readers

2312 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

127

iOS 17 Could Break Crucial Diabetic Glucose Monitor Alerts, Manufacturer Warns (www.404media.co)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

30 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Owners of the FreeStyle Libre 3, one of Abbott Laboratories’ flagship glucose monitors, received an email this week warning them to “disable automatic system updates on your iPhone” because the new operating system’s StandBy Mode and Assistive Access Mode “may impact your ability to receive time-sensitive notifications including glucose alarms and notifications indicating that alarms are unavailable.”

“Key Steps to Optimize your FreeStyle Libre System on iOS 17,” the email reads. “While our teams are working quickly to verify and confirm compatibility, we recommend that you disable automatic operating system updates on the smartphone using the mentioned apps. Please check the compatibility guide on myfreestyle.com before the new operating system is installed.”

Abbott is telling customers who have already upgraded to disable StandBy Mode, which activates the iPhone’s Lock Screen while it’s charging and placed on its side. They are also being advised to turn off “Assistive Access” mode, an accessibility mode for people with disabilities. Abbott says that this mode “will impact your ability to activate a sensor, modify your alarm settings, or receive glucose alarm notifications from our apps.”

Abbott writes on its website that failure to take action when users get an alarm, or failure to use the device “as instructed in labeling may result in missing a severe low or high glucose event and/or making a treatment decision, resulting in injury.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

TL; DR for what’s actually happening

Standby mode is a mode that turns your phone into an Echo show if you plug it in and put it on its side. Like other focus modes in iOS (do not disturb, bedtime, etc) users can disable notifications for this mode. This is bad because it looks like Abbott didn't ensure their notifications are set to "critical." Critical alerts ignore settings that hide notifications. Critical alerts was a feature that was introduced 5 years ago.
Assistive Access is basically a new grandma-mode for phones. It allows a guardian or caregiver to turn an iPhone into a super dumb phone. Abbott has not built support for this yet. You have to go through a complex setup process for Assistive Access, so this is likely another edge case.
Instead of telling people to keep notifications on, and not to enable a new lockdown mode, Abbott is telling people to disable system updates. This smells like they actually didn't test iOS 17 over the last 5 months, and now their legal team is worried that there might be other hidden issues.

IMHO, this story makes things seem worse than they are. That said, if you depend on some software for your anything critical, it is a best practice to NOT upgrade to the latest and greatest major point release of any operating system. Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, etc. Wait at least 3 months until the kinks are ironed out.