Troubleshoot Dexcom Share

Note

The recommended way to receive Dexcom Share data in Nightscout is the connect plugin with CONNECT_SOURCE set to dexcomshare (see here). The bridge plugin (Share2Nightscout bridge) is deprecated. Nightscout 15.0.8 and later still accept the legacy BRIDGE_* settings but serve them through nightscout-connect by default, so logs refer to Connect even when your variables use Bridge names. If a deployment-specific problem begins after upgrading, DEXCOM_BRIDGE_USE_LEGACY=true temporarily restores the deprecated share2nightscout-bridge implementation while you troubleshoot. See how to migrate.

Username and password

Your Dexcom account is the one that identifies you to access all services: Store, Clarity and mobile apps. In order to make sure you’re accessing the right account, log into Clarity to check your credentials are valid.

For US account: https://clarity.dexcom.com/
For all others: https://clarity.dexcom.eu/

In the case you have linked accounts, check you are using the right credentials for the profile you want to connect to Nightscout.

Verify you actually have current data in this profile/account! You want to put the username and password of the account that has CGM data in the CONNECT_SHARE_* (or legacy BRIDGE_*) variables, this is usually the credentials you are using with the master phone (the one connected to the sensor).

Password

Some people have had problems with their bridge connecting when their Dexcom passwords are entirely numeric. If you have connection issues in that case, try changing your password to something with a mix of numbers and letters.

Changing password

Before you decide to change your password, make sure to update your Nightscout variables accordingly and make sure you have recent data in Clarity before exiting maintenance mode.

Username is an email

Newly created Dexcom users do not have an username but only an email address.

This can be an issue if you want to have your data directly in Nightscout. Make sure you’re using the latest release if you experience problems.

Common symptoms are:

• no data in Nightscout even with correct credentials

• account locking once or more per day even with correct credentials

Username is a phone number

New users might have the phone app setup with their phone number including country code and the symbol +. This is not supported by Nightscout. Continue below and create a dependent account with an alphanumerical username.

Obtaining a username

Dependent accounts can have a username.

You can create your Dexcom account and add dependent accounts for children, wife, …

Some dependent accounts with an email address can generate problems when trying to connect directly to Nightscout.

Account lock

You can check if your account is locked by trying to log into Clarity.

If you see this message, you must disable (enter an empty username for example) all devices and apps trying to get data from or push data into Dexcom share.

In order to recover from an account lock, it is usually enough to wait for 10-15 minutes after you disabled all devices and apps trying to access the account with a wrong password.

Do not forget any app or device!

• Nightscout

• Smartwatches apps

• Sugarmate, Happy Bob, xDrip,…

• …

Dexcom Share

Make sure you have Dexcom Share turned ON in your Dexcom app. In the Dexcom app’s main screen, find the triangle made of dots. If the dots are grey, you do not have Share turned on. Tap the triangle, and follow the directions to add a follower (yourself if you don’t have someone else you’d like to invite) and turn on Share.

If you are using a Dexcom system, and your data is not appearing in Nightscout, there are only a limited number of reasons for that. You should check your (1) Nightscout settings and (2) Dexcom Share.

NOTE: The #1 reason why BGs aren’t showing is that you have mismatched password and user names in Nightscout settings and Dexcom.

Verify your configuration

Variables location will depend on the platform you use:

Heroku

→ Here

Railway

→ Here

Northflank

→ Here

Azure

→ Here

Fly.io

→ Here

Google Cloud

→ Here

1. You must use the same CONNECT_SHARE_ACCOUNT_NAME and CONNECT_SHARE_PASSWORD that your Dexcom mobile app is using.

2. CONNECT_SOURCE must be dexcomshare, and you must have connect and careportal on the ENABLE line (you can have other values there, but don’t forget these two).

3. If you are outside the USA, you must add CONNECT_SHARE_REGION set to ous in Nightscout variables settings. If you are in the USA, don’t add it.

4. Your careportal must be one word in the ENABLE line, sometimes autocorrect makes it two words.

5. If using mmol, make sure you have spelled that value correctly in the DISPLAY_UNITS.

6. If you still use the deprecated bridge plugin: bridge must be on the ENABLE line, BRIDGE_USER_NAME and BRIDGE_PASSWORD must match your Dexcom app, and BRIDGE_SERVER must be EU outside the USA or empty in the USA (in Nightscout 15.0.8 the value US is passed to Nightscout Connect as a server name and no data is received). Consider migrating to connect.

Migrate from the deprecated bridge plugin

The bridge plugin (Share2Nightscout bridge) is deprecated and its legacy share2nightscout-bridge implementation will be retired in a future release. Since Nightscout 15.0.8 your BRIDGE_* settings are already served by Nightscout Connect, so switching to the connect plugin changes nothing in the data you receive, but keeps your site ready for the retirement.

Legacy bridge	connect
bridge in ENABLE	connect in ENABLE
BRIDGE_USER_NAME	CONNECT_SHARE_ACCOUNT_NAME
BRIDGE_PASSWORD	CONNECT_SHARE_PASSWORD
BRIDGE_SERVER set to EU	CONNECT_SHARE_REGION set to ous
BRIDGE_SERVER empty or US	nothing (the default region is us)
BRIDGE_INTERVAL, BRIDGE_MAX_COUNT, BRIDGE_FIRST_FETCH_COUNT, BRIDGE_MAX_FAILURES, BRIDGE_MINUTES	nothing (Nightscout Connect manages its own polling and retries)

1. Add CONNECT_SOURCE with the value dexcomshare, then the CONNECT_* variables listed in the table above.

2. Replace bridge by connect in ENABLE.

3. Delete all the BRIDGE_* variables, and DEXCOM_BRIDGE_USE_LEGACY if you added it.

4. Restart your site (or wait for the automatic redeploy) and check data is flowing in.

Authentication errors

One thing that can happen if you have an incorrect Dexcom login/password in your Share account settings and/or in your Nightscout CONNECT_SHARE_* settings is that Dexcom will lock your account…and you won’t see CGM data in Nightscout. If you notice your CGM readings disappeared, but everything else is flowing…
Check your Heroku logs that are viewable by selecting View Logs from the drop-down menu underneath the More option.

With Railway they are available selecting your app, then Deployments and View Logs at the end of the top (last) deployment line.

Do your logs have “SSO authentication errors” like in the red box highlighted above? With Nightscout 15.0.8 and later, look for ERROR AUTHENTICATING ACCOUNT or nightscout-connect: Dexcom authentication failed instead. If you do, then:

1. Delete your Dexcom credentials within Heroku settings. Don’t delete the variables, just delete the values of CONNECT_SHARE_PASSWORD and CONNECT_SHARE_ACCOUNT_NAME (or BRIDGE_PASSWORD and BRIDGE_USER_NAME with the deprecated bridge plugin).

2. Wait 15 minutes and then follow the directions below. It is important to wait 15 minutes: the reason you can’t log in right now is that your Dexcom account has a temporary lock from the passwords in the step above being incorrect. The temporary lock will expire after 10-15 minutes of giving the account login a break from the incorrect logins. So, definitely wait or else you’ll just keep prolonging the issue.

Hint

About your Dexcom password and user name The most common error on initial Nightscout setups is that people incorrectly use an old account or an old password. To test your username and password, go to Dexcom’s Clarity page (check here for USA accounts and here for the others) and try logging in to your Dexcom account. If your account info isn’t valid, or you don’t see any data in your Clarity account… you need to figure out your actual credentials before moving ahead.

Detailed logs

Since Nightscout 15.0.9, routine Dexcom Share messages are no longer logged by default. If you need to see what the connection is doing, add the variable CONNECT_DEBUG set to true (or DEBUG_LOGGING for the whole server) and restart your site. Errors and warnings are always logged, even without these variables. Remove them once you are done: verbose logs can exhaust the log quota of hosted platforms like Heroku.