Type 1 diabetes requires a lot of careful management. Since it’s often diagnosed at a very young age, parents have to take the lead in the management and have to be very involved in their child’s lifestyle. But this can be difficult, and it can be very tricky to keep track of everything throughout the day. This is why diabetes management apps can be absolute lifesavers.
Diabetes management apps help you keep track of your child’s blood glucose levels, meals, and insulin doses even when they’re not next to you. This remote monitoring can be very helpful when parents are at work or when children are at school.
Let’s discuss what are, in our opinion, the best diabetes apps for children.
The Importance of a Diabetes Management App
You can’t always be with your child and if you want to manage their glycemic control properly, kids tend to be very active and parents and caretakers can get naturally quite busy. Having a diabetes management app lets them keep an eye on their child’s glucose levels without being constantly present.
Diabetes management apps provide a range of services that allow you to look after various aspects of the management plan for your child such as what they’re eating. Some apps you can also connect to continuous glucose monitoring devices so you can follow their blood glucose level readings.
You can also keep track of when and how much insulin is given. So even if your child is at school or away from you, as long as they are logging the data, you can be at peace and have regular updates.
Best Diabetes Apps for Parents & Children with T1D
1. Gluroo
Gluroo is the only collaborative diabetes management app on the market, purpose-built for parents and caretakers but useful for individuals as well. Built by Greg Badros, a silicon valley tech executive turned T1Dad, the app has many advanced features that allow caretakers to be constantly aware of their children’s health.
The app can connect to different continuous glucose monitoring devices (Dexcom G6 & G7, Libre 2 & 3) so that you can easily get regular updates on your child’s blood glucose levels and get alerted if there are any changes. It also connects to insulin pumps, and is currently the only way to remotely view Omnipod 5 data like carb announcements and insulin boluses.
You are also connected to your child and other people involved in their management via the app and can chat through it. You create your own “GluCrew” – a group of people involved in your child’s diabetes care who will have access to everything in the app, via their own devices.
Everyone can log updates on meals, insulin doses, and important things related to the management in the chat. Even things like exercise, the use of a new insulin pen, and the placement of a pod can all be mentioned on the app. And since the chat has a text-recognition feature, chatting to each other is all you need for the app to log a lot of relevant information about your child’s daily diabetes care. It basically notes down all there is to know about your child’s management plan, so it is very convenient for parents and all those involved.
The app also has an interesting alert feature. Gluroo’s alerts are scalable and actionable. By only sending actionable alerts, the app reduces the problem of alert blindness that often happens with other apps. These alerts are scalable in the sense that the app first alerts the person with diabetes about an issue, and only if they don’t do anything about it, does the alert escalate to the rest of the “GluCrew” so action can be taken.
Gluroo has a ton of other features that are highly useful for families dealing with diabetes. Find out more about Gluroo and how it can help your family streamline diabetes management.
Price: Gluroo is completely free of cost.
Availability: Gluroo is available for both Android and iOS.
2. MySugr
MySugr is a pretty great option again if you want an app that holds all the information in one place. It connects with many CGM devices and keeps track of your child’s blood glucose levels.
The analytics in the app are helpful, and it gives you a review of the week. It even shows how much your child varied from their average blood glucose levels and even estimates the HbA1C levels so they are not as much of a surprise.
The app itself is actually also very fun to look at and it even features the motivational “monster” which makes it fun to interact with.
If you choose to go for the Pro version, it also has a calculator that allows you to calculate the bolus dose that your kid might need and also adds some fun challenges for the user along with some more features.
Price: The app itself is free to download but you can up your subscription to MySugr Pro for $2.99 a month.
Availability: MySugr is also available for both iOS and Android.
3. Happy Bob
Happy Bob is a fun app that makes diabetes management into a sort of game and rewards you for good glycemic control. You just connect it to your child’s Dexcom CGM and then its readings are displayed on the app.
The app reacts to the readings and displays emotions. So, if your child’s blood glucose levels are within the safe range, they get stars. But if the readings get too high or too low, it sends fun and snarky reminders about the fluctuation. To gamify even more, you can make the range even smaller and get double the stars.
Kids can then join “Clans” that have scoreboards so the more stars they have, the higher up they go. So, it’s a fun game for your child and encourages them to make better choices to compete against others.
Price: Happy Bob costs $5.99/month or you can get an annual subscription for $49.99.
Availability: Happy Bob is available for iOS and Android.
4. BlueLoop App
Much like Gluroo, the BlueLoop app was created by a mom after her daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. So, the app aims to make things much simpler and stress-free for parents and caregivers.
The app is downloaded by all caregivers of the child like parents, school nurses, and even doctors. It then keeps them all updated and connected about all the updates regarding the child’s diabetes management. You can share all the information in real-time or using text messages and emails. This includes things like their blood glucose levels, meals, medications, and any additional information in the form of notes.
Parents can send all blood glucose logs to the doctor using the app.
The app also has an insulin calculator so whoever is using it can get an accurate estimate of the dose needed.
Price: BlueLoop is also completely free.
Availability: You can use BlueLoop on both Android and iOS devices.
5. Rufus, the Bear with Diabetes
Rufus, the Bear with Diabetes app is actually a bit different from others on the list as it’s not actually a diabetes management app. Instead, this app is a game that helps kids understand their condition better.
A big part of the management of diabetes is understanding it and kids with type 1 diabetes are often quite young, so a game like this allows them to learn about their condition in a fun and interactive way.
It basically includes the use of all things that are used in diabetes like glucometers, insulin pens, pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring devices, and makes the children care for Rufus using these materials. It also teaches them about healthy eating habits like identifying carbs and understanding their effect on their health.
All these activities make kids more involved in their day-to-day management. Plus, they can learn these things faster because now they are doing them instead of just seeing them. If you want, you can even buy a teddy that is made by the same company to gift to your kid.
Price: Rufus, the Bear with Diabetes is again, completely free.
Availability: The app works on both iOS and Android.
Try to Get Some Peace of Mind
Diabetes management apps aim to give parents peace of mind even when their kid is out of their sight. There are many options that you have as parents, and each app offers something different.
Some apps focus on creating a space that has all the information that is specific for your child and their health while others aim to make your child more comfortable with their diagnosis and make the management more child friendly.
Apps like Gluroo are great for caretakers who want to be constantly present and in touch. If you want your child to be more comfortable with the diagnosis and understand it more, something like Rufus, the Bear With Diabetes app is a good option too. You can even have more than one app depending on your needs.