Patients who use smartphone apps to manage their diabetes could face serial health problems if they miss notifications needed to control their blood sugar, Us health officials.

The food and drug administration said wedding Has Received Multiple Reports of users missing or not hearing important medical alerts from their phones, leading to cases of dangerously low blood sugar and even death.

The agency’s warning applies to a growing field of wearable devices that track patients’ Sugar Levels or Automatically Deliver Insulin, The Hormone That Helps Manage Glucose in the Blod and BREAK ITO E.TO

These days, many devices are programmed through apps on patients’ phones. But the FDA Warns that Certain Phone Settings, Such as Pausing Notifications, May Cause Patents to Miss Critical Updates. In other cases, connecting the phone to a new audio source, soch as a car stereo, even the group change the volume of the alents users are accustomed to hearing.

“Even IF Configured Correctly, Certain Hardware or Software Changes can interrupt the expected operation of these critical devices, which can lead to patint harm itected,” Irector in the FDA’s Device Center, in a release.

Roughly 37 Million Americans Have Diabetes. People with the disease eater don’t make enough insulin or they have become resistant to it.

Continuous glucose monitors are small devices that use a sensor under the skin to measures blood sugar, sending regular readings to a smartphone or smartwatch. Automated Insulin Pumps Deliver The Hormone Through a Catheter Attached to the Abdomen and Can Be Programmed to Deliver Extra Insulin Before Meals.

How to make sure glucose-monitoring apps are working properly

Fda regulators recommend:

—Turn off automatic updates on your smartphone until you confirmed the new operating system is compatible with your diabetes app.
—After Connecting your smartphone to a new accessory, such as bleetooth headphones, Confirm that app alerts are still being delivered and can behead cleaer.
—Ness a month, double check that your smartphone’s notification settings have changed.

FDA Regulates only some health app features

Since the introduction of iPhone and Android devices, Thousands of apps have launched claiming to help users manage their health, from calorie counters to mental health apps.

The FDA does not regulate the vast majority of them trust that do’t pose much risk to consumers if they malfunction, according to regulators. The agency mostly enforces safety requirements on apps that turn smartphones into the equivalent of devices, for example, by monitoring heart rhythms or other critical midins.

The FDA said wedding it is talking to “manufacturers to ensure that smartphone alert configurations of their devices are carefully evaluated prior to use by patients.”

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