Getting started

First, what glucoscout actually is

It is a web service. We run a private Nightscout site for you — your own address, your own database — and you open it in a browser on whatever device you like. There is no app to install, no software to download, and nothing to buy.

We do also sell a small desk panel that displays your number on a shelf. That is a separate, optional product. Everything in this guide works without it.

1. Sign up

   Enter your email at app.glucoscout.com/signup. We send a link to confirm the address is yours.

   Links last one hour. If you come back to it the next morning it will have expired — that is the single most common snag. Just ask for a fresh one from the same page and it works immediately.

2. Set your password

   Clicking the confirmation link puts you straight on the set-password page, already signed in. Pick something you can remember; the minimum is eight characters.

   Your site is being built while you do this. It takes a minute or two.

3. Turn on two-step sign-in (recommended)

   In the portal, open Two-step. Scan the QR code with any authenticator app — Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator and Authy all work, and on an iPhone you may already have one built into Settings → Passwords.

   You will be shown ten recovery codes. Save them somewhere that is not your phone. Each signs you in once if you lose your authenticator; without them, a lost phone means losing the account.

4. Connect your CGM

   This is the step that makes readings appear. In the portal, open CGM source and pick yours:

   Source	What to enter
   Dexcom — ShareLive readings	Your sharer login — the account you use in the Dexcom app itself. A follower account returns nothing. All-numeric passwords are rejected by Dexcom's own API.
   Abbott Libre — LibreLinkUpLive readings	A LibreLinkUp follower account — not the LibreLink login of the person wearing the sensor.
   Existing NightscoutMirror	The address of a Nightscout you already run, so this one mirrors it.

   Readings usually start arriving within a few minutes. Until you do this, your site will be empty — that is expected, not a fault.

5. Open your Nightscout

   Sign in at app.glucoscout.com/portal. The link at the top of that page opens your site already signed in, read-only. There is nothing to type and no key to remember. Bookmark that link and you are done.

“It is asking me for an API secret or token”

If you type your site's bare address in by hand, Nightscout asks you to authenticate before it shows anything. That prompt is Nightscout's own, and its wording is not ours.

Your two keys, and which one to use

Both live behind the your keys link at the foot of your portal Status page, along with a ready-made URL for devices.

If something is not right

• No readings after 30 minutes. Check the CGM source page — if the sign-in was rejected (usually a changed vendor password), it says so there and offers to take the details again.
• The reading looks stale. The portal marks anything older than fifteen minutes as not current rather than quietly showing an old number. Always check your CGM's own app before acting on anything.
• Lost your authenticator phone. Use one of your recovery codes to sign in, then re-enrol the new phone from the Two-step page.
• Anything else. There is a Get help link in the portal, or write to support@glucoscout.com — it reaches a person.