Help & Getting Started

This guide explains the DiabetesLife app step by step. You can read it top to bottom, or jump to the part you need. If you get stuck, email us at support@diabeteslifeapp.com — a family member can write for you.

What DiabetesLife is for. Everything in the app has one aim: to help you bring your HbA1c down, and keep it there, without dangerous lows. HbA1c is the blood test that shows your average sugar over about 3 months. The app helps you see where your sugar is high, take every dose, learn what your food does, keep moving, and give your doctor the full picture. See how the app helps lower your HbA1c.

• Quick start: your first day
• Sign in for the first time
• Make the text bigger
• The Home screen
• What each feature is for
• How the app helps lower your HbA1c
• Log your blood sugar
• If your sugar is low
• Log your meals
• Medicines and insulin
• Blood pressure, weight and activity
• Lab reports and check-ups
• Diet and meal plans
• Pregnancy and gestational diabetes
• Charts and insights (the Trends tab)
• Your doctor
• Reminders
• Free and Pro
• Your data and privacy
• Common questions

Quick start: your first day

New to the app? Do these six things once to start working toward a lower HbA1c. Each one links to the full instructions further down.

1. Sign in with your email and answer the short questions.
2. Make the text bigger if it is hard to read (Settings → Text size).
3. Add your medicines with their doses and times. This turns on your medicine reminders.
4. Log your first blood sugar reading, and your next meal.
5. Check your reminders. On some phones (Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and others) you need to allow Autostart and background activity, or reminders can stop after an update.
6. Link your doctor, if they use DiabetesLife, so they can see your readings.

Your daily routine then takes only a few minutes:

• Morning: check your sugar before you eat or drink anything (this is your Fasting reading) and log it. On Home, tap Taken for your morning tablets, or Log for insulin.
• Each meal: log what you ate. Two hours later, check your sugar again. The app reminds you.
• After meals: a 10–15 minute walk helps stop your sugar rising so much. Log it under Activity.
• Evening and night: tap Taken or Log for those medicines.
• Once a week: read Your week on Home and try its one goal.
• Every 3 months: have an HbA1c blood test and add the result under Labs.

1. Sign in for the first time

1. Open DiabetesLife and type your email address.
2. Tick the box to agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy, then tap Send OTP.
3. Open your email. You will get a message with a 6-digit code. Type it into the app. There is no password to remember.
4. The first time, the app asks a few questions in 5 short steps. Only your diabetes type, name, date of birth and genderare needed (marked with *). The rest is optional: weight and height, other health conditions (such as kidney disease or high blood pressure), your before-meal sugar target (already set to the usual 80–130), your doctor's email, and reminders. You can change all of these later in Settings.
5. On Home, tap Add medicines to add each medicine with its dose and times. This turns on medicine reminders and lets your doctor see what you take.

No code? Wait a minute, then look in your Spam or Promotions folder. If the email address had a spelling mistake, tap Wrong email? Change itand type it again. If you type something like “gmial.com”, the app offers to correct it to “gmail.com”.

2. Make the text bigger

Open Settings. At the very top is Text size: choose Large, Larger or Largest. All the text in the app gets bigger straight away. If you are 60 or over, the app starts on Large for you.

Your phone's own font size (Android Settings → Display → Font size) also makes the app's text bigger, on top of this.

3. The Home screen

Home is where you start each day. From top to bottom it shows:

• Messages at the top, when something needs you: a low sugar you have not rechecked, a new message from your doctor, a medicine change to accept, or an appointment to confirm. Tap one to open it.
• Your latest reading today, in colour: green is in range, orange is high, red is low or very high. If you have not logged one yet today, the card says so. Tap it to log one.
• Next dose: the medicines due at your next time of day that you have not logged yet. For tablets, tap Taken right there. For insulin, tap Log: the units for that time are filled in and you can change them. If the time passed more than about an hour and a half ago, the card turns orange and says Due earlier. It also tells you how many doses are still to come today.
• Big buttons to log: Glucose, Meal, Medication and Activity, with a slimmer row below them for BP.
• Four tiles: HbA1c (your latest lab result and its month), your average sugar over the last 7 days, your day streak(days in a row that you logged anything), and this week's active minutes (the goal is 150 a week).
• Your week: this week against last week (In range, your fasting average and how many readings), your best meal and the one that raised your sugar most, and one goal for the coming week. In range is the share of readings between 70 and 180 mg/dL; doctors aim for 70% or more. When a food keeps raising your sugar, the goal suggests healthier swaps for it, such as matta (red) rice or brown rice in place of white rice.
• One tip from your own data, a shortcut to the AI meal plan, and any health check-ups that are due.
• Today's glucose chart, with one line under it: how many readings you took, your average, and how many lows and highs. Below that are your most recent entries. Tap View all for your full history.
• At the bottom, Doctor visit report (Pro): a PDF you can share with your doctor.

4. What each feature is for

In plain words: what each part of the app does for you, and where to find it. Every one of them serves the same aim, a lower HbA1c with no dangerous lows, and the next section shows how. The sections after that show you how to use each one.

Things you record

• Log Glucose shows you how your sugar behaves through the day. Everything else in the app, and what your doctor sees, is built from these readings.
• Log Meal links food to your sugar. When you also check 2 hours after eating, the app shows which foods push your sugar up and which are kind to it.
• Medicines and Next dose remind you what to take and when, so you do not miss a dose or take one twice. Your doctor can see what you took.
• Log Activity counts your active minutes against the 150-a-week goal. Movement is one of the strongest ways to lower your sugar.
• Log BP keeps your blood pressure (and weight) in one place. High blood pressure harms the heart, kidneys and eyes, and people with diabetes get it more often.

Things that help you understand your numbers

• Your week (on Home) compares this week with last week and gives you one goal, so you improve one thing at a time.
• Trends finds patterns in your own data: high mornings, your best and hardest foods, time in range, and an estimated HbA1c.
• Labskeeps all your lab results in one place, shows each one's trend, and scans a report for you so you do not have to type it. Your HbA1c test, every 3 months, is the most important one.
• Check-ups remind you of the yearly eye, foot, kidney and other exams that catch diabetes complications early, while they are easy to treat.
• Dietshows the balanced plate for people with diabetes and, with Pro, makes a day's meal plan and lets you look up the carbs in a dish.
• Doctor visit report turns your last 1 to 6 months into a PDF to hand to your doctor, so the visit is about decisions, not about remembering.

Things that keep you safe and on track

• Low sugar steps walk you through treating a low (the 15-15 rule) and make sure you recheck. Emergency contact lets one tap call or WhatsApp a family member.
• Reminders nudge you to check your sugar, take your medicines and recheck 2 hours after a meal.
• Your doctor lets a doctor see your readings, send you messages and appointments, and propose a medicine change that you accept or decline.
• Settingsholds your text size, your meter's unit (mg/dL or mmol/L), your targets, your data export and your account.

5. How the app helps lower your HbA1c

HbA1c is a blood test that shows your average blood sugar over about the last 3 months. It is the number your doctor watches to see whether your diabetes is under control. Many adults are advised to aim for about 7% or lower, but your doctor may set a different target for you. Ask: “What is my HbA1c target?”

No app lowers HbA1c by itself. What DiabetesLife does is make the things that lower it easier to do, and easier to see. Your average sugar and your HbA1c move together: an average of about 154 mg/dL matches an HbA1c of 7%, and every 30 mg/dL lower on average is about 1 point lower HbA1c. So anything that brings your everyday readings down brings your HbA1c down with them.

How each part of the app helps

1. It shows you where your sugar is high. You cannot fix what you cannot see. Trends → Insights shows your average at each time of day and patterns such as high mornings. Your week on Home shows your fasting average and your time in range against last week. So you know whether to look at your medicines (high mornings) or your food and movement (high after meals).
2. It helps you take every dose. Missed doses are one of the commonest reasons HbA1c stays high. The Next dose card and your medicine reminders tell you what to take and when, and Taken records it so your doctor can see it. If your doctor changes a medicine, you accept it in the app, so nothing is lost between visits.
3. It shows you what your food does to your sugar. Log your meal, then check your sugar 2 hours later (the app reminds you). Your week and Trends → Meals then name the foods that push your sugar up and the ones that are kind to it, and your weekly goal suggests swaps, such as matta or brown rice for white rice. The Diet tab shows the balanced plate for the day, and with Pro it makes a meal plan and shows the carbs in a dish.
4. It keeps you moving.A short walk after a meal lowers that meal's sugar rise. Log your activity (or sync your steps on Android) and the active minutes tile on Home counts you toward 150 minutes a week.
5. It keeps lows from setting you back. The low sugar steps take you through the 15-15 rule and make you recheck. Log every low, so your doctor can see when a dose is too high and adjust it. That lets you tighten your control safely.
6. It gives your doctor the whole picture. Link your doctor and they see your readings, meals and medicines between visits. Bring the Doctor visit report (Pro) to each appointment. With the real numbers, they can change your treatment sooner, instead of waiting for your next HbA1c result.
7. It gives you one goal at a time. Each week, Your week picks the single change most worth making, so you improve step by step.
8. It reminds you to test and keep your check-ups. The Check-ups card on Home tells you when your HbA1c test is due, and when your eye, foot and kidney checks are due.

Watch your HbA1c come down

• Labs: add each HbA1c result and tap it to see the trend. A green arrow means it moved toward normal.
• Home → Your week: your In range share should climb toward 70% or more. This shows progress in days, long before the next blood test.
• Trends → Glucose: with 30 days or more of readings, an estimated HbA1c. It is only a guide; your lab result is the accurate one.

Your HbA1c shows the full effect of a change after about 3 months, so have it tested every 3 months while you are making changes. Your daily readings and time in range improve much sooner.

Talk to your doctor sooner if

• your HbA1c is rising even though you are following your plan;
• your readings are often above 250, or repeatedly 300 or more;
• you have frequent lows (below 70).

Never change a dose, or stop a medicine, on your own, even when your sugar looks good. Weight, sleep and smoking also affect HbA1c; your doctor can advise you on them. DiabetesLife supports your care but does not replace your doctor.

6. Log your blood sugar

1. On Home, tap Log Glucose.
2. Type the number from your meter.
3. Check the measurement type. The app picks the likely one from the time and your last meal, but you can tap a different one:
   • Fasting — in the morning, before eating or drinking anything except water.
   • Before Meal — just before lunch or dinner.
   • After Meal — within about an hour of eating.
   • 2hr Post-Meal — 2 hours after you started eating.
   • Bedtime — before you sleep.
   • Random — any other time.
4. Logging a reading you took earlier? Change When was this reading taken?. Every log in the app can be backdated like this.
5. Tap Save.

Does your meter show mmol/L (numbers like 6.2)? Under the number, set My meter shows to mmol/L, or change it once in Settings. Then type the number exactly as your meter shows it, and the app converts it for you (6.2 mmol/L = 112 mg/dL). No need to convert on Google.

What the numbers mean (mg/dL):

• Below 70 — low. Treat it straight away (see the next section).
• 70 to 180 — in range.
• 181 to 250 — high.
• Above 250 — very high. Contact your doctor if it stays this high.
• Usual goals: 80–130 before meals (or what your doctor set in Settings) and under 180 two hours after a meal.

7. If your sugar is low (below 70)

When you save a reading below 70, the app opens Low blood sugar steps, called the 15-15 rule:

1. Take 15 g of fast sugar, for example 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey, half a cup of fruit juice, or 3–4 glucose tablets. Not chocolate or biscuits: the fat slows the sugar down.
2. Tap the button to say you took it, then wait 15 minutes. Your phone reminds you even if you close the app, and opening the app again carries on the same countdown.
3. Check again and type the new reading. If it is still below 70, the app takes you through another round.
4. Once you are back above 70, eat a proper snack or meal so it does not drop again.

Below 54 is severely low. The app shows an I need urgent help button (it can call 108), and buttons to call or WhatsApp your emergency contact.

Set up an emergency contact: Settings → Emergency contact. Add a family member's name and phone number. If you also add their email, the app emails them automatically during a severe low.

8. Log your meals

On Home, tap Log Meal, choose breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack, then add the food in one of three ways:

• Snap your plate (Pro): take a photo from directly above, with the whole plate in good light. The app lists each dish with its carbs. Check them, correct the carbs if you know better, untick anything wrong, and tap Add to meal.
• + Add Food (Pro): search hundreds of Indian and other dishes.
• Manual entry (free): type the food and its carbs in grams.

Then tap Save Meal. Two hours later the app reminds you to check your sugar, so you can see what that meal did. You can turn this reminder off in Settings.

9. Medicines and insulin

Set up your medicines once: tap Add medicines on Home, or go to Settings → Manage medications → + Add a medication. For each one, choose:

• The type: Tablet, Long-acting insulin, Mealtime insulin, or Premixed insulin for mixes like Ryzodeg 70/30, NovoMix 30 or Mixtard 30.
• How much you take at each time of day: Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night. For tablets, tap + for each tablet (for example 1 in the morning and 1 at night). For insulin, type the units for each time, so a different morning and night dose (say 18 units before breakfast and 14 before dinner) is fine. Leave a time empty if you don't take it then.
• Before food, after food or with food.

Each day: the Next dose card on Home shows what is due next. For tablets, tap Taken there. You can also tap Log Medication on Home: today's doses are listed with the amount for that time, and you tap Taken or Skip. For insulin, tap Log; the units for that time are filled in, and you can change them before saving.

If your doctor proposes a change, a message appears on Home. Open it to Accept or Decline. Nothing changes until you accept.

10. Blood pressure, weight and activity

• Log BP: type the top and bottom numbers from your BP machine, and your weight if you like. The app shows Normal, Elevated or High.
• Log Activity: choose walk, yoga, cycling and so on, and how many minutes. On Android you can tap Sync today to read your steps from Health Connect.

11. Lab reports and check-ups

1. Open the Labs tab and tap Scan a lab report.
2. Take a photo of the report, choose one from your gallery, or pick a PDF.
3. The app reads the values (HbA1c, sugar, cholesterol, kidney, liver, thyroid and more). Check them, correct any mistake, and save.

Prefer to type a result? Scroll to Or enter one manually. Tap the Test type box to open the list (type a few letters to search it), then enter the result, the test date and the lab name, and tap Save this one.

Tap any result to see its trend over time. With Pro, tap Explain this result for a plain-language explanation. To delete a result, press and hold it in the list.

Routine check-ups (eye, foot, kidney, cholesterol, dental, flu vaccine and more): open them from the Labs tab or the card on Home. Tap Mark as done with the date. Lab-based check-ups tick off by themselves when you add the lab result.

12. Diet and meal plans

The Diet tab shows:

• The balanced plate for the day, from the ICMR-NIN guidelines for Indians.
• Meal suggestions (Pro): choose a Cuisine at the top of the tab (tap the box and pick one, such as South Indian; Indian is the default), set Vegetarian on or off, and tap Generate today's plan. It is kept for the day; tap Regenerate for a different one. The plan takes into account:
  • your latest lab results (HbA1c, sugar, cholesterol, kidney numbers) from the last 6 months;
  • kidney disease: moderate protein and less salt, and fewer high-potassium foods when kidney function is low. If your report gives only creatinine, the app works out your kidney function (eGFR) from it;
  • your weight and height: portions for gradual weight loss if you are overweight;
  • high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol and fatty liver.
  Add your health conditions, weight and height in Settings → Profile → Edit. With kidney disease, check the plan with your kidney doctor or dietitian, who may set different limits.
• Food nutrition lookup(Pro): search a dish to see its carbs and whether it is low, medium or high GI. Ingredient values (per 100 g) come from ICMR-NIN's Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Cooked dishes are typical home-style servings, so the carbs in your own recipe can differ.

13. Pregnancy and gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is diabetes that starts during pregnancy. Keeping your sugar within the pregnancy goals protects you and your baby, and it usually goes away after the birth. If you had Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes before the pregnancy, the app can use the same pregnancy goals for you.

Turn it on:

• Gestational diabetes: when you sign up, choose Gestational (in pregnancy) as your diabetes type, then add your due date (or how many weeks pregnant you are).
• Type 1 or Type 2 and pregnant: open Settings → Pregnancy → Pregnant? Use pregnancy glucose goals, add your due date and tap Use pregnancy goals.

Your goals in pregnancy(American Diabetes Association; India's DIPSI guideline uses the same fasting and 2-hour numbers). Your doctor can change them:

• Fasting (on waking) and before meals: 95 mg/dL or lower
• 1 hour after starting a meal: 140 mg/dL or lower
• 2 hours after starting a meal: 120 mg/dL or lower

While you are pregnant, Home shows your pregnancy week and goals (tap it to open the Pregnancy screen), the after-meal reading is called 1hr Post-Meal, time in range on the Trends tab uses 63–140 mg/dL instead of 70–180, and the HbA1c goal on your lab results is under 6% unless your doctor set another.

How the app helps:

• Check your sugar every morning before eating, and 1 or 2 hours after each main meal (ask your doctor which). Log the meal first and the reading is paired with it, so you can see which foods push you over your goal.
• Meal plans on the Diet tab are pregnancy-safe: no dieting or weight loss, and carbs spread over three meals and two or three snacks, including one at bedtime.
• If you take insulin, lows are more likely. The app walks you through the 15-15 rule and can alert your emergency contact if a low is severe.
• With Type 1 or Type 2, the check-ups list reminds you to have your eyes checked early in the pregnancy, as diabetes eye disease can get worse in pregnancy.
• If you link your doctor, they see your readings and your pregnancy week between visits.

Get help quickly if your baby is moving less than usual (contact your hospital straight away), you have a reading under 54 mg/dL or lows keep happening, your readings stay above your goals for several days, or you are vomiting and cannot keep food down.

After the birth: open Settings → Pregnancy, tap My baby is born and choose the date. Your goals go back to your usual ones.

• After gestational diabetes, the app reminds you to have a 75 g glucose tolerance test (OGTT) 4 to 12 weeks after the birth, to check the diabetes has gone. Mark it done in Health check-ups. About half of women who had gestational diabetes develop Type 2 later, so the app then reminds you about a yearly HbA1c or fasting glucose test. If a test shows diabetes, change your type on the same screen.
• With Type 1 or Type 2, insulin needs often drop quickly after the birth. Ask your doctor about your doses and check your sugar often in the first few days.

14. Charts and insights (the Trends tab)

The Trends tab (called Analytics in older versions of the app) has five parts across the top. Choose the period under them (7 days up to 12 months):

• Insights: patterns from your own data, such as high mornings, and your average sugar at each time of day. Lows come first; repeated readings of 300 or more come next, with a reminder to share them with your doctor straight away.
• Glucose: time in range, your average for each day, and (with 30 days or more) an estimated HbA1c. The estimate is a guide; your lab HbA1c is the accurate one.
• Meals: which foods are followed by higher sugar two hours later, and your carbs each day.
• Activity: your active minutes per week against the 150-minute goal.
• Labs: a chart for every lab test. A green arrow means the latest result moved toward the normal range; red means it moved away.

15. Your doctor

If your doctor uses the DiabetesLife doctor portal, you can share your readings with them.

1. Ask your doctor for the email address they use on the portal.
2. In Settings → Doctor, type the email and tap Link Doctor.
3. Check the doctor's name in the message that appears, then tap Share.

Once linked:

• Your doctor sees your readings, meals, medicines and lab results on their portal.
• You can message your doctor (Settings → Message your doctor) for questions that can wait. Press and hold a message you sent to edit it (within 15 minutes) or delete it.
• Appointments your doctor books appear on Home for you to confirm.
• Doctor Report (Pro) makes a PDF of the last 30 days, 3 months or 6 months that you can share on WhatsApp or print.

You can stop sharing at any time: Settings → Remove doctor. If your doctor is on the Doctor plan, linking them also gives you all Pro features free.

Your doctor's clinic staff

Your doctor can add up to 5 people from their clinic, such as a nurse, diabetes educator or dietitian. Each has their own login. When you link your doctor, their staff can also:

• See your readings, meals, medicines and lab results.
• Add a glucose reading taken at the clinic, or lab results from your report. These show in Historymarked “added at your clinic”, and you can delete one if it is wrong.

Staff cannot read your messages with your doctor or the doctor's private notes, and cannot change your medicines. To see who has opened your records, including clinic staff, go to Settings → Who has viewed my data. Removing your doctor stops their staff's access too.

In an emergency, do not wait for a message reply: call 108.

16. Reminders

Turn reminders on or off in Settings → Notifications: glucose checks, medicines, and the check 2 hours after a meal.

• Medicine reminders come at 8 am (morning), 1 pm (afternoon), 6 pm (evening) and 9 pm (night) for the times you take something, and say what to take and how much. Tap a time in Settings to change it, for example to 7:30 am if you inject before breakfast.
• Smart reminder timing learns when you usually check your sugar and reminds you a few minutes before. Settings shows the time it has learned. Turn it off to pick your own times.

Reminders not arriving, or stopped after an update? Some phones stop apps in the background to save battery. This is most common on Vivo, iQOO, Oppo, Realme, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO and Huawei phones, and it can switch your reminders off, most often after the app or the phone updates. Settings → Notifications has a card called Make sure reminders arrive, with shortcuts to the right screens. Do these once:

1. Allow notifications for DiabetesLife.
2. Switch on Autostartfor DiabetesLife. On Vivo, search your phone's Settings for “Autostart”. The exact name differs a little between phone models.
3. Allow background activity: set DiabetesLife's battery use to Unrestricted(or “No restrictions”). On Vivo this is under Settings → Battery → Background power consumption.
4. Allow Alarms & reminders for DiabetesLife (Android 12 and later), so reminders arrive at the exact minute, not a little late.

After DiabetesLife or your phone updates, open the app once. The app sets your reminders up again every time you open it.

17. Free and Pro

• Free: logging glucose, meals, medicines, BP and activity; lab report scanning and full lab history; 30-day charts; the low sugar guide and emergency contact; check-ups; your doctor and messages; reminders; larger text; data export.
• Pro: Snap your plate, AI meal plans and the food database, AI lab explanations, food insights, 3–12 month history with estimated HbA1c, and the PDF doctor report.

Upgrade in Settings → Upgrade to Pro. Payment is handled by Google Play; we never see your card. Or get Pro free by linking a doctor who is on the Doctor plan.

18. Your data and privacy

• Your data is private. Only you, a doctor you choose to link (and the clinic staff they add), and family members you invite can see it.
• Settings → Who has viewed my data lists every time someone opened your records.
• Settings → Export all my data gives you a copy (CSV) on every plan.
• Settings → Delete account permanently deletes your account and health data. See how to delete your account.
• Read our Privacy Policy for the details.

19. Common questions

Where did the Analytics tab go?
It is now called Trends, in the same place on the bottom bar. See Charts and insights.

How does the app help me lower my HbA1c?
It shows where your sugar is high, helps you take every dose, shows what your food does, keeps you moving, and gives your doctor the full picture. See How the app helps lower your HbA1c.

Can I log a reading from yesterday?
Yes. Change “When was this reading taken?” before saving. Meals, medicines, BP and activity work the same way.

Does the app work without internet?
Yes, once you have signed in with internet on that phone. Without internet, an orange You are offlinenote appears at the top. You can keep logging: entries are saved on the phone, show as “waiting to sync”, and are sent by themselves when you are back online. Charts show what was last loaded. AI features (lab scan, meal photo, meal plan) and messages need internet.

I deleted a wrong reading. Does my doctor still see it?
No. A deleted reading is gone from your doctor's view too. If it was a low that started the low sugar steps, that episode is removed as well; correct a typo and the episode follows the new number.

I have kidney disease or high blood pressure. Does the app know?
Add it in Settings → Profile → Edit → Other health conditions. Your meal plans then allow for it, and your doctor sees it next to your name.

My estimated HbA1c is different from my lab HbA1c. Which is right?
The lab result. The estimate comes from your meter readings and is only a guide between lab tests.

How do I change my sugar targets?
Settings → Profile → Edit → Before-meal glucose target. Use the numbers your doctor gives you.

Can I set this up for my mother or father?
Yes. Create the account in their name, on their phone, with an email address they or you can open for the sign-in code. Turn on a larger text size and add yourself as their emergency contact.

Is DiabetesLife a medical device?
No. It helps you keep track and understand your numbers, but it does not diagnose or treat. Always follow your doctor's advice, and never change a medicine dose on your own.

Are you a doctor?

See the Doctor Portal guide for how the portal works and how patients connect to you. For your nurse or educator, there is a separate Clinic staff guide.

Still need help?

Email support@diabeteslifeapp.com and we will get back to you. DiabetesLife supports your care but is not a substitute for professional medical advice.