Starting Loop: Display
Loop Operations
The Loop app display is explained in detail at LoopDocs: Setup: Displays. We will just touch on a few high-level concepts. If you decide to move forward with Loop, read the LoopDocs Display page carefully.
Status Screen
The Status Screen is the Home screen for your Loop app. It is separated into three display areas (HUD, Charts, and Toolbar) top to bottom, with the HUD (Heads Up Display) only displaying when you hold your iPhone in portrait mode. If you turn your phone to display the Loop app in landscape mode, you need to scroll up and down between the charts and the toolbar.
Heads Up Display (HUD)
- Loop’s status (open or closed, green, yellow or red)
- Current readings for Blood Glucose (BG)
- Temp Basal Rate (TBR) relative to the scheduled basal rate
- Pump Information
- Additional line that varies depending on Loop status – don’t worry about that now
Charts (Four charts are displayed by Loop)
- Blood Glucose plot and prediction (showing where you will eventually end up at the end of the Duration of Insulin Action (DIA)
- Active Insulin (Insulin on Board – IOB)
- Amount of insulin currently active in your body, above or below your scheduled basal rate
- Includes the decay curve over DIA
- If Loop has restricted basal delivery, this can be negative
- Insulin Delivery (total delivered today – might not update promptly)
- Shows where Loop has delivered a temporary increase or decrease in your basal insulin
- Below zero means Loop temporarily restricted insulin delivery below your normally-scheduled basal amont
- Above zero means Loop has temporarily increased insulin delivery above your normally scheduled basal amount
- Triangle above zero is a bolus, manual or automatic (Dosing Strategy set to Automatic with Loop or Microbolus enabled with FreeAPS), that you delivered or Loop delivered
- Carbohydrates
- This includes all carbohydrates you manually entered into Loop
- The carbohydrates have a planned time for decay based on the the type of carbohydrate you entered (various carbs have different absorption intervals)
- Loop updates the carbohydrate decay curve based on measured BG using your ISF and Carb Ratio
- Don’t worry – this will become clear later
- Taking advantage of this ability for Loop to handle different types of carbohydrates differently over time is one of the best and most flexible ways to make Loop work for you
You can swipe left or tap (depending on phone) on any one of these charts to reveal more details.
Toolbar
- Plate takes you to Carb entry screen where you can:
- Enter and save Carbs
- Then, view a Bolus screen with a recommended Bolus
- If you tap on recommended bolus, it transfers the amount to the Bolus line, where you can then deliver it
- Plate with Clock turns on a pre-meal target (this also disables any active override)
- “Carrot” (Down arrows) takes you to the Bolus entry screen
- Heart symbol takes you to Override Menu (or turns off override if one is active)
- Gear – takes you to a variety of menus to adjust Loop Settings