AAPS (unlike the Tandem T , which I’m less familiar with) uses a more sophisticated algorithm to calculate the required insulin, considering several factors:
- Blood sugar levels received via XDrip from the Libre 2 sensor.
- A profile that includes:
- - The basal rate per hour for each time slot
- - The insulin-to-carb ratio
- - The target blood sugar range
- Automatically calculated insulin sensitivity.
- Insulin on board (remaining active insulin), calculated using a curve to estimate how much insulin is still active after injection.
- Carbs on board, with AAPS tracking active carbs over time.
The lack of carbs is perhaps the worst for me. Even if I track then on the Dexcom app, it doesn't use them. The automatic boluses are often wrong. When I had it anywhere near my real ratio, it would 'predict' I was going over 160 and automatically dose me. So, say I was at 85, and had 15 grams of potato chips. My glucose would rise quickly and as it went over 125, 140, the system would predict it was going up past 160 - or who knows, since it doesn't know how many carbs I ate. So then it would dose me with say, 1.1 units, which was enough to take my glucose -back to 85-. That sent me in loops a couple of times... 85, eat, up to 145, automatic bolus, back to 85, eat, up to 145 - very annoying when it happened at night. I had to set my carb ratio so high that the automatic boluses are now insignificant amounts like .16 units. It also doesn't notify you on your phone about automatic boluses, which has caused me major problems when I'd also manually correct. The automatic basal reduction (Basal IQ) is useful though.
Anyhow, I'd love to try AAPS but I don't have an Android phone. I also used to follow someone on Twitter who was developing his own software that he said removed the need to pre-bolus at all. Not sure about the details though.
With AAPS - it is usually able to deal with my blood sugars at night automatically.
During holidays ( 0 stress day), AAPS can almost completely determine boluses just based on my profile and carb intake. ( i.e. I don't force a bolus ) However, during normal workdays, I usually need to bolus right before carb intake. AAPS also allows you specify bolus a percentage and then let it figure out the rest automatically.
There is an AAPS-like app for iOS but I am not sure how good it is. See https://loopkit.github.io/loopdocs/#what-is-the-loop-app
I could imagine that being responsive, and toggleable.