How to Switch Your NightScout URL to a New Hosting Provider When Looping with AndroidAPS and xDrip

Changing providers? Here’s how to do it

If you’re managing your diabetes with NightScout, AndroidAPS, and xDrip, you know how important it can be to have a reliable hosting provider for your NightScout site. There are times when you may want to switch hosting providers, whether due to costs, uptime, features, or simply out of preference. This guide will walk you through the steps to switch your NightScout URL from one hosting provider to another, while ensuring a smooth transition for your looping setup with AndroidAPS and xDrip.

Why You Might Want to Switch Your Hosting Provider

There are several reasons why you might want to switch your NightScout hosting provider:

• Cost: You might find a more affordable hosting solution that meets your needs.
• Features: Some providers offer better performance, speed, or integration options.
• Reliability: If your current provider experiences downtimes. We haven’t encountered any incidence like this so this seems very rare among the active providers.

In this guide, we’ll go from your current URL https://oldnightscout.oldhostingprovider.com to your new URL https://newnightscout.newhostingprovider.com

Step 1 Upload glucosedata from xDrip+ to NightScout

1.1 Verify Your New Site

Before making any changes to your AndroidAPS or xDrip settings, ensure that your new NightScout URL is reachable. You don’t have to setup anything yet such a new default profile. Just check if the site is reachable and that you see no errors.

1.2 Update xDrip Settings**

xDrip uploads and downloads data from your NightScout site, so you need to update it with the new URL.

1. Open xDrip+ on your phone.
2. Go to Settings > Cloud Upload.
3. Select NightScout Sync (REST-API)
4. Select BASE URL and change the URL to https://password@newnightscout.newhostingprovider.com.
5. Replace password with the API_SECRET of your new NightScout and click OK.
6. Set the top option “Enable: The REST API is ..” to ON.
7. Go to Extra Options and set select Back-fill data.
8. Click Select the period you want to upload to NigthScout and click ** DO IT!**. There is a warning that says “Use with care”. This warning is there because if you don’t use the right API_SECRET, the upload will be considered an attack and your NightScout will be blocked for upload request for several houres to days. So indeed, be carefull with this option.

You should see that xDrip is now uploading data from your new Nightscout URL.

Step 2: Temporarily switch to old NightScout version within AndroidAPS

Temporary switch to the old NightScout version within AndroidAPS will make it possible to upload your data from AndroidAPS without setting a new profile and API_SECRET in the admin page.

1. Open AndroidAPS on your phone.
2. Go to hamburgmenu in left top and select Config Builder.
3. Scroll to Synchronisation and select NSClient instead of NSClientV3.
4. Click on the cogwheel on the right to go to the preferences of the NSClient.
5. Change the Nightscout URL to https://newnightscout.newhostingprovider.com
6. Enter your API_SECRET for the new NightScout instance.
7. Go to the home screen and go to the tab NSCLIENT.
8. Check whether Status: Authenticated is shown at the top left! If not, check your API_SECRET and URL.

Step 3: Upload data from AndroidAPS to new NightScout

1. Go back to the home screen and click on the three dots.
2. Choose full-synchronisation and follow the steps. This will upload your profiles to the new NightScout instance and remove the prompt to setup a new profile we saw in step 1.

xDrip+ and AndroidAPS are now setup to upload data to your new Nightscout.

Once you’ve confirmed that your new Nightscout instance is working perfectly, you can cancel your old hosting provider subscription. Make sure to monitor your new setup for a few days and keep your old hosting provider active until you’re confident everything is functioning correctly! If you run into issues, don’t hesitate to reach out to the NightScout, AndroidAPS, xDrip communities. You can find their Facebook pages in our CommunityApps section.

If you run into problems or need help with transferring your full database feel free to reach out to us @ opensource.clinic.