Blood drop and test strip symbol (ready for blood)
The meter has accepted the strip and is ready for blood or control solution. Applying the sample before it appears is one of the commonest causes of an error code.
Check your meter’s manual — makers differ.
What it is for
Wait for the drop, then touch the blood to the edge or tip of the strip as your manual shows. If the meter asks for more blood, the Contour guide (Ascensia) allows adding it to the same strip within 60 seconds, and the FreeStyle booklet (Abbott) “for up to 60 seconds from the time of the first application”.
These pages report what each maker’s manual says and quote it wherever health is involved. They do not diagnose anything, they are not medical advice, and they never tell you how to treat a result; only your own meter’s manual and your healthcare team can do that for your model.
- What it looks like
- A blood drop, often flashing, sometimes with a small test strip, shown after you insert a strip. Accu-Chek writes “Apply drop”.
- Names makers use
- Blood drop and test strip symbols (FreeStyle); Apply drop (Accu-Chek); Apply Sample (OneTouch Verio Flex), Apply Blood (OneTouch Verio Reflect); Meter is ready to test; Add more blood to strip (Contour)
Where makes differ
Applying too early gives a different code on each make: E-6 on the Accu-Chek Guide (“applied to the test strip before Apply drop appeared”), Error 3 on OneTouch meters (“The sample was applied before the meter was ready”), Error 3 on the FreeStyle Freedom Lite (“applying blood before the blood drop and test strip symbols display”). Contour has a second symbol for “Add more blood to strip”, and calls this Second-Chance sampling. The FreeStyle meter turns off if you do not start within two minutes.
What it does not mean
It is not the blood drop in an Accu-Chek menu, which marks the blood glucose test option. It does not mean the strip is full: the meters read here confirm that separately, with a beep, a countdown, an Analyzing screen or a moving line.
Sources
No published standard we could check defines blood glucose meter control icons, so this meaning is taken from 4 makers’ own manuals and support pages, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Abbott: FreeStyle Freedom Lite blood glucose monitoring system — owner’s booklet (Australia, ART22410-102 Rev. B, PDF) — Meter display: “Blood Drop and Test Strip Symbols — These symbols work together in an animation to tell you when the meter is ready for you to apply blood or control solution”; add blood for up to 60 seconds; Error 3. Checked 2026-09-28.
- Roche: Accu-Chek Guide blood glucose meter — user manual (US, PDF) — Blood glucose test: “When Apply drop appears, obtain a blood drop”; Error Messages: “Blood or control solution was applied to the test strip before Apply drop appeared.” Checked 2026-09-28.
- Roche: Accu-Chek — Guide meter error codes (support pages for E-1 to E-14, HI, LO and the battery icon) — E-6: “Blood or control solution was applied to the test strip before Apply drop appeared.” E-4: not enough blood. Checked 2026-09-28.
- Ascensia: CONTOUR NEXT ONE blood glucose monitoring system — user guide (US, PDF) — Symbol table: “Meter is ready to test”, “Add more blood to strip”; Second-Chance sampling: “If the meter beeps twice and the screen displays a blinking blood drop … Apply more blood to the same test strip within 60 seconds.” Checked 2026-09-28.
- LifeScan: OneTouch Verio Flex — owner’s booklet (US, PDF) — Meter symbols: Apply Sample (a blood drop); Error 3: “The sample was applied before the meter was ready … Apply a blood or control solution sample only after the flashing symbol appears on the display.” Checked 2026-09-28.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.