Low battery symbol
The meter’s battery or batteries are running low. On the meters read here the results are still accurate while the symbol shows; a separate empty-battery screen means the meter will no longer test.
Check your meter’s manual — makers differ.
What it is for
Replace the battery with the type printed in the manual, usually a 3-volt CR2032 coin cell. The meters read here keep their stored results through a battery change; the time and date may need resetting.
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 battery outline with little or no fill inside, beside the result or on every screen. On the Accu-Chek Guide it stands upright; on the OneTouch Verio Reflect it flashes.
- Names makers use
- Battery symbol (FreeStyle); Low battery (Accu-Chek, OneTouch); Low Batteries / Dead Batteries (Contour)
Where makes differ
How urgent it is differs. The OneTouch Verio Reflect booklet (LifeScan): “there is still enough battery power to perform a test. Test results will still be accurate”, until a “Battery Empty. Replace now.” screen. The Contour Next One guide (Ascensia): “the meter operates normally, displaying the Low Batteries symbol until you replace the batteries”, then a Dead Batteries screen. The Accu-Chek Guide manual (Roche): “The batteries are almost out of power. Change the batteries now.” The FreeStyle Freedom Lite booklet (Abbott): “When this symbol appears, you should replace the battery immediately.” Battery counts differ too: one CR2032 in the FreeStyle and the Verio Flex, two in the Accu-Chek Guide, the Verio Reflect and the Contour Next One, and Roche says to replace both at once with the same brand. Keeping the clock: Abbott gives one minute to swap the battery before the time and date are lost, Ascensia five minutes.
What it does not mean
It does not affect stored results on the meters read here: Roche says “The logbook data is saved when you replace the batteries”, and Abbott that removing the battery “does not affect the meter’s memory log”. It is not LO, which is a glucose result.
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:
- LifeScan: OneTouch Verio Reflect — owner’s booklet (US, PDF) — Troubleshooting: “Battery power is low but there is still enough battery power to perform a test. Test results will still be accurate”; “Battery Empty. Replace now. 2 x CR2032”. Checked 2026-09-28.
- LifeScan: OneTouch Verio Flex — owner’s booklet (US, PDF) — Meter symbols: Low Battery, Battery Empty; one CR2032 lithium coin cell battery; “Replace the meter battery soon.” Checked 2026-09-28.
- Ascensia: CONTOUR NEXT ONE blood glucose monitoring system — user guide (US, PDF) — Symbol table: “Indicates low batteries”, “Indicates dead batteries”; Batteries: “the meter operates normally, displaying the Low Batteries symbol until you replace the batteries”; two 3-volt 2032 coin cells; settings kept if replaced within 5 minutes. Checked 2026-09-28.
- Roche: Accu-Chek Guide blood glucose meter — user manual (US, PDF) — Symbol list: Low battery; Error Messages: “The batteries are almost out of power. Change the batteries now.”; two CR2032 batteries, “Always replace both batteries at the same time and with the same brand”; “The logbook data is saved when you replace the batteries.” Checked 2026-09-28.
- Abbott: FreeStyle Freedom Lite blood glucose monitoring system — owner’s booklet (Australia, ART22410-102 Rev. B, PDF) — Battery: one CR2032, about 1000 tests; “the battery symbol appears on every display screen until you change the battery … you should replace the battery immediately”; replace within one minute to keep time and date. Checked 2026-09-28.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.