Target range arrows and colours

The meter compared the result with a target range stored in it and shows whether it is above, within or below that range. The range is a setting, not a medical fact about you.

Check your meter’s manual — makers differ.

What it is for

Check what range your meter is set to, and change it to the one your healthcare team gave you; the manuals read show how. LifeScan’s Verio Reflect booklet warns: “Treatment decisions should be based on the numerical result and healthcare professional's recommendation and not solely on where your result falls within your range limits.”

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: An arrow up or down beside the result, a double arrow for within range, or a coloured light or bar: Contour lights up the strip port, OneTouch points an arrow or a face at a coloured bar under the screen.
Names makers use: Above / below / within target range arrows (Accu-Chek); smartLIGHT and target arrows (Contour); ColorSure Dynamic Range Indicator (OneTouch Verio Reflect); Range Indicator Arrow and Color Bar (OneTouch Verio Flex)

Where makes differ

Colours mean opposite things on different makes: Contour’s smartLIGHT (Ascensia) is yellow above, green in and red below target, while OneTouch’s ColorSure indicator (LifeScan) is blue below, green within and red above. The pre-set range differs too: 70–180 mg/dL for the Accu-Chek Guide single range (Roche), 70 to 180 mg/dL overall on the Contour Next One (Ascensia), and a low limit of 70 mg/dL with a high limit of 180 mg/dL on the OneTouch Verio Flex (LifeScan). Accu-Chek can turn the arrows off. On the Verio Flex, LifeScan says changing your limits does not change the arrows stored with past results.

What it does not mean

An in-range arrow or a green light is not a diagnosis and does not replace the number. It is not HI or LO, which mean outside what the meter can measure at all.

Sources

No published standard we could check defines blood glucose meter control icons, so this meaning is taken from 3 makers’ own manuals and support pages, each fetched and read on the date shown:

Roche: Accu-Chek Guide blood glucose meter — user manual (US, PDF) — Symbol list: Above target range, Below target range, Within target range arrows; Target Ranges: Off, Single Range “70–180 mg/dL (pre-set target range)” or 2 Ranges. Checked 2026-09-28.
Ascensia: CONTOUR NEXT ONE blood glucose monitoring system — user guide (US, PDF) — Symbol table: “Yellow Light: test result is above Target Range”, “Green Light … in Target Range”, “Red Light … below Target Range”, up and down arrows; Overall Target Range preset to 70 mg/dL–180 mg/dL. Checked 2026-09-28.
LifeScan: OneTouch Verio Reflect — owner’s booklet (US, PDF) — ColorSure Dynamic Range Indicator: “below (blue), within (green) or above (red) your range limits”; “Treatment decisions should be based on the numerical result and healthcare professional's recommendation and not solely on where your result falls within your range limits.” Checked 2026-09-28.
LifeScan: OneTouch Verio Flex — owner’s booklet (US, PDF) — Range Indicator Arrow pointing to a Range Indicator Color Bar; “The pre-set low range limit is 70 mg/dL and the pre-set high range limit is 180 mg/dL”; stored arrows do not change when limits change. Checked 2026-09-28.

Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.