A blood glucose meter is an electronic medical device used for determining the concentration of glucose in blood. These meters have undergone five phases of development: washed blood glucose meters, wiped blood glucose meters, colorimetric blood glucose meters, electrochemical blood glucose meters, and micro, multiple site blood glucose meters. Thanks to their speed, portability, low cost, and easy operation, blood glucose meters have been widely available for use in clinical diagnosis. Recently, coupling of target recognition elements (antibody–antigen recognition, nucleic acid hybridization, enzyme recognition, and click chemistry) with signal transduction and amplification strategies (glucose-generating enzymes, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH)-generating enzymes, encapsulated glucose, nanomaterials, and cyclic amplification of DNA) has allowed various targets to be determined via the relationship between the signal of the blood glucose meter and the concentration of targets. In this paper, a brief review of the development and mechanism of blood glucose meters is given first. Then, more details on the application of blood glucose meters in analysis are described, including biomedical analysis, food analysis, and environmental analysis. Finally, the prospect of future development of blood glucose meters is also discussed. Graphical abstract ᅟ