Apple and Google have been working together on mobile technology to help alert people when they may have been exposed to coronavirus.
Google and Apple have released more information on what an app may look like on phones and also sharing sample pieces of code for local governments. The companies recently changed the name of the API from ‘Contact Tracing’ to ‘Exposure Notification’ to help ease anxieties around the process.
Apple and Google released more information on how people will be able to opt in to the system and turn on notifications in case they’re exposed to someone confirmed to have COVID-19. They also showed how health officials can confirm a person’s coronavirus diagnosis by typing a special code into the patient’s phone. Once they do, the patient will be requested to confirm if they want to anonymously warn people they’d been in contact with over the preceding two weeks.
The companies will also share a library of reference code (an SDK for Android and an Xcode toolkit for iOS), which can be used by app development by public health agencies.
The process of the app notification will look something like this:
In the first step, users can download an app from their regional health authority. Then they will be asked to turn on notifications for the app. The key advantage of the API is that it will enable both Android and iOS devices to interact, which will cover cross-tracing between more than 97% of the mobile devices worldwide. It’s worth noting that no personal information is exchanged in this process. The system tracks data through “anonymous identifiers” which change constantly, so the mobile devices will be storing a log of other devices that its been in contact with, but no one else has the same information access. Users can control their notifications and data usage settings via their phone tools.
It will hopefully help to contain the spread of COVID-19. As per Apple: “Google and Apple can disable the exposure notification system on a regional basis when it is no longer needed.”
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