Home IFTTT Pocket-lint How Apple and Google plan to use your phone to track COVID-19

How Apple and Google plan to use your phone to track COVID-19

April 24, 2020

Apple and Google are developing a system that tracks the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, using mobile phones.

How does Apple and Google's COVID-19 tracking system work?

The system, which has been published in white papers, uses short-range Bluetooth Low Energy transmissions to create a contact tracing network, in which data can be voluntarily shared among users who are in close proximity to each other. Apple and Google plan to offer iOS and Android APIs starting in late April so that official apps from health organizations can hook into their system.

As a user, initially, you need to download an app to report if you've been diagnosed. Basically, Apple and Google's system will pick up Bluetooth signals of any nearby passing phone every five minutes, and if one person tests positive and has told the app, all other phones that have passed within close range of the infected person within the preceding days will be notified.

The companies are calling this process the "Exposure Notification," a term they think more accurately describes the feature.

Eventually, Apple and Google plan to bake the contact tracing system into their operating systems, so that everyone with an iOS or Android phone can opt-in and join the effort. The main downside to their system is that it might not work on older phones and on lower connectivity.

Is Apple and Google's COVID-19 tracking system safe to use?

Contact tracing involves identifying whether an infected person has been in contact with others, and it's a proven way to contain the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, but there are valid privacy concerns about using any sort of surveillance, even if it's just tracking users with phone data, to help combat the coronavirus. Any implementation would need to be limited and avoid violating user privacy.

If you willingly share your data, Apple and Google have said your identity will be anonymized, as their system broadcasts anonymous cryptographic keys, which are randomly generated and cycle every 15 minutes to maintain privacy. And central servers won't store interactions between keys. Bluetooth data will be encrypted, too, making it even harder for people to be identified by hackers.

 

When will Apple and Google's COVID-19 tracking system be available?

Apple and Google will release APIs for app developers in late April. This will "enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities", according to Apple. However, in the coming months, the system will be embedded into Apple and Google's operating systems so that the use of public health apps won't be required.

As for apps that plan to use the system, they won't be able to until the API becomes available, naturally. The NHSX's contract tracing app, which is currently in testing in the UK, plans to use the system.

Which devices can run Apple and Google's COVID-19 tracking system?

Apple plans to roll out an update for devices released in the past four years. Google said it will work with Android 6.0 or higher.

Want to know more?

Apple and Google have released draft technical documentation here. Statements from the CEOs of both companies are below.

 



from Pocket-lint https://ift.tt/2K7B6fz
via IFTTT
Tags :

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )
Powered by Blogger.