How the NHSX coronavirus contact tracing app will work

The UK government is developing a COVID-19 contact tracing app, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Hancock revealed the National Health Service's digital innovation branch, NHSX, is hastily working on an app that will help track the spread of COVID-19.

"If you become unwell with the symptoms of coronavirus, you can securely tell this new NHSX app, and the app will then send an alert anonymously to other app users that you've been in significant contact with over the past few days, even before you had symptoms so that they know and can act accordingly," explained Hancock during a UK daily pandemic briefing on 12 April.

Here's everything you need to know about the NHSX contact tracing app, including when you can get it on your mobile device.

How will the NHSX contact tracing app work?

The mobile app will work by letting users self-report if they're experiencing symptoms of the virus. Doing so will then notify other users - with a yellow warning - if they've been in contact with an infected user. If a user tests positive for COVID-19, they will be given a code to enter into the app, triggering an alert to others that they were exposed and may need to quarantine.

The NHSX contact tracing app will use Bluetooth signals to keep track of handsets and crowdsource and relay data. No names will be given; only information about proximity to the virus and whether other users are experiencing symptoms. Originally the system was going to be GPS-based, but that's open to a lot more variation than Bluetooth Low Energy, which can detect proximity to other devices much more accurately.

According to the BBC, the NHSX is currently testing the app and how it "anonymously" alerts users to potential exposure. More specifically, it's testing people's experience of going shopping, and it's using Bluetooth signals to log when two phones are near each other. One of the phones is for an "infected" user, which causes warnings to be sent to other nearby handsets in the experiment.

An alert might say: "If you're on public transport, go home by the most direct route. Stay at least 2m away from people if you can. Find a room where you can close the door [and] avoid touching people, surfaces and objects."

How many people will need to use the app to make it effective?

The NHSX thinks more than 60 per cent of the population needs to use the app for it to be effective in helping the country return to normality, but more recent reports have suggested that 80 per cent of smartphone users (56 per cent of the population) would have to use it for the best results, according to experts at the University of Oxford talking to the BBC.

The big data team at Oxford - advising the NHSX team - has not included the over-70s in that group, as it's assumed they will be shielding at home when lockdown restrictions start to lift, although there will be some benefits if the uptake is a little lower. In Singapore, where a similar system was tried, the uptake was only 12 per cent, although the launch of a similar system in Australia, called Covidsafe, saw over 2 million installs in a matter of days. 

The problem is getting high numbers of people to use any app, especially as it's going to be voluntary to use.

What part do Google and Apple have to play?

Google and Apple announced on 10 April that they were jointly working on an API (application programming interface) that would allow Android and iPhone devices to anonymously share the data needed to carry out contact tracing, using Bluetooth Low Energy. As Apple and Google jointly control pretty much the entire smartphone market, this would cover virtually all smartphones in use, except some much older models, of which there are few in the UK.

Initially, this will provide a platform that healthcare agencies can use to get the data from devices to share with other users. In the future, the system would allow Google and Apple devices to handle the data at a system level, decentralising that data and ensuring that privacy was protected by the terms of Apple and Google respectively. That means you won't have to have the app open and running all the time - it will work in the background and would also mean that the data remained private.

Following discussion that NHSX and Google-Apple were at odds about how this should work, reported in The Guardian, the BBC has now reported that the NHS won't be using the Apple and Google system. This will mean that the NHS has access to the data, so outbreaks can be tracked nationally.

NHSX has consulted with security experts at GCHQ to ensure that the data will remain private and secure.

What about the EU's rules?

The EU has outlined how it believes that contact tracing apps should work for EU member states - and that's going to include scrutiny of Apple and Google's system, to ensure that it dovetails with the EU's own privacy rulings. Those things include that an individual shouldn't be able to be identified through the system and that it is disabled once the need for contact tracing has passed.

The EU has essentially mandated that either a centralised system (as will be used by the NHS) or a decentralised system (using the Apple and Google system) will be accepted, as long as it's only used for coronavirus contact tracing, anonymised and voluntary. 

When will the NHSX contact tracing app be available?

The new NHSX contact tracing app is currently in development and is not yet ready to download and use on iPhones and Android devices.

The BBC said the NHSX is testing its contact tracing app at a Royal Air Force base in North Yorkshire. The health secretary for England reportedly said the trials are going well, too. "The more people who sign up for this new app when it goes live, the better informed our response will be and the better we can, therefore, protect the NHS," Matt Hancock told the House of Commons.

RAF Leeming was chosen to test the "alpha" version of the app because it has past experience of testing apps on behalf of the military. There are plans for a follow-up "beta test" at a later date. It might take place in a remote community, voluntarily. The NHSX hopes to officially release its app by mid-May, although a final decision on timing has yet to be taken by the government.

Will the NHSX contact tracing app be safe to use?

Health Secretary Matt Hancock addressed privacy concerns over the NHSX contact tracing app at its original announcement, explaining it'll be completely voluntary to use, which currently seems to be the plan. The NHSX also won't keep the data from the app any longer than necessary.

"All data will be handled according to the highest ethical and security standards, and would only be used for NHSX care and research," Hancock said. NHSX has also promised to publish its security and privacy whitepapers with the app's source code so experts can verify its security, while it has also been consulting with experts from GCHQ to ensure privacy and security.

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