Apple, Google want to turn your phones into COVID-19 tracking devices

The companies hope that the new tool will put a quicker end to the pandemic

Sad-grumpy-teenage-girl-sending-message-checking-whatsapp-on-her-smartphone-mobile-phone-social-media-shut Apple and Google would need access to logs of the user’s smartphone when they come into close contact with other people

Apple and Google announced that they are joining forces to build an opt-in-contact-tracing-tool-using Bluetooth technology to help public health officials track the spread of COVID-19.

The companies announced that they will launch developer tools (called APIs) in May. These will enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities. The new tool, the companies hope will help put a quick end to the pandemic.

As per a Vox report, it will also put an end to a host of privacy and security concerns. For the contact-tracing tool to work, Apple and Google would need access to logs of the user’s smartphone when they come into close contact with other people—this will use Bluetooth technology.

If one of the people they have come in contact with report symptoms of COVID-19 to a health care worker, it will send the person using the tool an alert. Sharing of alerts is done by smartphones periodically exchanging anonymised tracing keys with nearby devices.

A list of these keys is maintained on a cloud server, which enables them to send alerts to people, if one person they have come in close contact with reports an infection. Everything in the tool will be designed to be anonymous and automatic, read a CNBC report.

Both devices maintain a list of the keys they’ve collected on a cloud server, and when one person reports an infection, they have the option of sending an alert to people they’ve recently been in contact with.

Building the contact tool into the phone allows the tracing system to be active through the day. But it also might sound tricky for those who do not want to be tracked without consent.