Apple, Google launch exposure notification technology to help trace COVID contacts

Apple Inc and Google LLC on May 20 launched their contract tracing technology in a bid to help contain the coronavirus outbreak. The tech giants had last month announced that they will be soon releasing a collaborative contact tracing technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus. The technology is aimed at making exposure tracing applications created by public health agencies work more accurately, reliably, and effectively across both Android and iOS devices.  

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"Our Exposure Notifications technology is available to public health agencies on both iOS and Android. What we’ve built is not an app—rather public health agencies will incorporate the API into their own apps that people install. Our technology is designed to make these apps work better. Each user gets to decide whether or not to opt-in to Exposure Notifications; the system does not collect or use the location from the device; and if a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, it is up to them whether or not to report that in the public health app," Google said in an announcement made on its website. 

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Future developments

As per reports, both companies in the coming months will work to enable a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platforms. This should be a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate if they choose to opt-in, as well as enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities. 

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