Google and Apple have teamed up to develop a digital contact tracing system to users in an effort to restrain the spread of coronavirus. The search giant says that the new tech will help people know when they may have been exposed to the virus. As per the tech giants, the system will enable the smartphones to anonymously broadcast signals to nearby devices via Bluetooth and scan for beacons from other devices in proximity.
Google and Apple basically want to build a system that would alert you if you’ve been in contact with a potentially contagious person. The tech companies are aiming to stop the spread of COVID-19 while also avoiding the compromise of user privacy.
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In a blog post, Google said the system “doesn’t collect personally identifiable information or user location data. The list of people you’ve been in contact with never leaves your phone. People who test positive are not identified to other users, Google or Apple.” The content “will only be used for contact tracing by public health authorities for COVID-19
pandemic management.”
The software giant also said, it “doesn’t matter if you have an Android phone or an iPhone – works across both.” The companies will release an update for both Android and iOS platforms. The latest tech will be available to everyone, even the phones running Android 6.0. It will be first pushed in the month of May. The search giant’s blog post says “both companies will release APIs that enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities.” One will find these official apps in their respective app stores.
The companies also mentioned that in the coming months, they will work to enable a “broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platforms.” “Through close cooperation and collaboration with developers, governments, and public health providers, we hope to harness the power of technology to help countries around the world slow the spread of COVID‑19 and accelerate the return of everyday life,” the companies said in a joint statement.
