A few months back, when it was still an early COVID-19 period for the world, Apple and Google announced that they are coming together to build a feature which will help people recognise if they have been exposed to someone who has been tested positive for COVID-19. The feature was still in developing stages for a few months until now. Both the companies on Tuesday announced that they are going to enable the feature of COVID-19 exposure notifications which can happen without the need for building an app.
Apple and Google Exposure Notification Express
The new system for helping people track if they have been near someone who was tested COVID-19 positive is called Exposure Notification Express. For the feature to work, the companies will accept a small configuration from the public health officials. Then both Apple and Google will use the submitted file to set up the system which will allow people to choose whether they want to determine if they have been in close proximity to someone who was tested positive for COVID-19.
For people who use iPhones, a new version of iOS is being released and it will alert the users if they are availed with the exposure notification system by the permission of the local health authorities. iOS users won’t have to download any app for the feature to work. But for the Android users, they will get a prompt from the system to download an app which will be generated automatically.
One question that looms over the heads of millions of smartphone users is whether this will invade with their privacy. But Google and Apple have said that the data which is tracked is not for the personal use of the company. Another question that a lot of people have over such an app is just how effective will it be in solving the issue of COVID-19? Will it make any difference in the number of rising cases? Answer to these questions will only come with the time.
