Google and Apple have announced a technology collaboration to tackle the COVID-19, coronavirus pandemic that has gripped the world and the U.S., in particular.
The tech giants detailed in a press release Friday, its plans to deploy an API and Bluetooth feature for smartphones that can be used in mobile applications to trace and alert users if they have been in contact with a person that is COVID-19 positive and recommend the steps to take afterward.
The initiative will begin in May, with both companies releasing an API (application programming interface) that will allow for the cross-compatibility of official public health applications between Android and iOS devices. Once the apps are available users of either platform will be able to download them from their respective Android or Apple app stores, and apps will be able to seamlessly communicate across the two platforms.
Apple and Google will use several months to build into the core of their own operating systems, the functionalities that will allow the upcoming public health apps to enable a wide-range Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform.
Anticipating a concern about data and privacy Apple and Google insist that the platforms that ultimately employ their technology will do so in a secure and anonymous fashion. The use of services adopting the technology will be on a strictly opt-in basis.
However, many have noted such apps may not be a foolproof method of tracking COVID-19 because of their opt-out nature. Users could also bypass their effectiveness by turning off Bluetooth on their devices or by not taking their smartphones with them while out in public. Additionally, it is possible for such apps to incorrectly pick up on another enabled phones even if the two users haven’t been in close contact. Overall, the apps will have to be available in the U.S. before effectiveness can be tested.
Countries including South Korea and Taiwan claim they have been able to contain the rates of COVID-19 infection with the help of contact tracing as well as through rapid testing. Neither measures are currently available in the U.S. on a large scale. Meanwhile, several European countries, including the Czech Republic, the U.K., Germany, and Italy also have plans to develop their own contact tracing apps and services.
