These random, anonymous IDs are stored on your phone. It works like this when you opt in and use one of these apps, a random ID is generated and exchanged between your phone and other nearby phones (that also opted in) within Bluetooth range. Google and Apple just laid out a secure system that these apps can piggyback on. The system is still in its infancy, and it’s really up to state and local governments to deploy the official apps themselves. How Does the COVID-19 Exposure Notification Work? ![]() We don’t want to sound pessimistic, maybe as states and local governments work to deploy their applications, people will come around. It’s worth mentioning that the system won’t work effectively if users don’t adopt it – if half of all users decide they won’t use the COVID-19 notification system, it might not be reliable enough to do much good. Basically, Google and Apple have developed a standardized system to make it easier for states and local governments to build an effective app to notify users if they may have been exposed to COVID-19, but Google and Apple aren’t building the apps or pushing them out to users. If you go into your settings as mentioned in the above Facebook post, you’ll see that you either need to install or finish setting up a participating app before the notifications can even be turned on.Īpple and Google even confirm this in a joint statement saying “What we’ve built is not an app – rather public agencies will incorporate the API into their own apps that people install.”ĪPI stands for Application Programming Interface. ![]() Just to be perfectly clear, unless you manually installed something, your Android or iPhone isn’t just going to start tracking you and your friends and family to see if you have COVID-19. The same with iPhone users by going under Settings, then Privacy, then Health, you’ll have an option to opt in.Įven if you opt in, you still need to install one of the official apps, most of which aren’t even released yet. If you follow the steps in the article and on Android, go to Settings and then Google Settings, you’ll see that the option to opt-in is disabled. State and local governments are responsible for developing the apps, but they can use Google and Apple’s secure platform in order to get them to work. This system is the groundwork that official COVID-19 notification apps can use. The two companies added a setting to enable the use of Google and Apple’s COVID-19 Exposure Notification system. They didn’t sneak a COVID-19 app onto your phone without your consent. ![]() Google and Apple have been working together to build a framework that app developers can use for apps that notify users if they may have been exposed to COVID-19. Google/Apple Didn’t Sneak a COVID-19 Tracking App On Your Phone – They Pushed a Security Setting This immediately tells us that something about this is at least a little bogus, because from a technical standpoint, the sensationalist post misses the mark. First of all, there really isn’t a way to sneak a “sensor” onto a device through a software update unless there is already some hardware in place that does the sensing for the tracking app. There is a little bit of misinformation here. The App can notify you if you’ve been near someone who has been reported having COVID-19. If you are using an iPhone, go under settings, privacy, then health. If you have an Android phone, go under settings, then look for google settings and you will find it installed there. Here is an example of one of the posts that have been making rounds across Facebook:Ī COVID-19 sensor has been secretly installed into every phone.Īpparently, when everyone was having “phone disruption” over the weekend, they were adding COVID-19 Tracker to our phones! ![]() People are worried that their privacy is at risk. We’ve seen a few social media posts over the last week or so claiming that Android and iPhones have been getting a COVID-19 tracking app installed without getting permission from the user first. What is this? Is your phone being tracked with a new tracking app? Let’s take a deeper look at what is going on. In a recent security update, most Android and iOS phones received a new opt-in setting related to the COVID-19 Exposure Notification system.
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