It was a partnership that nobody saw coming,
for a virus none of us expected. As Apple and
Google’s historic collaboration sees them
develop contact tracing tech to reduce the
spread of the coronavirus, many are asking
how it will work, and how our privacy will
be respected.
BREAKTHROUGH SOLUTIONS
In these times of global emergency, nothing is
shocking. Not even a joint project between tech
giants Apple and Google, who announced in
April their plans for a Bluetooth-based universal
contact-tracing app that will work across
both iOS and Android operating systems. In
a press release, the two companies confirmed
their intentions to launch the new application
programming interface in May. But rather than
rolling out a global health tracing system, the
firms revealed that health organizations around
the world would need to tap into the new APIs
and launch their own tracing schemes, country-
by-country.
The new API, which will be available for free,
lets governments build and run apps that take
advantage of Bluetooth radios in our phones,
keeping track of whether a smartphone owner
comes into contact with a citizen who later tests
positive for COVID-19. If they do, the user can be
alerted and told to isolate or be tested at their
nearest facility as soon as possible.
This decentralized project comes in two phases,
with the first being an API that health agencies
can tap into for their own apps. The second
phase is a system-level contact tracing product
that works on both operating systems, and for
the time being, it will be opt-in only. It is similar