Apple and Google have announced a partnership aimed at helping authorities and health authorities reduce the spread of COVID-19. For this, companies will develop a solution based on Bluetooth technology that allows you to track user contacts.
Because COVID-19 is transmitted through close contact with infected individuals, contact tracing is a valuable tool in controlling the spread of coronavirus.
A number of leading universities and non-profit organizations have done important work to develop contact tracking technology. Continuing this work, Apple and Google will launch a new solution that includes a number of APIs and technology at the operating system level.
The new solution will allow owners of smartphones based on iOS and Android to receive signals through a special application that they had contact with patients with COVID-19 and should be quarantined.
This technology is planned to be implemented in two stages, while ensuring reliable protection of user privacy.
So, in May 2020, both companies will release APIs that will ensure the interaction between iOS and Android devices using applications from health authorities. These applications will be available to users on the Google Play and App Store.
In the coming months, Apple and Google will also be working on introducing a more extensive platform for tracking contacts based on Bluetooth by integrating this functionality into base platforms.
This is a more reliable solution than the API, which will allow more people to take part in the project, and will also make it possible to interact with a wider ecosystem of applications from health authorities.
For the success of the project, it is necessary that a large number of smartphone owners voluntarily download the relevant applications, and that the project is supported by the governments of individual countries and health authorities.
