Apple and Google have added a new feature to their smartphone operating systems to allow health authorities to track contacts to contain the spread of the coronavirus without the need for a dedicated app. On iOS, the operating system of iPhones, the news is available from yesterday thanks to the update to version 13.7, while for Android smartphones it will be necessary to wait for the updates that Google will make available for editions from 6 onwards in the coming weeks.
The new system should simplify the tracking of any coronavirus exposures, but it will not replace existing apps such as Immuni in Italy. Our country was among the first to develop a dedicated application, based on the resources made available by Apple and Google, and will continue to use Immuni to detect and track any exposures: the application will therefore continue to be available on the AppStore and Google Play, and download is recommended by the Ministry of Health and other health institutions.
Last April, in the most critical phase of the pandemic in several countries, Apple and Google announced an unusual and rare collaboration to create a shared contact tracing system capable of making iPhones communicate with each other and Android smartphones. The rather ambitious project was carried out quickly by offering governments tools and resources to build their own applications capable of providing notifications to users in the event of prolonged contact with an infected person (usually more than 15 minutes).
Since then the system – based on Bluetooth and which we had described more extensively here – has made possible the birth of some applications managed nationally by governments, such as Immuni in Italy. However, it is clear that the solution works only if used on an adequate number of smartphones, and it is a problem that apps from different countries do not communicate with each other; not to mention that many governments struggle to develop their own applications based on the system provided by Apple and Google, due to a lack of resources or sufficient infrastructure.
In the United States, these problems have been compounded by the difficulty of achieving good coordination between the various state entities, with the result that just 6 out of 50 states have developed their own contact tracing application. Similar problems have occurred in other federally organized nations, making smartphone contact tracking solutions of little use. it's free and arrives every Thursday at 6pm. To receive it, write your email address here and press the button below. Having read the information, I agree to send the Newsletter Apple and Google have therefore worked on a system update, which allows them to manage the detection of any exposure to the coronavirus without having to produce an application from scratch based on the resources provided by their operating systems. Each user can decide whether or not to activate the tracking function via the iOS operating system or an app developed directly by Google on Android. However, the health authorities of the individual countries will have to provide information on what to do in the event that an exposure is detected, so that these are shown to the users concerned.
The possibility of using the system without having to produce a dedicated application should help to make the solution offered by Apple and Google more widespread, improving the quality of contact tracking and also making it possible to detect exposures between different countries, or states of a same federation as in the case of the United States. And precisely the use of the new update among the Americans should provide some indication in the coming months on the effectiveness of the solution proposed by Apple and Google.
While the basic idea is the same, Apple and Google have chosen slightly different paths due to the differences in their operating systems. In Apple's case, the entire solution is managed directly within iOS and without having to download an application. On Android, however, an intermediate step is envisaged: Google will create, with the permission of the health authorities of the individual countries, an application to be added to your smartphone via the Google Play store to activate the new option.
Yesterday in the US we announced Exposure Notifications Express, a system that makes it easier for health authorities to create a contact tracking app. For countries that already have an app, such as Italy with Immuni, there will be no change.
– Google Italy (@googleitalia) September 2, 2020
The novelty will not affect countries where contact tracking applications are already available, such as Immuni in Italy. Immuni will continue to work as always, will remain free and can be downloaded on iPhones and Android smartphones starting from the App Store for iOS and from Google Play for those who use phones with the Google operating system.
