- Google, Apple to Develop COVID-19 Alert Mobile App
The world’s largest mobile operating systems, Google and Apple, on Friday unveiled a joint initiative to create a coronavirus alert mobile application.
This means app to be developed would allow smartphones powered by Apple software and Google-backed Android operating systems to exchange information with a joint ‘opt-in system’ using Bluetooth wireless technology.
Next month, the two tech giants plan to release a software interface technology that allows interoperability — therefore, an alert would work regardless of the operating system.
“All of us at Apple and Google believe there has never been a more important moment to work together to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems,” the companies said in a joint statement.
Contact tracing collaboration becomes imperative after more than 500,000 Americans contracted the deadly virus with over 14,600 deaths, according to available data.
However, experts are worried that the privacy of users remains an issue as both Google and Apple control 100 percent of mobile data.
Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, said: “You put these two companies’ ecosystems together and you have literally 100 percent of mobile data.”
Apple CEO, Tim Cook, however, tweeted in response that “Contact tracing can help slow the spread of COVID-19 and can be done without compromising user privacy.”
“No contact tracing app can be fully effective until there is widespread, free, and quick testing and equitable access to healthcare. These systems also can’t be effective if people don’t trust them,” said Jennifer Granick of the American Civil Liberties Union in a statement.
“People will only trust these systems if they protect privacy, remain voluntary, and store data on an individual’s device, not a centralized repository.”
