Google-Apple gets green light to deploy their COVID Exposure App in their home-town

Due to the ongoing pandemic, our dependency on tech devices has increased tremendously. With all this, it is not a secret that we depend on our devices even when monitoring…

By Nivedita Bangari

December 8, 2020

2 min read

Comments

Due to the ongoing pandemic, our dependency on tech devices has increased tremendously. With all this, it is not a secret that we depend on our devices even when monitoring our health. A few weeks back, we heard that Google and Apple collaborated to produce the COVID contact tracing app.

According to sources, after testing the feature on University campuses, the tech giants are finally ready to launch the service in their home-town of California. The app will reportedly go live on December 10^th. Initially, the app was launched in Virginia in August, so we can say that it took Google and Apple quite some time to release the tech in their neighborhood.

As we work together to fight the rise in cases in California, exposure notifications will help slow the spread of COVID-19 and put our neighbors’ health first. Thank you @GavinNewsom & @Google for helping bring CA Notify to Californians while putting privacy at the very center. https://t.co/LbsBQn6zCD
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) December 7, 2020

The developers had added the contact tracing API to iOS and Android back in May. And the app is built around to utilize the API. The service’s minimum requirements are that it requires an iPhone with iOS 14.2 or a phone running Android 6.0 or above with Bluetooth Low Energy. The app’s working is simple; the user’s phone will automatically exchange a private key with another phone if they’re within Bluetooth range.

California is facing one of its biggest challenges yet in its fight against COVID-19. CA Notify with the exposure notification technology we developed with @Apple will be a helpful tool as we work together to slow the spread. Thank you @GavinNewsom for your leadership. https://t.co/mnAJBdL1bb
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) December 7, 2020

A gentle reminder the key doesn’t contain the location or personal information of the user. If a person is positive, they can send a notification to every other person using the app. Then the app notifies every user of the app around the sender. It merely means that you have been exposed to the tested positive person, and you should get tested and quarantined.

As mentioned above, California’s state will get the CA Notify app from December 10^th, and the citizens can download it from Google Play Store. For iOS users, however, there is a guide provided by the California state administration. Users have to go to the Settings app then to Exposure Notifications. They then have to tap “Turn on Exposure Notifications,” they will then select California as the region and turn on the tracing.

Source