Coronavirus App

Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 | Last Update : 10:34 PM IST

The app relies on software developed by US technology giants Apple and Google, and in a bid to assuage privacy concerns, holds all the data generated on people’s phones and allows the information to be deleted easily. (Photo | AFP)

Britain's delayed virus app launched in England and Wales, after switching to Google-Apple API

The app uses Bluetooth to alert users if they spend 15 minutes or more within two metres of a user who subsequently tests COVID-19 positive.

24 Sep 2020 10:41 PM

States in the US must choose whether they want to enable the Apple-Google system. If they do, iPhone users in those states will automatically be able to opt into the system without having to download an app. They’ll be prompted with a notification asking if they consent to running the system on their phones. For people with Android phones, Google will automatically generate an Android app for public health agencies that phone users can then download. (Photo | Pixabay - iXimus)

No app, no problem: US users can enable Apple-Google virus tracing tech incorporated into phones

The second phase of their “exposure notification” system automatically alerts people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus.

02 Sep 2020 4:03 PM

The app hopes to get businesses back on their feet without the fear of COVID-19 spreading on their premises on reopening since the lockdown. (Photo | Pixabay - Markus Winkler)

Reopening businesses encouraged to use Aarogya Setu to check health status of staff, other users

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology says only names and health status of consenting users will be shared with employers.

22 Aug 2020 8:44 PM

The law also grant the prime minister authority to give Shin Bet additional powers if required, sparking concerns about undue surveillance. (Photo | Pixabay - Gerd Altmann)

Setting a controversial example, Israeli Parliament permits phone tracking to monitor coronavirus spread

The law grants internal security agency Shin Bet permission to track cell phones for a three-week period on a case-by-case basis.

02 Jul 2020 7:39 PM

“We must be sure that the app and its stated purpose is used for that, (and) not by governments, companies, etc, to find out who you’re talking to, or where you’re going,” United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat Head Chengetai Masango said. (Photo | Pixabay - Gerd Altmann)

Governments, companies should not use COVID apps to find out users' contacts, location: UN body official

United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat Head Chengetai Masango said privacy should be paramount.

29 Jun 2020 8:17 PM

The app framework developed jointly by Google and Apple relies on Bluetooth technology to alert users if they came into contact with a COVID-19 infected person.

After dissing Google-Apple COVID app model, UK now embraces it

Earlier, the UK government had said the privacy controls that the app developed by the tech companies was unsuitable and ineffective.

18 Jun 2020 9:58 PM

The German COVID app’s developers used the coding site Github to let the public look over their shoulder and suggest improvements.

Germans among most privacy conscious, government develops COVID app with public feedback

In Germany, a person’s right to their own data even after death is rooted in the Constitution.

16 Jun 2020 7:04 PM

The app was suspended ahead of an Amnesty International report analyzing contact tracing apps from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which found that the Norwegian app was one of the most alarming for privacy because of its “live or near-live tracking of users’ locations.” The rights group said it shared its findings with authorities earlier this month and urged them to change course.

Privacy violation not justified anymore as case count drops, Norways says, ends use of COVID app

Norway currently has between 50 and 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

15 Jun 2020 9:57 PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his decision to bypass parliament at the time, arguing lives could be lost while lawmakers debated legislation. (Photo | AFP)

Stop using state spy agency to track phones for coronavirus tracing: Israel parliamentary committee

The government had controversially approved Shin Bet’s use of surveillance for the Covid-19 illness as an emergency measure in mid-March.

10 Jun 2020 10:05 PM

The COVID-19 apps also continuously collect and process highly sensitive and personally identifiable information, about health, location and identifiers like name, age, email address and voter or national identification of a user.

In the next James Bond film, 007 should use COVID-19 app data; it works better than any spy tool

Most COVID apps access data from mobile devices such as contacts, photos, media, files, location data, camera and microphone.

09 Jun 2020 4:10 PM

Many governments have already tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to roll out their own phone apps to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those apps have encountered technical problems on Apple and Android phones and haven't been widely adopted. They often use GPS to track people's location, which Apple and Google are banning from their new tool because of privacy and accuracy concerns.

After a long wait, Google and Apple release their joint COVID app technology

It uses Bluetooth technology to detect when someone who downloaded the app has spent time near another app user who later tests positive.

21 May 2020 7:55 PM

In this file photo taken on May 14, 2020 a member of Charles de Gaulle airport personnel wears a protective face mask and visor in Terminal 2 of Charles de Gaulle international airport in Roissy near Paris, as France eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus). (Photo | AFP)

Not willing to let Google, Apple set terms, France building own government-monitored COVID app

France, Britain, Norway say government needs access data to combat virus whereas the tech firms say they are adhering to data privacy norms.

20 May 2020 4:21 PM

A migrant worker carries his child as he walks along the Delhi- Ghaziabad highway to reach his native place, during a nationwide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus, in New Delhi, Thursday, April 30, 2020. Many migrant workers have not been paid for the past two months and therefore may not possess even a feature phone to make the toll-free call to the Aarogya Setu IVRS system. (Photo | PTI)

IVRS facility launched to bring those without smartphones under Aarogya Setu network

The Interactive Voice Response System will collect health data from landline and feature phone users and issue alerts from time to time.

06 May 2020 9:29 PM

People wear face masks as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus as they use a phone app to scan a code required to prove their health and travel status before being allowed to enter a shopping mall in Beijing. The debate on privacy protection while using such apps is especially urgent in Europe, where academics and civil liberties activists are pushing for solutions that protect personal data. Eastern nations are less likely to adhere to privacy protection norms followed in the West. (Photo | AFP)

Location tracking not allowed on apps using Google, Apple APIs but indie app Aarogya Setu does

Aarogya Setu, which runs on its own Application Program Interface or API, is not bound by international privacy protection norms

05 May 2020 8:32 PM

Some 300 leading academics urged governments to dismiss the centralised approach to an app they were backing, saying it risked undermining public trust. They said an approach being developed by Apple and Google, whose operating systems run most of the world’s smartphones, was more privacy friendly. (Photo | AP)

Germany backs Google and Apple's covid app, after privacy concerns raised over alternative app

Backing for a pan-European app that was to keep data on a central server was stopped over criticism from a nation haunted by Nazi-era spying

26 Apr 2020 9:40 PM

Apart from Aarogya Setu, the Centre and state governments are using at least 28 mobile applications to tackle the covid-19 pandemic. (Representative Image | AP)

28 covid apps used by Centre, States not open source, cannot be checked for vulnerabilities

Privacy concerns abound as independent developers cannot study the code

26 Apr 2020 4:40 PM

Most MPs are in lockdown, though about 75 of them are expected to appear in person for the debates beginning next Tuesday. In this photograph, people wearing face masks stand on the empty Trocadero esplanade in Paris, on April 20, 2020, on the 35th day of a lockdown. (Photo | AFP)

Amid data privacy concerns, French lawmakers to vote on continued use of covid-tracking app

Now that the government is preparing to life the coronavirus lockdown, lawmakers will vote on allowing the app to continue tracking citizens

21 Apr 2020 7:04 PM

Surveyors will ask questions about travel and contact history, flu-like symptoms and shortness of breath, and enter the data into the Assess Koro Na app.

Use Assess Koro Na app for door-to-door survey in containment zones, Delhi district magistrates told

With this app, the data collected can be uploaded on the servers in real-time and analysed immediately.

17 Apr 2020 7:44 PM

If you download the Aarogya Setu app, your phone will take note of your location every 15 minutes and only share the information with the Government server if you test positive.

Should you download Aarogya Setu?

Yes. Its updated privacy policy is a marked improvement on the previous one. But the app needs an end date so it does not set a new normal.

17 Apr 2020 12:49 PM

The Aarogya Setu app alerts people if any person in their vicinity has tested positive for COVID-19. (Photo | AFP)

India's Aarogya Setu reaches 5 crore downloads in record 13 days, says Niti Aayog CEO

The more people install the coronavirus tracing app on their phones, the more effective it becomes

15 Apr 2020 9:03 PM

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Columns

Sanjeev Ahluwalia

coronavirus app