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COVID-19 Contact tracing app

thomas

Unswerving cyclist
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14 Mar 2002
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Last Friday, the Japanese government released a coronavirus contact tracing app for iOS and Android. The app relies on Apple and Google's co-developed exposure notification platform, using Bluetooth to help determine whether users have come into close contact with others who have tested positive for COVID-19.



The iOS version of the app can be downloaded from here:


Has anyone tried it out yet? Unfortunately, the app requires iOS 13.5, my old iPhone 6 runs on 12.4.7. And it doesn't seem to work on iPadOS which is in fact running on 13.5.
 
So has no one downloaded the app? I'm dying to test it out, but my hardware is simply too old.
 
I installed it. I've already heard some gripes about doubts about its effectiveness, then others griping about potential abuse...

And I'm fine with it. It's minimal effort, and I can uninstall it in a few months. And if it helps anyone, it's worth the risk.

I wonder how well it's been publicized though. I heard about it in multiple places in English, but many Japanese-onlyfolks hadn't heard.
 
I'm seeing that it's in Android and iOS itself that logs, via bluetooth, who you come in contact with, for how long and the distance from them.

No. Thank. You.

Not that I have anything to hide, but even though it's "anonymized" data linked to a device registered to a cellphone company... the contract tracing of that just gives me the heebie jeebies pondering how society is headed (think 20 years down the line with cancel culture—"You spent 3 minutes with John Doe?! You could never be X (or you're fired).")
 
Okinawaholic's point is the kind of thing I have to call out. It's not far off from Americans currently losing their minds over a face mask. "Think where this is headed! Next year they'll force you to wear a burka! Tyranny!"

This is a (hopefully) once in a lifetime pandemic. It takes some work on the population's part to stamp it out. Again, you can delete the app in a few months. It's not going to infect your phone with a contact tracing program forever. You just press a button and it deletes it. In the meantime, if you come in contact with corona, it would let you know ASAP, and hopefully prevent you from passing it on to anyone else if you develop it yourself.

Sometimes, in an emergency, you buckle down and do stuff you normally wouldn't. And as I first wrote, this is minimal effort.
 
The app's efficacy is debatable. As I understand it, it only tracks contacts when you're within one meter distance for over 15 minutes. But if I were in Japan I'd probably try it.
thomas, what kind of smartphone are you using??
 
thomas, what kind of smartphone are you using??

Sorry for my late reply! I'm using a first-generation iPhone 6 Plus.

It appears that after more than 6 million downloads only three people infected with the coronavirus have registered with the Ministry of Health. The app records data when users are in close contact (one metre) for more than 15 minutes. When a user was in close contact with someone confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus they will be automatically notified. Well, at least that's the theory.

 
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