COVID-19 Contact tracing app

thomas

Unswerving cyclist

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14 Mar 2002

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• 22 Jun 2020

• #1

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.

Contact-tracing app set to debut in Japan this week

Slow decision-making missed window of urgency following end of lockdown

asia.nikkei.com

Japan rolls out Microsoft-developed COVID-19 contact tracing app

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

‎COCOA - COVID-19 Contact App

‎The service of Contact-Confirming Application COCOA will be discontinued. Please update to the lastest version of this app and start the procedure to end the service. Regarding Service Discontinuance, please refer to the below URL. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/cocoa_00138.html…

apps.apple.com

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.

 

thomas

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14 Mar 2002

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• 23 Jun 2020

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• #2

So has no one downloaded the app? I'm dying to test it out, but my hardware is simply too old.

 

Davey

先輩

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5 Feb 2005

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• 23 Jun 2020

• #3

Would love to try but got an android

 

nahadef

Quietly exploding

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• 23 Jun 2020

• #4

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.

 

O

okinawaholic

Sempai

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19 Aug 2019

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• 24 Jun 2020

• #5

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).")

 

thomas

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• 24 Jun 2020

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• #6

Yes, I do understand the privacy concerns. My focus was more on functionality.

Downloads are also available for Android. More info here:

新型コロナウイルス接触確認アプリ（COCOA) COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application

新型コロナウイルス接触確認アプリ（COCOA) COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Applicationを掲載しています。

www.mhlw.go.jp

 

nahadef

Quietly exploding

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• 24 Jun 2020

• #7

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.

 

mdchachi

Moderator

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6 Mar 2003

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• 25 Jun 2020

• #8

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

Unswerving cyclist

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14 Mar 2002

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• 8 Jul 2020

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• #9

mdchachi said:

thomas, what kind of smartphone are you using??

Click to expand...

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.

接触確認アプリ 感染者からの登録 3人にとどまる 新型コロナ | NHKニュース

【NHK】新型コロナウイルスに感染した人と濃厚接触した疑いがある場合に通知を受けられる「接触確認アプリ」について、通知に必要な感染…

www3.nhk.or.jp