CindyLouWho
Senior Member
- Location
- USA
Yep, just noticed the new Covid-19 Tracing Tool on my Google (Android) phone, under the services and preferences section of the Settings menu.
Did you see it on your iPhone or Android yet?
There is a misconception out there that the creators (Apple & Google) have been downloading this "app" on users phones without their knowledge. Actually, that's not true, this is just a tool on your phone.
To use it, you would need to download an app from your government public health authority. Turn on your Bluetooth. Turn on your location setting. It will not be mandatory to download this app.
Apparently, these apps logs don't use any identifying information about you. They use randon numerical ID codes that change frequently and get deleted completed once they are older than 14 days, which is the Covid-19 incubation period.
The apps will be able to log the length of time you have been in contact with each person ( each individual phone), how far away you were, using the Bluetooth signal. If you are just briefly passing by someone, it will it will not register that.
If you report yourself positive for Covid-19, the app will send that record of your rotating IDs to a server, which in turn will send them out to other devices using the system. Anyone who has been nearby in the last two weeks will be pinged with an alert.
Apple and Google have an intention of creating a system which operates without downloading an app, but they are not there yet.
Did you see it on your iPhone or Android yet?
There is a misconception out there that the creators (Apple & Google) have been downloading this "app" on users phones without their knowledge. Actually, that's not true, this is just a tool on your phone.
To use it, you would need to download an app from your government public health authority. Turn on your Bluetooth. Turn on your location setting. It will not be mandatory to download this app.
Apparently, these apps logs don't use any identifying information about you. They use randon numerical ID codes that change frequently and get deleted completed once they are older than 14 days, which is the Covid-19 incubation period.
The apps will be able to log the length of time you have been in contact with each person ( each individual phone), how far away you were, using the Bluetooth signal. If you are just briefly passing by someone, it will it will not register that.
If you report yourself positive for Covid-19, the app will send that record of your rotating IDs to a server, which in turn will send them out to other devices using the system. Anyone who has been nearby in the last two weeks will be pinged with an alert.
Apple and Google have an intention of creating a system which operates without downloading an app, but they are not there yet.
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