COVID-19 Exposure Notifications Starts Rolling Out in India: Developed By Apple and Google

Your smartphone already has a coronavirus tracker and it has emerged just one click away from being massively helpful. All Android and iPhone users have a new tool installed as a framework on their smartphone that will allow the user to see if someone with Covid-19 was exposed to them.

The Coronavirus tracker has been turned off on all smartphones by default but if turned on, it could play a massive role in preventing the virus from spreading.

The name of the new tool is “COVID-19 Exposure Notifications”. It is basically a contact tracing system. It’s an add-on that aims to alert people who have been in contact with an infected person.

This is because it is an Application Programming Interface (API) and will work only in combination with a separate contact-tracing app. No Aarogya Setu doesn’t use this API as of now. So, in order to turn on this tool, a separate app is required and as of now in India, there is no such app which uses this API.

COVID-19 Exposure Notifications can’t do anything by itself. A system update may be required to add this feature.

How to check “COVID-19 Exposure Notifications” on your respective smartphones:

The combined project was announced by Apple and Google on April 10. Apple rolled it out with its iOS 13.5 whereas Google added it through Google settings.

Apple iPhone Users:

1. Go to ‘Settings’.
2. Then go to ‘Privacy’.
3. Then go to ‘Health’.

Android Users:

1. Go to ‘Settings’.
2. Then go to ‘Google Settings’.

How COVID-19 Exposure Notifications works:

The tracker operates by sharing random IDs with other users using Bluetooth. This then enables a separate app to notify you if you may have been exposed to COVID-19. These random IDs are automatically deleted after 14 days. But exposure notifications can not view any data in the separate app or connect any data to it.

How to turn on COVID-19 Exposure Notifications:

According to both Google and Apple, users cannot turn on this feature without an authorized app which will be allowed to send exposure notifications. It is basically the operating system framework that will enable an external app to function whenever it is available and when a user wants to use it.

So, keep watching this space if any app uses this API in future, we will update this space.