Apple and Google partner to create contact tracing technology amidst COVID-19

Take a look at how Apple and Google are partnering up to fight against COVID-19.

The Covid-19 pandemic has completely changed our lives. The novel coronavirus is a pandemic and can infect people without them even knowing. Yes, some of them don’t even show symptoms. Governments all over the world are worried and are trying their best to develop or evaluate software meant to improve the normally labor-intensive process of contact tracing. The process is quite tedious, wherein health officials have to go to
recent contacts of an infected person and ask them to self-quarantine or get tested.

BREAKING: Apple and Google have set up a program that allows a person's phone to tell them if they've come into contact with someone who has Covid-19. https://t.co/pJyfv584ae

— Bloomberg (@business) April 10, 2020

BREAKING: New infrastructure for contract tracing is coming to our phones using Bluetooth.

Strong privacy protections— but I hope EVERYONE opts in for one another. This is time to pull together in new ways.

Thank you to @Apple & @Google https://t.co/kZ9Lv8TNT1

— Andy Slavitt @ ? (@ASlavitt) April 10, 2020

This might change, because Apple Inc and Google will work together to create a contact tracing technology that can slow the spread of the coronavirus, just by allowing users to opt into a system that traces other phones they have been in proximity with.

Apple and Google unveiled a rare partnership to add technology to their smartphones that will alert users if they’ve come into contact with a person with Covid-19. People must opt in, but it has the potential to monitor about 1/3 of the world’s population https://t.co/Lte5vGthts

— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) April 10, 2020

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New: Apple and Google are teaming up to build a Bluetooth contact-tracing system that could "slow the spread of COVID-19 and accelerate the return of everyday life." Huge, cool, super interesting - but will it work? https://t.co/krISS4FEA8

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) April 10, 2020

This technology will allow mobile devices to trade information via Bluetooth connections and will alert people when they have been in close proximity with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

According to reports, the technology will be first available in mid-May. Besides, Apple and Google also plan to build the tracking technology directly into their operating systems in the coming months, so that users do not have to download any apps on their phone.

Apple, Google unveil partnership to add technology to their smartphone platforms that will alert users if they have come into contact with a person with Covid-19 https://t.co/P7vPSWRB1R

— Bloomberg (@business) April 10, 2020

To help public health officials slow the spread of #COVID19, Google & @Apple are working on a contact tracing approach designed with strong controls and protections for user privacy. @tim_cook and I are committed to working together on these efforts.https://t.co/T0j88YBcFu

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 10, 2020

Some people have privacy concerns, but both the companies have clarified that the technology will not track the location or identity of users, but instead will only capture data about when users' phones have been near each other.

Apple and Google are building a smartphone tool that would rely on Bluetooth signals to notify users when they've come into contact with someone who has COVID-19. https://t.co/VWJh4ncT83

— NPR (@NPR) April 11, 2020

This might just be the game-changer in the control of COVID-19. We are only waiting and watching!