Apple, Google Join Forces to Build COVID-19 Contact Tracing Tech

Apple and Google are today announcing a major partnership. Two of the world’s largest tech companies are joining forces to build a new contact tracing technology for the COVID-19 outbreak.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the partnership today. The aim of the partnership is to build a new contact tracing tech that will make use of Bluetooth to help reduce the spread of the virus, with privacy and security in mind.

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The companies will be working on a “comprehensive” solution that will include APIs and OS-level integration that will enable contact tracing via Bluetooth. The solution will be rolled out in two different phases.

In May, Apple and Google will release APIs to enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices. The APIs, which can be used by public health authority apps, will allow devices to broadcast anonymous identifiers to devices that a person meets. This way, if a user tests positive for COVID-19 on an app from a public health authority, the people that they meet will be notified via these new APIs used by the apps.

Later in the year, Apple and Google will enable much deeper, OS-level integration. The companies plan on building a Bluetooth Low Energy-based contract tracing platform to their own operating systems. “This is a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in, as well as enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities,” the companies said in a joint press statement.

The following two images explain how the technology would work:

Apple and Google are pledging to openly publish information about this new technology. The companies have released information on how the APIs would work, as well as the specification for the actual contact tracing technology. All of that can be found here.

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Conversation 18 comments

  • bluvg

    10 April, 2020 - 2:05 pm

    <p>"Congratulations! You've been infected! A blue van is on the way to your location."</p>

  • jbinaz

    10 April, 2020 - 2:16 pm

    <p>Hell no!</p>

  • ronh

    Premium Member
    10 April, 2020 - 2:29 pm

    <p>What could go wrong with this?</p>

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    10 April, 2020 - 3:55 pm

    <p>Just this morning I was envisioning Apple coming out with some kind of contact tracing solution. I mean, they love to talk about how Apple Watch can save lives; I was just imagining the commercial where they talk about how Apple devices can keep you safe from COVID-19. Talk about a compelling reason to switch to iOS! What I never imagined was a joint effort from Apple and Google to tackle this. Good job.</p>

  • soundersfan

    Premium Member
    10 April, 2020 - 6:26 pm

    <p>The conspiracy theorist heads are going to explode with news of this.</p><p><br></p>

    • jbinaz

      10 April, 2020 - 7:04 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#537894">In reply to SoundersFan:</a></em></blockquote><p>You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to think this is a little creepy. </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      11 April, 2020 - 8:12 am

      For sure.

  • red.radar

    Premium Member
    10 April, 2020 - 7:27 pm

    <p>Bluetooth…..off (check) </p><p><br></p><p>but let’s be honest… this is just repurposing ad beacon and tracing technology they have been using against us for years. </p><p><br></p>

  • IanYates82

    Premium Member
    10 April, 2020 - 8:39 pm

    <p>Ignoring the slippery slope arguments. Ignoring general creep factor. Others have addressed these for and against… </p><p><br></p><p>For this to work well you need a decent chunk of people – maybe over 80% – actively using it. </p><p><br></p><p>Unless this is ported to old devices, and the apps are mandated, and you have Bluetooth on, etc, I don't see how this can work well enough. </p><p>At best it helps a little, at worst it's relied on too much and presents a false impression of success. </p>

  • jdawgnoonan

    10 April, 2020 - 11:47 pm

    <p>I would rather get the virus and be sick for a week or two than have this crap. </p>

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      11 April, 2020 - 1:46 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#537980">In reply to jdawgnoonan:</a></em></blockquote><p>I can understand that. What if instead the alternative is you and/or your loved ones suffering a miserable, premature death?</p><p><br></p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      11 April, 2020 - 8:04 am

      Dude. Come on. Dear God.

    • jchampeau

      Premium Member
      11 April, 2020 - 1:35 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#537980">In reply to jdawgnoonan:</a></em></blockquote><p>But would you rather get the virus, be sick for a week or two yourself and recover, but also pass it onto a loved one who then dies from it? This is about you.</p>

  • jgraebner

    Premium Member
    11 April, 2020 - 1:45 am

    <p>I genuinely get the concerns about this solution. It absolutely is very concerning from a privacy standpoint and is full of potential for abuse, but I also am not sure what the alternative is, short of a vaccine or highly-effective treatment materializing much sooner than expected.</p><p><br></p><p>For those that are saying "no way", what do you propose as an alternative? We certainly can't go on with most commerce and social interactive shut down indefinitely while the most likely results of just opening everything up blindly are basically unthinkable.</p>

  • waethorn

    11 April, 2020 - 2:07 am

    <p>This is why I got rid of my smartphone a couple years ago. </p><p><br></p><p>Any technology labelled with the "smart" prefix intentionally has no security or privacy. They are silly little gilded cages in which you put your life, to which Big Tech can spy on you through the bars. Do yourself a favour and get rid of it.</p>

  • waethorn

    11 April, 2020 - 2:33 am

    <p>I'd love to see what a hacker will do with this software.</p>

  • karlinhigh

    Premium Member
    11 April, 2020 - 9:59 am

    <p>I gather South Korea has a contact tracing system of some sort? I wonder how it compares with this idea.</p>

  • jgraebner

    Premium Member
    13 April, 2020 - 12:59 am

    <blockquote><em><a href="#538090">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, there are trials going on, but it is unlikely any vaccine will be widely available until some time in 2021. Contact tracing is by far the most likely way to re-open the economy without causing a massive resurgence. </p>

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