Apple and Google reveal what their coronavirus contact tracking app will look like | Technology



[ad_1]

Apple and Google This Monday they showed for the first time images of what the future applications that governments around the world create for their cell phone operating systems as track contacts social and coping with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The two companies, which last week opened their technology to certain software developers, published this day a series of images in which it can be seen, on the screen of a mobile phone, what the tools will look like when the user opens them, when they notify you that you have been in contact with someone infected or when they test positive for the new coronavirus.

The technology giants also took advantage of remembering some of the guides that developers should follow, such as how applications they will not be able to access any type of geolocation, which must be created by organizations linked to governments and that must request permission from the user to send or receive notifications.

The firms surprised in early April with a unprecedented alliance in a highly competitive environment in the technology industry by revealing that they were working together on a project to use people mobility data in the fight against the pandemic.

appleesfera.com
appleesfera.com

The idea is to take advantage of the ubiquity of mobile operating systems Apple with iOS and Google with Android to collect and make available to health authorities around the world data on mobility and contacts between individuals to better monitor and predict SARS-CoV-2 infections.

It is an approach that It has already been carried out in Asian countries such as China and South Korea., but that raises serious doubts about the privacy of user information, something that Apple and Google say they have been able to mitigate through the use of Bluetooth (a less invasive technology than, for example, geolocation) and character ” volunteer ”of the programs.

The alliance between the owners of the two most present mobile operating systems in the world should begin to materialize in mid-May, when they launch an application programming interface (API) compatible with both Android and iOS.

APIs are the framework within which computer systems operate and historically those of Android and iOS have been incompatible with each other, which, de facto, made it very difficult and even prevented in some cases the correct communication between both systems.

The new API, however, will allow seamless communication between Android and iOS with the idea that the official applications created by the different health authorities can be downloaded on both iOS and Android and the information they collect can be added regardless of what the “language” is of each device.

Thus, if a person comes into contact with another who has tested positive or who has tested positive for coronavirus after the interaction, they can receive a notice on their phone and undergo a quarantine to determine if infection has occurred.



[ad_2]