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MSuddenly it was there on Wednesday night: the “Covid-19 Exposure Notice.” Under this name, the application announced by Google and Apple appeared for the first time, with the intention of informing users when they have had contact with a person infected with Corona.
By downloading the beta version of Apple’s iOS 13.5 operating system, you can already flip the switch to green to prepare your smartphone to fight coronavirus chain infections. But nothing else.
Because with the application now published, only the technical substructure has been activated in the Apple and Google operating systems. So far, the new app has not worked for smartphone owners. But it is a big step for developers of real warning applications: with “Exposure Notification” they now have the technical basis on which to program warning applications.
In mid-May, Google and Apple want to release updates for all smartphone users. The tracking technology is then automatically transferred to the smartphone. Users have yet to agree, participation is voluntary.
Google and Apple had only announced in early April that they would like to activate their smartphones for anonymous tracking of contacts via Bluetooth; The fact that they can already deliver the first beta software is due to a cooperation with European researchers and developers: the “Exposure notification” is based on the DP3T project, which was developed by researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the Polytechnic University of Lausanne, the Universities of Leuven and Delft and the German Institute Fraunhofer Cispa.
A counterweight to Google and Apple
Apple and Google have not only embraced the mere DP3T concept of decentralized encrypted contact list storage on the research initiative’s smartphone, but are also currently in a joint development process, according to information from Fraunhofer Cispa.
When the two tech giants successfully integrated the new interface into their phones, it was time for app developers. In Germany, the SAP software company and the Telekom subsidiary T-Systems have taken on this task.
The two groups claim to do this in the most transparent way possible. Both have already announced that their programming work will be openly accessible. This allows other programmers and data protection officers to verify whether the software is secure and whether the data protection requirements are met.
The German government is said to have selected the two German tech giants to counter negotiations with Apple and Google. At an unscheduled Bundestag digital committee meeting, State Minister Dorothee Bär is said to have said the capabilities of the two companies are important, for example to be able to offer help to users with technical problems.
To what extent will there be negotiations between German companies and US tech giants Apple and Google, the Minister of State was unable to respond.
But you can hear from the two groups that there is nothing to negotiate: the interface modeled in DP3T has already been determined. If you want to bring your warning app to users’ smartphones, you must use the technology that Apple and Google specify.
The user interface is already finished
However, there is still room for maneuver for developers: Google and Apple, for example, do not determine when an epidemiologically relevant contact has been established, which is left to the RKI in Germany, for example.
People are currently supposed to be at least two meters away for several minutes to become infected. Application developers can also define additional functions in the application independently of Google and Apple.
For example, an option is also conceivable to release private data to better track the spread of the corona virus.
The “Healthy Together” initiative, which has brought together German and European startups, shows what a comprehensive warning app could be like for German users. They have been developing the “Eins” app since mid-March, which they say has been largely completed since early April.
The initiative went to the Federal Ministry of Health “very early”. Over time, according to their own statements, they had found a good exchange with the ministry.
Risk assessment including recommendation
However: This app also cannot help smartphone users know if they have been in contact with Corona. The “one” application is just the so-called front end, that is, the user interface.
This includes all the elements that the user of an application can see, that is, color design, images and graphics, but also the operational concept. At best, the interface is designed so that the application is self-explanatory and smartphone users understand quickly and unequivocally what the application offers and how it can be used.
In a video on the “Eins” app, for example, users are asked what their “Covid 19 status” is, that is, whether they have tested positive or negative or possibly already recovered.
Consequently, users should also be able to indicate symptoms. Also, the app should of course determine if the owner of the smartphone was close to an infected person.
Based on all this information, a risk assessment should be determined that includes a recommendation on what to do. Application developers also want to make it possible to book an appointment for the Corona test directly through the application.
SAP and T-Systems have to supply mid-level construction
The startup initiative that developed the app also includes Alexander Ingelheim, Managing Director of Datenschutzexperte.de. “The technology behind this and data protection are very important,” says Ingelheim. The application must also convince in terms of design and usability, “otherwise people will not download or use it.”
It is unclear if and when German smartphone owners can install the “Eins” app. A possible superstructure would end that. Apple and Google introduced the substructure. It is now up to German tech companies SAP and T-Systems to bring the midsize unit to market maturity. And best of all before the German solution becomes obsolete.
In the long term, users could even survive without a national app: Google and Apple have announced a “phase two” for their “Exposure Notification” system. Then the contact lists should no longer be saved through the application, but depending on the operating system.
Users no longer have to install any additional programs to participate in the project. However, this would also reduce the influence of national institutes. Corporations remain vague about when this second phase should arrive: the project documentation only says: “in a few months.”
