Ireland Launches COVID-19 App Based on Apple Model

Ireland has launched its COVID-19 tracking app ‘COVID Tracker Ireland’ and it’s based on Apple and Google’s private exposure notification API (via The Journal).

COVID Tracker Ireland

Apps based on Apple and Google’s joint effort means that data won’t be stored in a centralized server. Instead, phones will have anonymous ID, and the app will download a list of these IDs every two hours. If someone has been closer than six feet to an infected person for over 15 minutes, they will receive a notification on their phone.

The app has been developed by the HSE and the Department of Health, in collaboration with the Government Chief Information Officer and An Garda Síochána, together with technical partners from the Irish private sector (Expleo, Nearform, Information Security Assurance Services Ltd (ISAS), and EdgeScan) and scientific partners from Science Foundation Ireland.

In June the HSE released documentation of how the app will work. People can voluntarily download the app instead of the government forcing them, but a survey suggested that 82% of Ireland’s population were willing to download it.