'A powerful tool': How does the new Covid-19 contact tracing app work?

A screenshot of the Covid-19 contact-tracing app. A screenshot of the Covid-19 contact-tracing app. THE LONG-PROMISED Covid-19 contact tracing app has launched – it’s live, downloadable and apparently ready to help the health authorities tackle the spread of the virus.

When you download it, the app will ask for permission to collect and share anonymous data in order to facilitate contact tracing, while it will also ask for your phone number – although you don’t have to give it. The app isn’t just for contact-tracing. People can also track their own symptoms and share that information with the HSE.

If you tell the app that you don’t have any symptoms, it encourages you to come back the next day to keep the data up to date.Experts have stressed that these apps only succeed if there is significant take-up. In Europe, Germany’s app has proved largely successful – with more than 14 million downloads. But with a population of 83 million people, that’s a relatively small proportion of the country with the app on their phones.

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