Apple and Google have revealed more information on how their new collaborative Bluetooth-run contact tracing initiative will work in the fight against COVID-19. The API that the companies are developing aims to overcome contact-tracing technology’s biggest issues, the lack of interoperability. The companies stressed that they are building this functionality into the API at the device level in Phase 1, which is currently underway.
Users download the app and opt-in for contact tracking to work using Bluetooth Low Energy. This means that each smartphone with the app downloaded spots when another phone is near to it and exchanges anonymous identifier beacons that are later used to analyze whether someone has come into contact with an infected individual. If someone using the app later tests positive for the virus, they can chose to release their information, notifying other individuals who have come into contact with them over the past two weeks.
Read More: COVID-19: Google And Apple Reveal More Intriguing Details Of Contact-Tracing
