The HSE says over 250,000 people have already downloaded the new COVID Tracker app.
The app, officially launched this morning, informs you if you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
It uses a "bluetooth handshake" to speak to other devices and registers when you have been close to somebody for about 15 minutes.
The COVID Tracker app is now available to download. It will help in the fight against coronavirus. Download the COVID Tracker app here: https://t.co/CUrWQ9QVvj
We’ll protect your privacy, and you’ll help us protect everyone. Stay safe. Protect each other. #COVID19 #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/WVRFOUwAT7
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) July 7, 2020
The Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said “every single person who downloads this app makes Ireland a safer place” and insisted that privacy has been built into it at every point in the process.
“Privacy is at the centre of this entire app,” he said. “What some governments have done is they have created a central database and your phone feeds information into a central database.
“This works the other way around. The information is kept on each individual phone.”
He said the Government has heard the concerns people have about privacy “loud and clear” and “put those concerns right at the heart of the design of this app.”
A mobile phone showing the COVID tracker app which has been released today, 07-07-2020. Image: : Leah Farrell/RollingNewsTech Correspondent Jess Kelly said the app is free to download on both IOS and Android.
“It has been designed to be as data-light as possible,” she said. “They are saying they are not collecting personal information; it is very much used as a notification tool.
“You may see that your location settings are required but that is to enable the Bluetooth to work, rather than tracking where you have been or where you are going.”
