UK to use Apple’s exposure notification API in COVID-19 tracing app after all
The UK is abandoning plans to release the original version of its COVID-19 tracing app that was intended to use a centralised system to determine if a user has been in close proximity with somebody who had tested positive for the virus, instead taking a u-turn and adopting the privacy-focused APIs developed in a join partnership between Apple and Google.
According to the BBC, the UK government is expected to confirm the news within the hour after it emerged last month that developers were ‘investigating’ adopting Apple’s APIs after the launch of the country’s tracing app faced numerous delays.
Unlike the privacy-focused APIs introduced by Apple and Google, the UK’s app was originally developed to send data over the internet to a server, where a it would then be automatically analysed.
The UK will now join the likes of Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Saudi Arabia among others who have committed to using the API.
With the COVID-19 tracing app enabled, users will receive a notification to warn them when they have been in contact with somebody who has later tested positive for COVID-19, encouraging they take the appropriate steps to self isolate and seek medical help if necessary.