Australia's coronavirus tracking app not working properly on iPhones
The Australian government has admitted that its Covidsafe app doesn't work properly on the iPhone because it isn't using Apple's Exposure Notification frameworks, and an update to do so is planned.
The Australian Covidsafe contract tracing app, developed by a company called the Digital Transformation Agency for the Australian Department of Health, has been downloaded by more than 5.1 million Australians. It aims to help slow the transmission of COVID-19 by allowing for Bluetooth-based contact tracing. The app will also allow health officials to see where new outbreaks are happening.
The Australian government now says the app is less effective when run in the background or while an iPhone's screen is locked, according to The Guardian. The app is also less effective on older versions of the iPhone, mostly because of older Bluetooth hardware.
"What we can say is the quality of the Bluetooth connectivity for phones that have the app installed running in the foreground is very good," Randal Brugeaud, the head of Digital Transformation Agency, told the Senate committee overseeing the COVID-19 response. "And it progressively deteriorates and the quality of the connection is not as good as you get to a point where the phone is locked in the app is running in the background."
The Android version of the app appears to be working as intended at present.
The iPhone app received an update on Wednesday to help resolve existing issues, but there is more work to do. The developers are planning to further integrate the Google-Apple framework, which they hope will resolve existing issues once and for all.
Australia also plans to allow the government to hold contact data, rather than purging it shortly after it is acquired, to protect more vulnerable members of society. Rather than getting a notification through the app, Australia will alert users with messages from trained professionals.
The data will be held on Amazon Web Service servers in Australia, provided the user gives consent to share it. By default, the data is only held for 14 days -- the widely accepted time frame that someone is still capable of passing the virus to someone else.
Some have raised concerns, as Amazon is an American company, and are worried that the data could be handed over to the U.S. government under the Cloud Act. Australian government officials could not give a 100% guarantee that U.S. law officials would not access the data, but thought it would be "inconceivable that the situation would happen."
The Australian Covidsafe contract tracing app, developed by a company called the Digital Transformation Agency for the Australian Department of Health, has been downloaded by more than 5.1 million Australians. It aims to help slow the transmission of COVID-19 by allowing for Bluetooth-based contact tracing. The app will also allow health officials to see where new outbreaks are happening.
The Australian government now says the app is less effective when run in the background or while an iPhone's screen is locked, according to The Guardian. The app is also less effective on older versions of the iPhone, mostly because of older Bluetooth hardware.
"What we can say is the quality of the Bluetooth connectivity for phones that have the app installed running in the foreground is very good," Randal Brugeaud, the head of Digital Transformation Agency, told the Senate committee overseeing the COVID-19 response. "And it progressively deteriorates and the quality of the connection is not as good as you get to a point where the phone is locked in the app is running in the background."
The Android version of the app appears to be working as intended at present.
The iPhone app received an update on Wednesday to help resolve existing issues, but there is more work to do. The developers are planning to further integrate the Google-Apple framework, which they hope will resolve existing issues once and for all.
Australia also plans to allow the government to hold contact data, rather than purging it shortly after it is acquired, to protect more vulnerable members of society. Rather than getting a notification through the app, Australia will alert users with messages from trained professionals.
The data will be held on Amazon Web Service servers in Australia, provided the user gives consent to share it. By default, the data is only held for 14 days -- the widely accepted time frame that someone is still capable of passing the virus to someone else.
Some have raised concerns, as Amazon is an American company, and are worried that the data could be handed over to the U.S. government under the Cloud Act. Australian government officials could not give a 100% guarantee that U.S. law officials would not access the data, but thought it would be "inconceivable that the situation would happen."
Comments
I don’t buy the privacy and security promises made by the government. These apps will be used to track and monitor the whereabouts of individuals. The temptation is too great for the government to resist. You are headed to your local Home Depot when your phone issues a warning that you are not allowed to enter the store because of your status (age, health, lack of antibodies, number of untested people already in the store, etc.) Am I being paranoid? Probably not when you consider the government’s history of obfuscation and denials.
this sort of scope creep is why you would have to be stupid to think this a good idea. It isn’t even up and running properly and it’s use us already undergoing a minor extension. It is what government naturally wants to do, and must always be prevented from having the means.
I won’t be downloading the app.
They subcontracted a local developer to build at least one of the Apps for DTA (and the figure quoted is way too high for just the DTA's Coronavirus App, which would have been 1-2 people over a weekend at best). The COVIDSafe app is more complex than that, but 1.85 M seems way too high for just front end development of 2 simple apps, so there must be more to it than that.
https://www.crn.com.au/news/canberras-delv-awarded-185-million-for-developing-covid-19-app-546593
Delv are a small-ish solution integrator who do things like manage MDMs and do development work for agencies. They aren't exclusively Apple, but have been doing stuff pretty well on Apple platforms for a long time.
I'd also note the holding of contact data was covered in detail here:
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/covidsafe-application-privacy-impact-assessment
And there's fairly harsh legislation about discrimination associated with and unauthorised use of the App's data that has been put before parliament.
I'm not exactly a superfan of the current government, but given how governments work, they've done a pretty good job here under time pressure, and the efforts to do the right kind of things really appear to be there (they are just in tension with the "be seen to be doing something" and "hey we are government so we'll just do things the hard way" factors)