COVIDSafe (Australia)
Earlier this month, Australia began rolling out its COVIDSafe app, which it modelled after Singapore’s TraceTogether, choosing to go its own way rather than join up with Apple’s Exposure Notification APIs.
Like TraceTogether, COVIDSafe uses Bluetooth to handshake between two devices that are running the app, saving details on the encounter such as how long the two devices were in proximity and the relative signal strength (which can be used to loosely determine distance). This data is sent to a government server, where officials use it when a person tests positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, technology experts and privacy advocates in Australia have raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the app and a lack of any response to the privacy concerns that it creates.
However, officials in Australia have already run into problems due to the fact that, like any other app, it really only “works best” (or, frankly, works at all), when he iPhone is unlocked and the app is open int he foreground. As a result, Australia’s Digital Technology Agency (DTA) which is overseeing the project, has said that it’s considering switching to Apple’s approach.