Apple and Google are joining forces in a bid to develop technology where smartphones can warn users that they may potentially be exposed to coronavirus.
The rival companies are opening up their mobile operating systems so both iPhone and Android devices can run contact tracing apps.
These work by using a mobile’s Bluetooth signals to track every other phone its user has come into close contact with.
The implementation has raised concerns over potential beaches of privacy, though the tech giants insist that the data will be anonymous and that ‘privacy, transparency and consent are of utmost importance’.
If a person using the app then tests positive for Covid-19, they can then upload their movements to a public database.
Other users will then be able to anonymously check their own logs against others to see if they’ve potentially been exposed to a carrier of the virus.
If there’s a match, the person will receive a message indicating when and where they might have been exposed, along with guidance as to whether they should just watch for symptoms, seek testing, or self-quarantine.
Contact tracing apps have been used in several other countries outside the US and Europe in an effort to contain the pandemic, including in Singapore and South Korea.