Apple and Google team up to track the spread of the epidemic using iPhone and Android apps

Apple and Google announced a partnership on Friday that will see the two companies work together to provide tools to help track the spread of the coronavirus.

Apple said the two companies will launch developer tools (APIs) in May to "enable public health apps to interoperate between Android and iOS devices." The apps will be available in the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.

Experts have begun calling on the private sector to track the spread of the coronavirus using so-called syndromic surveillance, a technique that can be used to track epidemics. Technology companies are particularly well-positioned because most people have phones that can be installed with apps and because government funding for syndromic surveillance has dried up.

“Google and Apple are working together to enable the use of Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus, with user privacy and security at the heart of the design,” said a press release announcing the partnership.

Bluetooth technology can typically track the location of a phone using smaller Bluetooth beacons that can provide a more accurate location than cellular signals or GPS. Apple and Google's tools will allow app makers to use Bluetooth technology to let people know when they have come into contact with a confirmed patient, a process called contact tracing.

Both Android and iOS devices allow users to choose which apps have access to Bluetooth tracking locations and can turn off tracking freely. It is not clear whether these apps will track personal locations or just track whether a confirmed patient has come into contact with other people.

"In the coming months, Apple and Google will enable a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platform," Apple said in a press release.

It is worth noting that this method is "opt-in" tracking, which means that users must agree to be tracked if they participate. "Contact tracing" allows health officials to monitor the spread of the virus by seeing who has been in close contact with an infected person.

Such apps are already being used in other countries such as Singapore, where phones equipped with contact tracing apps record contacts between people and store the data for 21 days. In Singapore, Bluetooth signals record when people are near each other, but the location of the app user is not collected.

“Privacy, transparency, and informed consent are paramount in this work, and we look forward to building this functionality in consultation with interested stakeholders,” the companies said. “We will publicly release information about our work for others to analyze.”