Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google said they will work together to create contact tracing technology that aims to slow the spread of the coronavirus by allowing users to opt into logging other phones they have been near.
"With Apple and Google, you get all the public health functions you need with a decentralised and privacy-friendly app," said Michael Veale, University College London legal lecturer involved in European contact tracing system DP3T. Under the plan, users' phones with the technology will emit unique Bluetooth signals. Phones within about six feet can record anonymous information about encounters.
Apple and Google plan to release software tools in mid-May to contact tracing apps that they and public health authorities approve. Apps including Private Kit and CoEpi, which had contacted Apple and Google for help a month ago, said the new tools would enable them to drop potentially unreliable workarounds.