Information stored on COVIDSafe app not accessible until Friday

It’s been dubbed our ticket out of lockdown with close to five million Aussies downloading it – but there are still a few flaws with the COVIDSafe app. 

It’s been dubbed our ticket out of lockdown time and time again but there’s still a few flaws with the COVIDSafe app.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said mass uptake of the app was needed before the government considered easing lockdowns and Australians embracing COVIDSafe is one of the final four conditions listed by health authorities as a necessity before we can return to an unrestricted life.

In a statement to news.com.au, the Department of Health said the final snag it was hoping to finalise by Friday related to the privacy of the app.

“The COVIDSafe app is working and operational,” a spokesman said.

“For the more than four million people who have downloaded it, the close contacts will be encrypted and stored on the phone now. We have made a commitment that privacy will be paramount and that information will not be released until the protocols with the states and territories on access to that information are finalised.

“That is under way and will be completed ahead of Friday when National Cabinet makes its key decisions on easing restrictions.”

The new COVIDSafe app was released in late April. Picture: Saeed Khan/AFP

Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the COVIDSafe app in a press conference this afternoon, telling reporters, “Let’s not forget the first job of the COVIDSafe app is to keep you safe.

“(App downloads) will pass five million today and with a targeted population of 16 million, that puts us at a third of that,” he said.

“We would like to see a bit more … its most important job is to keep you safe, every single Australian that downloads it, it keeps them safe, if you have come into contact with someone who also has the app who has been infected by COVID-19, you will know and people will get in touch with you so they can tell you you have been officially compromised by the virus and then you can make decisions to make sure you protect your other family members and those in your household.”

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd addressed the delay in the app’s functionality over the weekend.

“(The app) has been implemented very quickly,” he told reporters on Saturday.

“What we’re doing is making sure that the operations are going to work appropriately and safely, but also (making) sure that the people in the contact-tracing facilities in the states and territories are trained on how to use the app, and how to use it appropriately.”

Prof Kidd said the app was still performing important tracing and would be completely functional by next week.

“That facility is still to go live, that will be happening during the current week, but the important thing is that if people have downloaded the app and they have it running in the background on their phone, it's already gathering details of people you've been in close contact with,” he said.

“There's a delay from now until when the contact tracer in the state or territory where you are based has activated the system.”

Minister for Health Greg Hunt unveils the COVIDSafe app. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Tech experts examining the tracing app also say they’ve discovered privacy flaws and multiple issues stopping people from signing up.

Software developer Geoff Huntley led volunteer efforts over the past week to examine the COVIDSafe app and identify issues with the aim of helping the government improve it.

“I still maintain the app is safe to install,” he told AAP.

“But one of the things we’ve found in there will require every country that has used the Bluetooth implementation from Singapore to update their privacy policies and release new versions of the application.”

Developers have also identified a number of issues preventing people from registering.

You can’t register if your phone is connected to Wi-Fi, it’s only available in Australian stores and roaming international numbers can’t register – so foreign travellers can’t use it – and there is no option for people using tablets to have a robot to call their landline with a registration PIN.

Mr Huntley pointed to hundreds of reviews in the Google and Apple app stores where people complain they haven’t been able to register.

“I think the amount of downloads is a BS vanity metric and what we should be looking at is some sort of daily active users (figure),” he said.

Mr Huntley also pointed out that anyone checking out all the areas of the app will easily end up on a page with the first line of text: “You have tested positive for COVID-19.”

“It has caused public panic and it can still cause public panic,” he said.

But he says multiple attempts to contact government agencies to report issues went unacknowledged until he was interviewed by media yesterday morning.

He said the government’s apparent lack of interest in having the wider tech community help via a commonly used “bug bounty” system is unusual.

A spokesman for the Digital Transformation Agency says bugs should be reported via the app’s “report an issue” function or by emailing [e-mail].

“The app has received widespread support and endorsement from the information technology community,” the spokesman said.

“As would be expected the app will be updated as required.”

The app’s source code is expected to be released in coming weeks and draft legislation on the app, to protect privacy and data, was released earlier today.