The government’s COVIDSafe contact tracing app is off to a positive start but there are issues to iron out

Apple users face an annoying issue when using the government’s COVIDSafe contact tracing app.

The Australia government's COVIDsafe contact tracing app.

Changes to the government’s contact tracing app are likely however it is off to a positive start.

The app went live at 6pm yesterday in the Apple iOS and Google Android app stores. Australians are being encouraged to download it and install it from there.

A Newspoll by The Australian found that 54 per cent of those polled were prepared to install the app on their phones, which indicates solid support across the community.

However today iPhone users will encounter one immediate shortcoming of the app in its present state. Apart from ensuring you have Bluetooth switched on, you need to have the app loaded at all times so that it can access the phone’s Bluetooth signal.

Apple users will either have to resist the temptation to clear all their active apps on iPhone, or open the COVIDSafe app again if they do.

I have found it is easy not to notice that you have inadvertently closed the app.

The problem stems from a strength of iOS security. Apple’s security is designed to prevent a heap of third party apps from running in the background and accessing Bluetooth, and subsequently draining your battery, and you being unaware of what’s happening.

However, in the case of the COVIDSafe app, you’d want it running in the background so that you don’t have to repeatedly reload it.

Android on the other hand isn’t as picky about this.

There’s also the potential issue of increased battery drain from the operation of Bluetooth. The Australian app scans for other phones every minute.

This could change with a spokesperson for Government Services Minister Stuart Robert confirming the government would investigate new features being released by Apple and Google.

One aspect being addressed is this problem of contact tracing apps running in the background.

Apple and Google held a briefing for technology journalists earlier this month where they detailed their joint venture to offer contract tracing facilities on smartphones globally.

The Australian Government has not been party to this Apple Google venture. At the time of the big tech firms’ announcement, Australia had already been investigating adapting Singapore’s TraceTogether app for local use. The relatively low adoption rate of less than 20 per centre of TraceTogether has been partly attributed to this problem with Apple phones.

The Australia government's COVIDsafe contact tracing app.

At its mid April briefing, representatives of Apple and Google said they were building an application layer for their operating systems which would offer extended functionality to government health agencies building contact tracing apps.

One aim is to allow apps to run 24/7 with minimal battery drain.

The two companies have combined to build an application program interface or API to achieve this. It is to be installed on phones through operating system updates. They have stressed their system would not use location data and is privacy centric.

Unlike COVIDSafe which records encrypted phone IDs centrally, encrypted phone IDs with Google and Apple are created on the handsets and are changed every 15 minutes to prevent tracking. Only phones that exchange IDs when people are in close proximity can later recognise these IDs. Data is not uploaded unless a user tests positive.

It’s unlikely the government will move to this given app development has already been completed and a contract forged with Amazon Web Services for data storage.

However the government might adopt other aspects of the Apple-Google collaboration.

Apart from the app running 24/7, the Australian app might tap into the Apple-Google system for measuring the distance between phones using low energy Bluetooth, without reference to GPS.

COVIDSafe’s criteria for recording data is for the phones to be less than 1.5 metres apart.

Measuring this can be difficult as differently branded phones and models have different Bluetooth chipsets and signal strengths which impact range measurements.

Power issues and the running of multiple apps accessing Bluetooth on a phone also can undermine an accurate measurement.

In addition, there may be issues when Apple and Android phones try to contact one another via Bluetooth.

Google and Apple say they have sought to address these issues in their API in the rollout of “phase one” of their project through an operating system update by mid May.

Later, Apple and Google will roll out a “phase two” which will add their own user interface via another operating system update. Users will be invited to opt in to their tracing app without having to actually download it. Phase two is expected to be available in a couple of months.

This wouldn’t be relevant in Australia where we have our own app. The tech giants say they can enable or disable their system on a regional basis. But some of the functionality under the hood might be usable.

As with the Australian app, Apple and Google promise to delete all data and functionality when the pandemic ends.

In the short term, it should mean relief for Apple users ensuring COVIDSafe is running at all times.