Will you download the contact tracing app?

2smiggy

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Anyone know why it's telling me this app is not available in your country. I checked region in settings it's set to ireland so nothing wrong there.

same for me, on Huawei phone. Just google 'covid tracker ireland app download' and go to goosed.ie on the search results. there is a direct link to the app in there

El Weirdo

Curtis Cuddly Marsh wrote: »

I bet the fools who won’t install this app for privacy fears have Google Maps installed.

And will let everyone know that they're not installing it on Facebook.

WoollyRedHat

Peregrinus wrote: »

Effective to do what?

It's a contact-tracing app. The idea is that it supplements conventional contact tracing practices. The more it is downloaded and used the more it will supplement them, but any amount of downloading/use provides more benefit than zero downloading/use would.

To be supplementary for contact tracing. The whole idea is to capture people who were in close proximity to you that you don't know. If only say 5% download it, it's not going to be a very effective tool for contact tracing purposes. Anyway I see optimum hit rate is 25% as a base.

WoollyRedHat

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

Does Bluetooth need to be turned on constantly for this to work or?

Yeah if Bluetooth isn't turned on, it won't register close contacts.

Pauliedragon

GooglePlus wrote: »

Are you using a VPN?

No. Ill try again later.

Shamboo1801

I took part in the initial testing for the app and was very impressed with it. They asked at the end of the testing, did I see any reason why the app wouldn't be successful, I said numbers would be too low on the uptake. Thankfully, judging by the comments here, I may have been wrong.

Peregrinus

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

To be supplementary for contact tracing. The whole idea is to capture people who were in close proximity to you that you don't know. If only say 5% download it, it's not going to be a very effective tool for contact tracing purposes. Anyway I see optimum hit rate is 25% as a base.

I agree, if only 5% download it, it won't be very effective for contact tracing purposes, but still more effective than if no-one downloads it.

But take-up does make a big difference. If only 20% of people download and run it then, for a random person who is infected but doesn't know it, there is a 1 in 5 chance that he is running the app when he, say, gets on the bus. And the guy who sits next to him also has a 1 in 5 chance of running the app. The chances that they are both running the app are (works out sum with burnt match on lino on the floor) just 4%, which means that 96% of potentially infectious contacts between strangers will go untraced.

But if 80% are running the app, then the chances of this contact being traced go up to 64% - you're tracing nearly two-thirds of potentially infectious contacts between strangers, which would be huge.

2smiggy

Shamboo1801 wrote: »

I took part in the initial testing for the app and was very impressed with it. They asked at the end of the testing, did I see any reason why the app wouldn't be successful, I said numbers would be too low on the uptake. Thankfully, judging by the comments here, I may have been wrong.

if the high percentage of people in Ireland are happy to continue to use Facebook and the likes , I cannot see why they would have a problem with an app like this. Maybe if the gubberment tell people not to install the app, there may be a higher uptake.

plodder

John Hutton wrote: »

do you need to be connected to the internet for it to work? The parents never have any data cause they're too cheap

It uses about 1 MB of data per week apparently. I think it needs to check in each day, but it could use wifi if available at the time.

El Weirdo

50,000 downloads in the last ~30 mins.

GarIT

Peregrinus wrote: »

I agree, if only 5% download it, it won't be very effective for contact tracing purposes, but still more effective than if no-one downloads it.

But take-up does make a big difference. If only 20% of people download and run it then, for a random person who is infected but doesn't know it, there is a 1 in 5 chance that he is running the app when he, say, gets on the bus. And the guy who sits next to him also has a 1 in 5 chance of running the app. The chances that they are both running the app are (works out sum with burnt match on lino on the floor) just 4%, which means that 96% of potentially infectious contacts between strangers will go untraced.

But if 80% are running the app, then the chances of this contact being traced go up to 64% - you're tracing nearly two-thirds of potentially infectious contacts between strangers, which would be huge.

International organisations have said that a 60% uptake of the app would be enough to eliminate the virus entirely.

Even if two people were unlikely to have the app eventually some will so it breaks the chain of the infection going right back to the first person. 60% uptake would prevent the R number ever going above 1 without any other prevention measures for people who have not been contacted by the app.

world class wreckin’ cru

^ Great to see such a huge update on the first day.

App is very slick. Excellent job.

Evil_g

El Weirdo wrote: »

50,000 downloads in the last ~30 mins.

Where you seeing this? Apple / Play store? Or the graphic within the app?

Harry Palmr

Not compatible so can't download.

El Weirdo

Evil_g wrote: »

Where you seeing this? Apple / Play store? Or the graphic within the app?

In the app.

scouser123

How does it know if someone had it and then is clear? Does that not mean that a lot of people will get tested unnecessarily or is there a process for 'clearing' you from the system?

GarIT

John Hutton wrote: »

do you need to be connected to the internet for it to work? The parents never have any data cause they're too cheap

You need a connection to the internet to be notified of being in contact with someone or to notify the app you have tested positive.

If you don't have mobile data turned on you will be notified the next time you connect to WiFi.

GarIT

scouser123 wrote: »

How does it know if someone had it and then is clear? Does that not mean that a lot of people will get tested unnecessarily or is there a process for 'clearing' you from the system?

It only operates for 14 days prior to being diagnosed.

And hopefully for a period after being diagnosed.

Keyzer

Nice app, installed and hopefully many others do.

If you're worried about privacy consider first the amount of personal data you've already surrendered to social media. The app asks you for minimal information which is bound under GDPR.

I would encourage people to install the app.

Peregrinus

GarIT wrote: »

International organisations have said that a 60% uptake of the app would be enough to eliminate the virus entirely.

Even if two people were unlikely to have the app eventually some will so it breaks the chain of the infection going right back to the first person. 60% uptake would prevent the R number ever going above 1 without any other prevention measures for people who have not been contacted by the app.

Just to be clear, the app does nothing at all to eliminate the virus, or to reduce the R number. It just provides information about potentially infectious contacts that have taken place. What effect this has on the spread of the virus depends entirely on how effectively the public health authorities make use of that information, how fast they do it, and how compliant people are with the public health advice they receive.

irishguy1983

Keyzer wrote: »

Nice app, installed and hopefully many others do.

If you're worried about privacy consider first the amount of personal data you've already surrendered to social media. The app asks you for minimal information which is bound under GDPR.

I would encourage people to install the app.

Have not looked into this too much but does the privacy argument really hold up? Like are FB, google, not tracking my every movement anyway? Does it make a difference?

plodder

scouser123 wrote: »

How does it know if someone had it and then is clear? Does that not mean that a lot of people will get tested unnecessarily or is there a process for 'clearing' you from the system?

Contacts are only kept for 14 days on everyone's phones. So, if you were in contact with someone 18 days ago and they reported being infected today, you wouldn't be notified, because your contact with that person is gone from your phone.

I presume it's the same if you are in contact with someone say 18 days after they report being infected.

GhostyMcGhost

For anyone on iOS 14 Dev beta 1 the app will not work



Beta 2 (public beta 1) is imminent so hopefully resolves the issue

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/ios-ipados-release-notes/ios-ipados-14-beta-release-notes

Peregrinus

GarIT wrote: »

It only operates for 14 days prior to being diagnosed.

And hopefully for a period after being diagnosed.

After you've been diagnosed you're supposed to be in isolation for fourteen days or until symptom-free, if later so you shouldn't have any potentially infectious contacts with strangers, so there should be zero contacts for the app to record.

But, yeah, I imagine the app is configured so that if you are in contact with somebody within 14 days on either side of that person testing positive, you will be contacted and advised to get a test yourself.

average_runner

irishguy1983 wrote: »

Have not looked into this too much but does the privacy argument really hold up? Like are FB, google, not tracking my every movement anyway? Does it make a difference?

Google tracks your every movement on your phone. If u use the internet every thing u do us tracked

Idioteque

How Soon Is Now wrote: »

Does Bluetooth need to be turned on constantly for this to work or?

Yeah I think this could be a problem. With most modern Smartphones barely lasting a day, Bluetooth usually eats your battery so if you're out and about and you need your phone, usually the first thing to turn off is Bluetooth.

Hopefully there's some sort of low-power Bluetooth state if it recognises you're not moving around etc. otherwise I think many will uninstall it if their phone lasts half its usual time due to BT being on constantly.

Stark

irishguy1983 wrote: »

Have not looked into this too much but does the privacy argument really hold up? Like are FB, google, not tracking my every movement anyway? Does it make a difference?

The privacy stuff seems fine. The app generates random IDs which it stores on your phone and broadcasts to nearby phones through Bluetooth. It also stores other people's random IDs from your vicinity. If you test positive, the HSE will ask you to upload your IDs through the app. It will then broadcast those IDs as "infected" so other phones can download them and check against the IDs they've registered as seen. If one of those "infected" IDs match an ID you had stored on your phone, you'll get an alert.

At no point is any actual personal data about you or your whereabouts being uploaded anywhere. Which is more than can be said for pretty much every other app on your phone.

average_runner

Idioteque wrote: »

Yeah I think this could be a problem. With most modern Smartphones barely lasting a day, Bluetooth usually eats your battery so if you're out and about and you need your phone, usually the first thing to turn off is Bluetooth.

Hopefully there's some sort of low-power Bluetooth state if it recognises you're not moving around etc. otherwise I think many will uninstall it if their phone lasts half it's usual time due to BT being on constantly.

Bluetooth is on all the time on my phone and battery lasts a full day easily. Depends on your quality of phone and age

Peregrinus

irishguy1983 wrote: »

Have not looked into this too much but does the privacy argument really hold up? Like are FB, google, not tracking my every movement anyway? Does it make a difference?

Yes, Google, Apple, etc already hold far more data, and far more intimate data, about you than this app will ever record.

But this app serves data directly to the government (in certain circumstances), who could in theory be tempted to do more with it than simply exploit it for profit. Some people might be especially cagey about that.

GarIT

Peregrinus wrote: »

Just to be clear, the app does nothing at all to eliminate the virus, or to reduce the R number. It just provides information about potentially infectious contacts that have taken place. What effect this has on the spread of the virus depends entirely on how effectively the public health authorities make use of that information, how fast they do it, and how compliant people are with the public health advice they receive.

Yes, that 60% assumes everyone the app invited to get tested does. It is the early testing rather than the app itself that reduces the R number.