UK will be launching its own contact tracing app with Google and Apple API in Wales and England. The NHS COVID-19 tracing app will go live starting September 24.
The NHS app will feature similar distance based contact tracing technology and can generate QR codes to boost engagement and awareness. Businesses in the UK are asked to display the codes in posters, as well as set up a handwritten register for individuals who do not have a mobile phone.
Early versions of the app was to be for the whole of UK. However, it made use of a centralized tracing solution and was scrapped shortly after it was tested in May. Now, the app is powered by both Apple and Google API, something that Scotland already has in place.
Google and Apple’s Bluetooth-based solution is private and must be enabled by going to the phone’s Settings, Privacy and Health, then COVID-19 Exposure logging.
