Concerns about privacy and storage of the data collected by the COVIDSafe app didn’t stop 1.13 million Australians from downloading it in the first five hours of its release on Sunday night.
However, the Government says for the app to work, 40% of the population or 10 million Australians need to download it.
The app – which is based on source code from Singapore’s Tracetogether software – keeps a log of Bluetooth connections a person’s phone makes with the phones of those they have come into contact with – making it easier for health authorities to trace potential COVID-19 carriers if someone is diagnosed with the virus and close out potential ‘hotspots’.
