England's Apple-Google Exposure Notification app set to begin public trials

England is set to launch public trials of its upcoming coronavirus contact tracing app based on the Apple-Google Exposure Notification framework.

The National Health Service initially rejected the Apple-Google API in favor of a proprietary technology built by NHSX, the organization's innovation arm. In June, the NHSX backtracked on that decision following poor testing results.

Now, a revamped system based on the underlying technology created by Apple and Google is set to begin public trials on the Isle of Wright on Thursday, the BBC reported.

One area of concern for the NHS remains accuracy of exposure notification, since past tests have run into problems with the system falsely flagging when people are within 2 meters of each other.

The UK government intends to launch the public trials "without much fanfare," since it isn't clear when a finished version will be ready to deploy to the public.

"The app should enable us to return to more normal daily activities with the reassurance that our contacts can be rapidly and anonymously notified if we get infected," said Christophe Fraser, an Oxford University professor and a scientific advisor to the Department of Health.

In June, the U.K.'s contract tracing plans were said to be in "disarray" due to an apparent lack of communication with Apple and Google.

The switch to the Apple-Google API in June appears to be largely because of the strict privacy controls that Apple devices have. The NHSX's proprietary contact tracing software only detected 4% of nearby iPhones.

At the time, NHS officials said they were working on a model that would "bring the best bits of both systems." Apple later stated that they didn't know "what they mean by this hybrid model" since the officials didn't speak to the Silicon Valley giant.

12 Comments

fred1 1133 comments · 11 Years

About 4 years ago

Do these actually work? Has any country had success? I was under the impression that it requires 60% of the population taking part and the most any country has seen is around 20%.

Of course my fear is that people will stop taking the necessary measures because they’ll think they’re “covered” by this app.

beeble42 32 comments · 11 Years

So no app for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?

mknelson 1146 comments · 9 Years

fred1 said:

Do these actually work? Has any country had success? I was under the impression that it requires 60% of the population taking part and the most any country has seen is around 20%.
Of course my fear is that people will stop taking the necessary measures because they’ll think they’re “covered” by this app.

That depends on what you mean by work. Any number of installations gives some chance of contact tracing, but they estimate around 60% before it's a useful way of reducing infections by catching cases before they can spread too far.

As for installation numbers: it's hard to find a current metric. All the articles I found were 3 weeks old or older, but the Republic of Ireland had installations equivalent to 37% of the population by July 21 and their app had only come out 2 weeks earlier.

Bebble: Ireland (Northern and Republic of) both have API based apps with cross border support.

elijahg 2822 comments · 18 Years

beeble42 said:

So no app for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?

NI already has one, and NHS Scotland and NHS Wales are a separate entity to NHS England.

GeeAye 39 comments · 5 Years

elijahg said:

beeble42 said:

So no app for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?

NI already has one, and NHS Scotland and NHS Wales are a separate entity to NHS England.

Lucky those borders are hard borders so that you can have different apps on each side.