So... NHS Contact Tracing App

[admars]

I'm using Android One, battery has gone down 11% in last hour, which is a lot to me, but, i don't usually have gps or bluetooth on. apparently the app is using 1%,

[smarties11]

I've had the app running all day on my Huawei P30 and it's not made a difference to my battery drain. Although I always have Bluetooth on anyway.

 

So far I'm quite impressed with the app. It's a shame it's taken so long to arrive, but this genuinely has the ability to drastically reduce the spread of the virus IF people install and use it!

[mavhc]

The question of delay isn't from the Infected's phone, it's that the Infectee's phone only downloads the list of "keys that have been uploaded into the database of keys of people who were tested positive" once per day

[mikeprice]

As I said before - won't run on my phone - Android 5.1.1.1

 

only finished paying for the phone recently

 

Date on phone says Jan 2018 - which is about right

 

so - 2 1/2 year old Samsung phone - toooo old

 

OK - main problem is dumb Samsung phones that are so damn limited that you can't move forward with Android versions

 

but that is reality - no real point in designing a system based on what you want people to do - it needs to be based on what reality is

[jthompson]

I think BLE is the constraint as much as anything (so hardware), plus I'm guessing that the contact tracing API isn't going to be available on out-of-support versions of Android.

[Achandler]

If you bought a phone in January 2018, that you have only just finished paying off and it is on Android 5.1.1.1. Then you need to seriously reconsider your phone choices.

 

I have a Motorola that was £200 in January 2018 and it is updated to 8.1.0.

 

So works, or would do I haven't got the App on it, as my workplace has spammed it to everyone's work phone, so effectively I could have to have the App on 3 devices as I use them all at different times and can't always have any particular one on me. Which means I could self isolate myself twice by being positive on one device. Would be misleading for the figures for self isolating people, but I the most important bit would be I wasn't infecting people.

[admars]

i rebooted my phone last night before i went to bed, left gps and bluetooth on, and overnight my battery hardly went down, so that's good

[blueday]

If you bought a phone in January 2018, that you have only just finished paying off and it is on Android 5.1.1.1. Then you need to seriously reconsider your phone choices.

 

I have a Motorola that was £200 in January 2018 and it is updated to 8.1.0.

 

 

Agreed, my Samsung Galaxy S7 is over 4 years old and is version 8.0.0

[mavhc]

Cheaper phones are often old models, or models that aren't updated as much.

 

Android 6+ accounts for 85% of android phones in use.

 

Android is used in UK by 54% of smartphone users, iOS by 46%.

 

87% of 16+ people use smartphones.

 

So 80% of the 16+ population can use it.

[Lonix]

Downloaded it last night, not sure how it will help but.. lets see...

 

Not sure I care much about 'privacy' considering I have an iPhone with endless amount of apps including a Twitter/Facebook account which I've had for years and years...

[smurfomatic]

Slight increase in battery usage since I installed it yesterday, but that's mainly because I normally have location & bluetooth switched off

[paulkerton]

As I said before - won't run on my phone - Android 5.1.1.1

only finished paying for the phone recently

Date on phone says Jan 2018 - which is about right

 

If your phone is running Android 5.1.1.1 then I would suggest that whilst you may have purchased it in 2018, then phone itself was released to market probably 3 years before you bought it. Lollipop came out in 2014 and was replaced with Marshmallow in 2015.

[jmak]

As I said before - won't run on my phone - Android 5.1.1.1

 

only finished paying for the phone recently

 

Date on phone says Jan 2018 - which is about right

 

so - 2 1/2 year old Samsung phone - toooo old

 

OK - main problem is dumb Samsung phones that are so damn limited that you can't move forward with Android versions

 

but that is reality - no real point in designing a system based on what you want people to do - it needs to be based on what reality is

Might be worth looking at https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#samsung

 

Not for the Covid-19 app, just because you're not getting security updates anymore (for me, the equivalent of running Windows XP) on a device you have personal data on.

[DJ-1701]

https://github.com/nhsx

 

Why don't you check the source code and judge for yourself. FYI it doesn't even have the api calls for location neither file storage on android. The only thing I can see is camera to scan a QR code.

 

Much better then the ad supported games on apps using Facebook analytics.

 

I've installed it

 

Because I'm not going to understand it.

 

If it was just one script, and commented, then maybe.

[mikeprice]

OK - I have looked at my phone and its age etc etc

basicalli I want a phone that is small, light and fits in my pocket - and this one was the smallest that I could get on my contract

 

but that also meant it was an old model - seems like about 2016

 

Looks like I can root it and update to 7 or maybe even 9

 

but that really seems like a pain - and at the moment I can't afford to screw it up as I need a phone when I do viewings on my MIL's old house

 

I will maybe wait until the house is sold and try it then - hopefully in a week or so

 

 

BTW - if I root it and try to install ANdroid 7 or 9 - and it all goes wrong

can I still restore to factory and go back to the original version??

never done it before as I have never needed to

 

Thanks

[mavhc]

Not necessarily, quite easy to brick them. How small are your pockets?

 

Would be nice if the app said how many other phones it's talked to today.

 

Play Store has gone from 100k downloads to 1 million downloads, getting there.

Edited September 25, 2020 by mavhc

[LeMarchand]

Following on from @sonofsanta's post on the main C-19 thread:

 

The call-centre-based test & trace system is Serco, but the app is NHSX and Serco haven't been near it (thankfully). I was never going to let the first Cummings version of this app near my phone, but this version seems alright. Good article here: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/nhs-covid-19-tracking-app-contact-tracing

 

The article mentions that the app isn't compulsory, but it seems that if you fancy eating/drinking out (or possibly even entering a shop?) it pretty much is. As people have pointed out, many of the most vulnerable will not have suitable phones (or just not grasp the concept).

 

I'm still torn. Seems like a sensible idea, but I just don't trust the government/big business. Yes the chances of places being on the ball with their lists of names/numbers is slim, but they just have 2 pieces of data. Not, potentially, the whole enchilada.

[jthompson]

Genuine question, which cuts to the heart of my reluctance to use the app just yet: do we think there'll be any way to gauge the level of false-positives generated by the app? That seems like a complete unknowable, but I would be interested in others' views on it.

[DGardiner]

Genuine question, which cuts to the heart of my reluctance to use the app just yet: do we think there'll be any way to gauge the level of false-positives generated by the app? That seems like a complete unknowable, but I would be interested in others' views on it.

 

Im sure its a bit higer than people would like since every manufacturer/case and all that will make a difference - but imo the good it will do even with the false positives as opposed to complete lockdowns is a worthwhile exchange.

 

Id rather get told to stay in for 2 weeks than accidentally give it to someone who ends up dead.

[jmak]

Following on from @sonofsanta's post on the main C-19 thread:

 

 

 

The article mentions that the app isn't compulsory, but it seems that if you fancy eating/drinking out (or possibly even entering a shop?) it pretty much is. As people have pointed out, many of the most vulnerable will not have suitable phones (or just not grasp the concept).

 

I'm still torn. Seems like a sensible idea, but I just don't trust the government/big business. Yes the chances of places being on the ball with their lists of names/numbers is slim, but they just have 2 pieces of data. Not, potentially, the whole enchilada.

For eating out, it's not legally required, but the establishment you visit is required to keep details for track and trace. Most of them will have an alternative, as they've had to do that since they re-opened.

 

My take on the official app is that they're more likely to have decent privacy controls than random paper systems in restaurants and the other apps I've used might have decent controls, but I definitely don't have time to check when I arrive at the restaurant.

 

My posts on here will show I'm quite privacy conscious and sceptical of giving away more data than necessary, but I think the situation has changed. My hope is that once this crisis is over, the genie can be put back in the bottle...

[Rob_D]

The article mentions that the app isn't compulsory, but it seems that if you fancy eating/drinking out (or possibly even entering a shop?) it pretty much is. As people have pointed out, many of the most vulnerable will not have suitable phones (or just not grasp the concept).

Food and drink or leasure type places, sure. But I don't see how they can make it compulsory for shops with so many valid reasons for not being able to install the app (old phone, dumb phone, work phone, no phone), and no way to verify any of them. Strong recommendation with a not so gentle nudge on the way in is as far as I can see shops realistically being able to go.

 

Is there an age limit on the app, or is it "if you're old enough to have a phone, you should have it"?

[TechMonkey]

I decided to go for it in the end. Only issue so far is I tried to QR code into a venue and it didn't register. That could have been as it was stuck to the door so there was some glare, but I gave up in the end.

[jthompson]

Im sure its a bit higer than people would like since every manufacturer/case and all that will make a difference - but imo the good it will do even with the false positives as opposed to complete lockdowns is a worthwhile exchange.

 

Id rather get told to stay in for 2 weeks than accidentally give it to someone who ends up dead.

 

Yeah, I get that. I'm sure there are a significant number of people for whom the game theory is a little different, though. A false-positive self-isolation order for them could mean lost income or cancelled medical treatment

[Andrew_C]

Is there an age limit on the app, or is it "if you're old enough to have a phone, you should have it"?

16 ISTR

[mavhc]

80% of people can use it.

 

QR code scans don't leave your device, so 100000x better than writing in a book

 

10 million downloads so far