The development process of the COVID Tracker app began on 22 March 2020 when theHealth Service Executive (HSE) contactedWaterford tech company NearForm to build acontact tracing app forIreland using existingBluetooth technology in smartphones to supportcontact tracing.[6] The €850,000 project involved representatives from theDepartment of Health, theEconomic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), theGarda Síochána, theIrish Army andScience Foundation Ireland.[10][11] NearForm was originally working on a centralised app that would group users' data together for authorities to study,[12] but in May 2020, the development team contactedApple andGoogle to secure beta access to theExposure Notifications System (ENS) developed by the two companies, which allows the COVID Tracker app to guarantee the anonymity of users and ensure any data transfer to contact tracers would happen only with user consent.[10][13][14] Within three months of development, the team had a secure, tested and reliable contact tracing app that worked and was ready to be deployed on a national scale.[6] The COVID Tracker app was launched by theGovernment of Ireland and the HSE on 7 July 2020 with 862,000 downloads on the first day of launch.[15]
On 19 October, the COVID Tracker app became one of the first wave of national apps linked with other countries across theEuropean Union after being linked with similarcontact tracing apps fromItaly andGermany.[22]
Any phone users are inclose contact with that also has the app installed.[24]
The distance between users' phone and another app users' phone.[24]
The length of time users' phone is near another app users' phone.[24]
Every two hours the app downloads a list of anonymous codes which have been shared with theHealth Service Executive (HSE) by other people using the app who have tested positive for COVID-19.[25] If a user have been closer than 2 metres for more than 15 minutes with any of these phones, that user will get an alert notification on their phone.[26][27]
The app requires users to turn on the Exposure Notifications service and will only be available to those with phones runningAndroid 6.0 Marshmallow or higher, oriOS 13.5 or higher.[28]
On 9 August 2020, it was announced that the HSE was working withGoogle to identify and fix phone battery issues after the COVID Tracker app was reportedly drainingAndroid users' batteries in 5 hours.[36][37] On 10 August, it was reported that 10% of Android users (86,000) uninstalled the app, following battery drainage issues.[38][39] On 11 August, the HSE announced that an update had been rolled out to 70% of Android phones, which is expected to fix the issue, and that 45,000 people had reinstalled the app in the last few days.[40]
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