Apple and Google Update Exposure Notification API, 20 U.S. States Expected to Release Apps Soon

Google today announced that the Exposure Notification API that it designed in partnership with Apple has received some improvements to make it more useful to public health authorities.

exposure notification cartoon
Most notably, the API supports interoperability between countries, and Bluetooth calibration has been improved. The full list of updates is below:

  • When an exposure is detected, public health authorities now have more flexibility in determining the level of risk associated with that exposure based on technical information from the API.
  • Bluetooth calibration values for hundreds of devices have been updated to improve the detection of nearby devices.
  • The API now supports interoperability between countries, following feedback from governments that have launched ‌Exposure Notification‌ apps.
  • To help public health authorities build apps more efficiently, we've added reliability improvements for apps and developer debug tools.
  • We've improved clarity, transparency and control for users. For example, the Exposure Notifications settings on Android now include a simple on/off toggle at the top of the page. In addition, users will also see a periodic reminder if ENS is turned on.

Google says it has also launched more technical guidance on how the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API works over the course of the last few weeks, and is providing more information on its Exposure Notifications website.

According to Google, 16 countries and regions across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America are using apps built with the ‌Exposure Notification‌ API, and 20 U.S. states are "exploring" apps with the first set to roll out "over the coming weeks."

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 Cinema 4D Slack Finder Xcode 1

Apple Announces MacBook Pro Models With M4 Pro and M4 Max Chips, Thunderbolt 5 Support, and More

Wednesday October 30, 2024 8:01 am PDT by
Apple today announced new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models featuring M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, alongside a new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by the M4 chip. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new M4 Pro and M4 Max machines come with a minimum of 24GB of Unified Memory as standard, up from 18GB in the previous models. Both models feature three...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...
m3 macbook air blue

Apple Announces MacBook Air Now Starts With Increased 16GB of RAM With No Price Increase

Wednesday October 30, 2024 8:04 am PDT by
Apple today in its new MacBook Pro press release announced that the MacBook Air lineup now starts with 16GB of RAM, up from 8GB previously. This change applies to the 13-inch model with the M2 chip, the 13-inch model with the M3 chip, and the 15-inch model with the M3 chip. In the U.S., the MacBook Air lineup continues to start at $999, so there is no price increase associated with the...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces Redesigned Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, and More

Tuesday October 29, 2024 8:01 am PDT by
Apple today announced fully redesigned Mac mini models featuring the M4 and M4 Pro chips, a considerably smaller casing, two front-facing USB-C ports, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, and more. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The product refresh marks the first time the Mac mini has been redesigned in over a decade. The enclosure now measures just five by five inches...
M4 M4 Pro vs M4 Max Feature

Apple Announcements Recap: M4 iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro

Wednesday October 30, 2024 9:24 am PDT by
Apple this week made three key Mac product announcements: new iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro models. These machines bring the M4 chip series to Apple's Mac lineup for the first time, but each in its own way offers several new features and changes that go beyond processors. Below, we've compiled a recap of all the highlights. New iMac Apple on Monday announced its latest 24-inch iMac,...

Top Rated Comments

iLoveDeveloping Avatar
56 months ago
Absolutely insane American government won’t implement this!!! It’s working really well here in Ireland! Getting 12-45 contacts a day in app (in settings) and no positives yet! Amazing little app! Just one question though do the devs need to update the api or will it work with the app right away? It’s insane in Ireland that it can’t be used in Northern Ireland because it’s in the UK. Same land but needs 2 apps that won’t work together it’s crazy, kinda like the states in America I guess. The level of stupidity in this is mind boggling.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sasparilla Avatar
56 months ago

What is a US based app that is actually using this now we can adopt?
There is no U.S. app, literally the U.S. Federal Govt punted on this (along with virtually everything else so "its not someone's fault"). It's up to the governors and only 3 states I think said they'd use it (as far as I know nobody has one out - out of the 3 states). It's rather tragic but virtually nobody in the U.S. will be able to use this.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrRadon Avatar
56 months ago

The amount of data collected with this is staggering, but if it's not misused, the ability of this API is beyond amazing.

Here's to not abusing and misusing it ?
Check out how germany is doing it. The entire App is 100% open source. Super expensive to create and maintain apparently, but everyone can see all the code and hand in suggestions of how to do something better. It's a pretty amazing high level collaboration.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JRobinsonJr Avatar
56 months ago
Maybe I'm missing something, but it sure seems to me that Apple/Google should be providing the front-end 'app' for users... then letting governments tie into the systems via API's or even Data-as-a-Service (DaaS).
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
56 months ago

The amount of data collected with this is staggering, but if it's not misused, the ability of this API is beyond amazing.

Here's to not abusing and misusing it ?
Please read the spec ('https://www.apple.com/covid19/contacttracing') (the FAQ ('https://covid19-static.cdn-apple.com/applications/covid19/current/static/contact-tracing/pdf/ExposureNotification-FAQv1.1.pdf') explains it quite well) and then list the ways in which the collected data could be misused - that is, the data that is actually collected, not something that you guess that it must be collecting.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iLoveDeveloping Avatar
56 months ago

What makes you think it's working? You have no reason to believe that it does anything.

This is nothing but a huge time wasting proof of concept.
What makes me think it’s working. Am because over 105 people have had alerts to being close contacts already. The government release the figures that the app creates. So that’s how I know it’s working. The level of cynicism And distrust about all this is staggering - I would imagine your American? Or else think the government is spying on you? You probably don’t wear a face mask to protect OTHERS around you either am I right?
But hey, you won’t use an app made by Apple but you probably have an iPhone with location services on - this collects infinitely more information on you then this app ever would or could! What’s the point of making a comment like this. It’s helping people know if they’ve been in contact with an infected person it’s help in the fight against this horrible disease that’s killing thousands of people, get a life.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)