Google and Apple to release contact tracing API next week

Google and Apple will release the contact tracing API for patients with the coronavirus next week. iGeneration reports this on the basis of information from European Commissioner Thierry Breton. Google and Apple have not yet announced a release date.

Apple and Google had planned the release for mid-May, but according to iGeneration, both companies want to release a first version on Tuesday. Breton had a video meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook on the development of the API. In addition, Cook said a first version of the API will be released next week.

The api is the only way for apps to do contact tracing via bluetooth on iPhones in the background; current apps ask users to be active in the foreground with the screen on, something that is less user-friendly. Contact tracing apps need to be on many or even all smartphones of residents of a particular area or country before research can be effective; many experts cite a percentage of at least sixty, although more and more forecasts say that even that figure is too low.

Apple and Google announced the API two weeks ago. Because the API works on iOS and Android, health organizations can eventually have a single back-end for all smartphones with either operating system.

The api appears in two parts; in the first version an app is needed to enable contact research via bluetooth, at a later stage users can log in via the settings on the phone itself and an app is no longer necessary.