Last month, Apple and Google have announced that they will be working together on a Contact Tracing API. Since renamed to Exposure Notification API, both companies have shared more resources to developers working to make use of them. These include sample UI assets and code for both platforms.
Both companies have also released new policies that devs must adhere to for their apps using the API to be approved. Many of them go without saying, like the resulting apps can only be used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. User consent is also another key element. This applies to both sharing their positive test results to public health authorities, or even using the API itself.
Most interesting among them is the fact that both companies only want a single Exposure Notification app per country. This is to avoid fragmentation, but it looks like both companies are willing to accept state-level apps.
As these resources are only meant to be a reference, what we ultimately see may look at least a little different. But their release hopefully means one less step for devs to get a working app out. On the OS level, Google has announced that it will be rolling out updates related to the API via Google Play. it’s a much more straightforward case with Apple’s iOS, with a toggle for it already available on iOS 13.5 beta.
(Source: TechCrunch, The Verge)
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