Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Announces Canada Will Adopt Apple–Google Exposure Notification API ⇥ iphoneincanada.ca

Gary Ng, iPhone in Canada:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today revealed during his daily COVID-19 press conference the Canadian government is working with Apple and Google in regards to a contact tracing app, or Exposure Notification solution.

Trudeau mentioned how other jurisdictions, such as Singapore and Australia, have contact tracing apps running in the foreground, which can drain battery life. But Apple and Google’s next June update will bake the joint COVID-19 contact tracing solution into the mobile operating systems, allowing Bluetooth to be used anonymously in the background.

The existing app being promoted across Alberta is based on Singapore’s TraceTogether app, but it has notable problems. If the Canadian app gains widespread adoption, it seems like it could be helpful to human contact tracers.

Ng:

Apple and Google are limiting one API use per country to so apps aren’t fragmented and also increase adoption. The Exposure Notification API will not use a device’s location services.

I must have missed this announcement from a few weeks ago but it makes sense and ought to clean up the current mess of incompatible exposure notification apps.