In response to the continued coronavirus outbreak, Apple and Goldman Sachs are allowing customers to skip their Apple Card payments without incurring interest charges. Apple Card holders should receive an email announcing this “Customer Assistance Program,” which has been extended through August.
The Exposure Notification API developed by Apple and Google is beginning to gain traction outside of the United States. This week, Health Canada has released its new COVID Alert application, which allows citizens to report positive COVID-19 test results and be notified if they’ve been exposed to the virus.
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An analyst of the US contact tracing landscape paints a depressing picture. Not a single US state currently offers an app that uses the Apple/Google coronavirus contact tracing API — and only four states plan to do so.
Others have launched GPS-based apps that raise immediate privacy concerns and are unlikely to see significant adoption, while the majority of states who responded plan to offer nothing at all…
After working on producing emergency ventilators, Apple accessory maker Belkin is continuing its COVID-19 relief efforts. Now the company is donating 50,000 masks to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the city.
If you’re still weighing up the pros and cons of installing the iOS 14 public beta, it’s worth noting that it disables coronavirus contact tracing apps in Europe if they use the Apple API …
The Irish coronavirus contact tracing app was launched yesterday, and has already been installed by more than 10% of the country’s population in less than 24 hours …
Ireland has debuted its COVID-19 Tracker application today, its solution to help contract trace and slow the spread of coronavirus. The app is built using the Exposure Notification API developed by Apple and Google, and users in Ireland can download it from the App Store now as well as Google Play.
A Twitter edit button has got to be the most-requested feature of any online service ever, but the social network has always seemed determined not to give us one.
A new tweet from the official @Twitter account teased the possibility, but the company quickly made it clear it isn’t for real …
The Apple/Google contract tracing API may incorporate ‘Turing algorithms’ to improve the accuracy of determining the coronavirus infection risk …
One of the more timely WWDC announcements was Apple Watch handwashing detection. The coronavirus crisis means everyone is being encouraged to wash their hands more frequently, and to ensure that we’re doing so thoroughly.
But the handwashing detection feature wasn’t developed hastily in response, says Apple, but was rather years in development …
Apple has officially released iOS 13.5 to the public. The update includes changes such as Face ID improvements for masks, new Apple Music features, and more. Perhaps most importantly, however, the update brings the first version of the COVID-19 Exposure Notification API developed by Apple and Google. Here’s how that feature works, while also preserving your privacy.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau has announced today that the country will use Apple/Google’s API for its national contact tracing app. It will first launch as part of a test in Ontario on July 2 before becoming available more widely.
Update: The UK has belatedly decided to adopt the Apple/Google API after all. No word yet on what that means for the timescale.
The German contact tracing app has been downloaded by 6.5M people in the first 24 hours of availability, says the government. The Corona-Warn-App uses the joint Apple/Google API to ensure privacy, a U-turn on the German government’s previous plan to use a centralized database approach.
Italy also got off to a good start with downloads of its Immuni app, which also uses the API.
It’s a very different picture in the UK, however …
Yesterday’s report that Germany’s contact tracing app would launch today was correct. The country originally planning an app that captured location data and used a centralized database before privacy objections saw it make a U-turn and instead use the Apple/Google API.
The most staggering part of today’s confirmation, however, is that developing the coronavirus app – where the API does the heavy lifting, and Apple provided sample code to do much of the rest – somehow cost the government €20M ($22.7M) …
New York attorney general Letitia James has asked Apple and Google to vet contact tracing apps submitted to their app stores to distinguish official from unofficial ones, and to ensure that they protect user privacy.
Apple has already taken one step in this direction, but New York wants the company to go further …
The German contact tracing app is set to launch sometime this week, the latest country to adopt the Apple/Google API as part of its coronavirus response. Unconfirmed reports say that the launch date is tomorrow.
Germany is also relaxing travel restrictions into the country …
Italy was one of the first countries to adopt the joint Apple/Google API for its coronavirus contact tracing app, and early signs are that this is helping reassure people. Immuni contact tracing app downloads hit more than 25% of those given access in the first ten days.
It had initially been feared that privacy concerns in Italy would limit adoption …
A new report today says that the British government still hasn’t decided exactly how its NHS contact tracing app should work, but insists that it will be ready to roll out ‘within a fortnight.’
The coronavirus app was originally promised for May …
Apple and Google’s API for COVID-19 contact tracing – Exposure Notifications – has arrived with iOS 13.5 but it takes a supported app from a local health authority to work. A new iOS app called Work | Space is looking to bridge the gap of helping employees returning to work build the habit of social distancing.
Apple updated its COVID-19 screening app yesterday to version 4.0 but it didn’t appear to come with any user-facing changes based on the release notes. As it turns out, one noteworthy update is the option to anonymously share symptoms and health info with the CDC.
As debate continues about different approaches to coronavirus contact tracing apps, Singapore is taking a different approach: a wearable tag it says guarantees privacy …
An Apple patent first filed almost two years ago looks rather prescient today: it allows you to create virtual group selfies with family and friends while maintaining social distancing, or even while you’re each in separate locations.
And for those people who always have to be front and center in a group photo, everyone in the image can create their own version, rearranging people as they like …
Apple has been planning a gradual return to work since last month, as the company shut down its corporate operations temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, according to a new Bloomberg report, staff members are now gradually returning to their offices with the company taking measures to prevent the virus from spreading.
A startup created by former Apple engineers has created a system that could well prove helpful to current Apple engineers during the coronavirus crisis.
One of the early steps Apple took in response to the virus was to ban its US engineers from flying to China. It’s widely expected that this sensible precaution is likely to lead to a delay in launching the iPhone 12 …
