Back in March, Apple launched a couple of different resources to help people in light of the expanding coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the company has updated the app and website to be even more helpful.
Yesterday, Apple updated its official COVID-19 app, but the changelog did not indicate that the company added any forward facing new features for the user, simply saying that it includes “bug fixes and improvements”. However, now that the app’s update is out there in the wild it has been discovered that the app now supports at least one new element: sharing a user’s health info and symptoms with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) anonymously.
Tutorial: How to use the Apple COVID-19 iPhone app and website
TechCrunch was the first to report on the major new addition:
Apple has updated its own COVID-19 iOS app and website with new features to allow users to anonymously share info including their age, existing health conditions, symptoms, potential exposure risks and the state in which they’re located. This info, which is not associated with any of their personal identifying data in any way according to the company, will be used in an aggregated way to help inform the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and improve the organization’s COVID-19 screening protocol.
In addition to that, the report says that the app will take advantage of the aggregated data to help public health agencies and the CDC provide as much up-t0-date and helpful information to the public as possible.
As is par for the course, Apple updating the app means that the web version has been updated as well.
Apple last updated the COVID-19 app and website to share information on the best quarantining practices and more.