Of course, I do not prefer much to write about COVID-19, but enticement on the technology does not leave me silent either. In the last post, I managed to cover a holistic view of contact tracing apps, especially how to separate the PII data and analytical.

This week Apple announced its new update iOS 13.5 beta 2, usually I do not go for with the beta updates, but this is a particular case and downloaded the beta with the beta profile.

Little fascination is Apple has taken a similar step, as explained in my post. Fully anonymized and random Ids. Apart from that, these are things to note :

• Any app to use the Exposure Notification APIs, the app publisher should prove their identity to be an authorized government entity; this will be a cumbersome step to pass, as I understand.

• Though Exposure Notification API is available in the update, the user cannot switch on the feature without an authorized app installed in the device.

Refer to the images below.

I made this short post to highlight two things.

• Independent entities who are developing the contact tracing apps, should consider this new update and the acceptance criteria. Since the new Exposure Notification API has been released, Apple may not accept the standard Bluetooth tracing apps like the ones we saw in the last post.

• The Contact tracing app developers, should pass a clearance from the respective governments to get the apps approved in the App Store

If you’re developing such an app, it’s high time to consider to use the Exposure Notification APIs.