NHS Covid-19 app update blocked for privacy breaches
An update to the NHS Covid-19 app has been blocked by Apple and Google for breaking the companies’ privacy terms.
The app was due for a fresh reboot from today to coincide with the reopening of pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops, which would have allowed users to log venues they had checked into via a QR code scan if they tested positive for coronavirus.
Although app users have long been able to scan QR codes when entering venues, the new update meant they would be required to share their recent venue history privately on the app if they had subsequently tested positive for Covid.
However, the location tracking feature has been explicitly prohibited on privacy grounds by Apple and Google, who made health authorities agree not to collect any location data when signing up to use their technology.
As a result, Apple and Google refused to launch the update from their app stores and have instead kept the old version live.
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: “The deployment of the [enhanced check-in] functionality of the NHS COVID-19 app to enable users to upload their venue history has been delayed.
“This does not impact the functionality of the app and we remain in discussions with our partners to provide beneficial updates to the app which protect the public,” they added.
It comes as punters prepared to head to non-essential shops, hairdressers and hospitality venues for the first time in months this afternoon as England reached the next stage in Boris Johnson’s roadmap for leaving lockdown.
Blasts of April snow did little to deter pubgoers lining up for midnight pints, while queues were seen snaking outside Primarks across the country early this morning.
The Prime Minister urged caution during the “major step forward” as a scientist advising the government warned social distancing requirements must be followed scrupulously to minimise a possible spike in infections.
The next phase of the roadmap is due for 17 May, when restrictions will be relaxed to allow for indoor socialising and the return of the “rule of six”.