APP: The TousAntiCovid app is active on 3.5 million phones in France, which is very little
Tracking, but also informing and now giving access to travel certificates: the “TousAntiCovid” mobile application, a new version of the tracking device shunned by the French, is once again adapting to find its usefulness during the health crisis. The app had 4.8 million downloads on Thursday since early June, and nearly 2,000 people notified after prolonged exposure to coronavirus positive users.
With 2.1 million downloads a week after its launch, the update “TousAntiCovid” can boast of a doubled adoption compared to the first version “StopCovid” which had seduced only a little more than one. million French people 7 days after its launch. According to the Directorate General of Health, however, the number of uninstallations amounted to 1.3 million, reducing the number of active users to 3.5 million.
Very far from the levels of German and British apps
By way of comparison, British and German applications, cited as examples by the French government, have been downloaded 15 to 20 million times respectively. As the sole tracking feature, based on the exchange of anonymous identifiers via Bluetooth technology, was not enough to generate enough downloads, the government set out to add several editorial and editorial content improvements.
Since October 22nd, TousAntiCovid has been offering a real-time news feed on the epidemic, as well as figures on the use of the application in order to create a ripple effect and motivation. It also includes a link to the derogatory travel certificate, again necessary from Friday, and the government promises updates “every two weeks”, according to the entourage of Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O. The professional travel certificates and for trips to school can in particular, from next week, be completed directly in the application.
“There is a very clear desire to play on the ambiguity of the new name”, considers for his part the specialist in computer security Baptiste Robert, opposed from the first hour to the application. TousAntiCovid is only a “minor update to StopCovid”. “The change of name, logo and the addition of different statistics mean that there has been a jump in downloads, but the numbers are still relatively low.” The tracking systems are accused by some privacy advocates of having limited effectiveness against the epidemic, at the cost of one more step towards a surveillance society.
