Aarogya Setu inches close to 10 crore downloads on Android and iOS, Jio Phone app to roll out tomorrow

The government's Covid-19 tracking app, Aarogya Setu has now been downloaded on over 9.8 crore devices. The mix includes both iOS and Android smartphones. However, the number is likely to increase drastically as the custom-made version of the app will roll out Jio Phones tomorrow, as per Jay Sahni, Chairman of Empowered Group 9. Talking about the privacy claims, Sahni added that "We've worked a lot on data privacy of Arogya Setu users & made sure that user data are not compromised."  

Also read: MIT researchers examine Aarogya Setu app, here's what they have to say

This news comes days after MyGov India's CEO Abhishek Singh confirmed that Aarogya Setu is coming to Jio Phones. In a call to HT Digital, Singh confirmed that the government is already working on a version of Aarogya Setu for KaiOS, the operating system that runs on Reliance Jio phones.

"...we know that in India the number of smartphones is around 45 to 50 crores and there is a large number of people who use feature phones. And then there is again around 11 crore people who use Jio phones. So, for the Jio phones which use the KaiOS operating system, we are developing a version of Aarogya Setu which will work on KaiOS and the Jio phone so that around 11 crore more people will be covered with that version of the app," said Singh.

Also read: MyGov CEO explains how Aarogya Setu handles your location data, says it will be useless once Covid-19 is contained

For those unaware, this comes over and above the recent announcement by the Union Health Ministry of making Aarogya Setu available to feature phones via IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System).