Switzerland launches first app based on Google, Apple’s Exposure Notification API

Switzerland has launched the world’s first app that utilised the Exposure Notification API developed by Apple and Google.

According to a BBC report, the app called “SwissCovid” is currently available to members of the Swiss army, civil servants, and hospital workers. The app will be rolled out to a wider audience once the Swiss MPs debate and approve the app. The Swiss government hopes to achieve this by mid-June.

Apart from Switzerland, Latvia too has developed an app that utilised the API. The report says that their app called the Apturi Covid app could be rolled out to the general public as soon as this week as they do not need a parliamentary vote for the same. Apple has already approved the app on the App Store and the team is now waiting for an approval by the Google Play Store.

Apple and Google have said that a handful of states in the US, which includes Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia and North Dakota, and a total of 22 countries have requested access to the API, a report by 9To5Mac states. However, some countries have criticised the API for the restrictions it has that prevent the developers from collecting location data among other things.

“The use of digital technologies must be designed in such a way that we, as democratically elected governments, evaluate it and judge it acceptable to our citizens and in accordance with our European values," digital affairs ministers from the Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal said in a joint letter.