Security News > 2020 > May > Utah Says No to Apple/Google COVID-19 Tracing; Debuts Startup App

"Healthy Together" app uses a raft of location data, including GPS, cell tower triangulation and Bluetooth, to pinpoint users and ID coronavirus hotspots.

The state of Utah has settled on a contact-tracing mobile app that collects detailed user location information to track the spread of COVID-19 among citizens - eschewing the API model proposed by Apple and Google in April.

The app is called "Healthy Together" and it was created by a startup called Twenty Holdings - best-known for making a social app that allows users to "See who's around. See who's down. Hang out." In other words, the company specializes in enabling physical, in-person connections.

It's perhaps no surprise then that Twenty's coronavirus app for Utah uses a raft of location data, including GPS, cell tower triangulation and Bluetooth, to pinpoint users.

In marked contrast, Apple and Google's API allows public health officials to build apps that have no centralized data collection on citizens.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/utah-apple-google-covid-19-tracing-startup-app/155742/