Covid-19: Germany at odds with Apple on smartphone coronavirus contact tracing

In Europe, governments want to use Bluetooth 'handshakes' between devices as a way to measure the risk of infection, but approaches differ as to whether such contacts should be logged on devices or on a central server. — AFP

BERLIN: Germany has chosen a home-grown technology for smartphone-based tracing of coronavirus infections, putting it at odds with Apple which has refused on privacy grounds to support the necessary short-range communication on iPhones.

The government has told lawmakers it has chosen a design developed for the Robert Koch Institute – the agency leading Germany's coronavirus health response – that would hold personal data on a central server.