Covid-19: Apple, Google ban use of location tracking in contact tracing apps

Apple and Google said they will not allow use of GPS data along with the contact tracing systems. The decision will require public health authorities who want to use GPS location data to rely on unstable workarounds to detect encounters using Bluetooth sensors. — Reuters

Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Apple and Google, whose operating systems power 99% of smartphones, said last month they would work together to create a system for notifying people who have been near others who have tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.