UK NHS Switches to Google/Apple Contact Tracing App

The UK government has announced that is it changing direction of the development of its contact-tracing app. NHSX, the NHS's digital innovation agency, has been developing a contact-tracing app that used its own technology rather than the platform developed by Apple and Google through a new collaboration specifically to help with the COVID-19 crisis. Testing in the Isle of Wight showed a major problem with NHSX's app. Although it worked well for Android users, it has been reported that problems with the iPhone version mean that it is not a feasible solution for supporting contract tracing. The switch in technologies means that instead of collecting data centrally in the NHS data-centres, the no data will be held in a single official database - making the app potentially more secure. There is not currently an official launch date for the new version of the app.