The English Tracing App

[Kaz]

I have a Motorola G5 and it hasn't drained my battery - not that I've noticed anyway

[JoM]

I downloaded it yesterday to give it a try and now anything I open on my phone crashes so it seems to be clashing with something already intstalled.

[Workingman]

Jo, was it a system install or did it go to an external card? If the latter it kind of confirms what Vodafone told me. You might have to move apps you have installed such as WhatsApp, Snapchat and TwitFace etc. to SD then delete the NHS app and do a clean install. It needs 'space' to work properly.

[JoM]

It’s an iPhone Frank so a system install and no way of putting anything on an SD. That makes sense because I haven’t got a great deal of space, not because I’ve got a lot of apps but because the phone didn’t have much storage to begin with.

[TheOstrich]

Jo, if it's an iPhone, is it an old model by any chance? I think it has to be post-2015 ....

[Workingman]

OK, Jo. I am assuming that you downloaded from the Apple Store which implies that your phone is iPhone 6 or higher and with IOS 13.5 or 14.0, but you might need to check and / or do a system upgrade. Both are minimum specs.

Next thing might be to free up space via Settings > General > [Device] Storage. Photos, videos and music all eat up masses of space / memory. You might also be able to Offload some rarely used apps whilst in there.

I would still uninstall the NHS app and do a clean install.

[Weka]

We have a track and trace app here too. It’s not as good as Osc’s one, it’s not mandatory, but most people now have it. Shops under level 2 and above it’s mandatory to sign in someway, either QR code or write your name and phone number.

Tracking is the only way we have eliminated the virus from our community twice. It means we can get ahead of the spread quickly and isolate potentials before they show symptoms.

I was hesitant about loading it too, and then decided it’s one of those things that we just have to do now for the greater good to protect our vulnerable.

1 community case yesterday and it’s already reported where they went over the last week so people know if they should self isolate or not, and those in the same area using the app would have been alerted already.

[Workingman]

Yes, Weka, but T&T only really works if you can get on top of the numbers when they are low.... and then keep on keeping on. It's an almost impossible task to start once the numbers have gone through the roof, as we did and as they have in the UK.

I am not saying that we should not try, but we do have to have a fully functioning app (re the numbers) with everyone joining in, and also a top team working on it. We have none of those.

We currently have 733,306 confirmed cases and each of those could, potentially, have three contacts or more. What size workforce is needed to trace some 4 million people?

[Kaz]

I've had a worrying experience today, with the damned thing! I was out in town with B when I suddenly had an alert in the notifications on my phone. It said "Possible COVID-19 exposure...." I clicked on, and it took me to the app but there was no further message on it A few minutes later I got a second notification saying " Don't worry, we have assessed your risk.... " so I clicked on again, and again no full message! So I searched around the app and found a page describing the messages they send out, and my second message in full should have said "COVID-19 Exposure Check Complete. Don't worry, we have assessed your risk and there is no need to take action at this time. Please continue to stay alert and follow the latest advice on social distancing."

So why send the messages in the first place! It gave me a bit of a turn

[meriad]

Kaz, I'm so glad you posted this because I had exactly the same thing last week. A little red icon at the top of my screen then when I clicked on that the same message you had about possible exposure, but then when you click on that to get the full message there is just absolutely nothing and you have to really dig and go online to find out more.

Definitely a huge big negative of the app - if they send a message then they need to make it more accessible and less worrying!